Got lot done today. My buddy Bill and I had a pretty productive day. The goals were to drop the tank for the fuel pump swap, install the reciever hitch, fuel tank skid and build a spare tire carrier. Only thing that didn't happen was the fuel tank skid since it won't fit with the way my exhaust is routed near the tank. So onward to the pics...
After dropping the tank and pulling the pump we discovered what probably wasn't helping my fuel problem at all. The rubber hose that connects the pump to the sending unit was kinked to the point of splitting the outer skin of the hose. After installing the new Delco pump we found that the pump wanted to move around on the sending unit that might be the cause of the hose getting kinked.
Out with the old, in with the new..
The hitch was pretty simple to throw on with the tank out of the way. We did have to cut off the most forward mount on each side as it would have been on top of the ORD shackle flip brackets. New holes drilled to match the frame and bolted right up.
Here's the basis of the spare carrier. We are running out of time before the trip so we decided to do something simple instead of the full blown bumper build. The idea was to go vertical, allow the tire to swing down and use the tire and carrier as a step to get in. The back section is 1/2" plate with 3/8" on the sides. It's welded to a section of 2" square tubing to go into the hitch. Also, I know the tags are expired, fresh ones are in the mail.
More 2" square tubing for the main part of the carrier. We set the height to be just about halfway up the door so there is still some rearward visibility.
We made a flange with lug studs for the wheel itself. We did end up welding the studs to the flange as the 1/4" material we used was thinner than the knurled section of the studs. They don't seem to be going anywhere.
We gave ourselves a little room for a similar width tire that I have on the truck. That's a 900-16 heavy as hell dinosaur on the rim. I'll be on the lookout for a fresher spare with the tire guys I deal with at work.
The tire down. The garage floor is a little higher than the ground outside where the truck is parked. It's pretty easy to step into the camper off of the tire and the carrier. We will be adding a step to make it a little easier for my wife rather than balancing on 2" square tube.
The finished product. All in all, the project came out as we both expected it. It works quite well and is rattle free as we made sure to keep it tight as we built it.
We still need to pull it back out and fog it with some black paint. It's a little low hanging, but once we build the bumper we'll change that up some.
