Spare

[greenbank]

Just curious...would my CS have come with a spare wheel? If so, where was it mounted?

[OldBlue67]

my CS came with one, mounted under the bed. I guess I just assumed that all of them did, could you not get a spare tire?

[FORDification]

AFAIK all trucks came with a spare tire. With most trucks it would either have been mounted in the bed on a special bracket or under the bed behind the axle. However, considering the likelihood that a Camper Special might usually have a camper in it, the spare would have been mounted under the bed or even on a special bracket up front in front of the grille.

[greenbank]

Long gone missing, then. I'll poke around under there and see if I see any likely evidence it was underneath.

[jor]

The under-the-bed mounting looks like this.
jor

[Hawkrod]

Not all trucks came with a spare. It is rare to not have one and I can't provide the specifics off of the top of my head but I seem to remember a blurb in an order manual about deleting the spare for a cost credit. I think it was aimed at fleet sales. I do know that my 76 Crew Cab was ordered without one because the paper work shows it as a delete option. But mine was a runway truck on an Air Force Base and was one of many at the base and so they likely only needed a couple of spares to service large number of trucks. Why pay for something you don't need? I could see a similar situation in construction where a company may run a fleet on a site and a couple of spares would service many trucks. Hawkrod

[Luckyman]

When I ordered my truck new in 76 the spare wheel & tire were standard on the F-100's and F-150's. However they were optional on the F-250's and F-350's. If you were ordering a 250 or 350 you needed to check the box for a spare.

[shrektruck]

I saw a 72 (i think) at the boneyard last week that had a removable cutout in the passenger side of the bed where the spare was mounted. I gotta start bringing the digital with me to the boneyard. I'll bring it by today and try to get a pic.

[Hawkrod]

That removeable panel makes what you saw a 73-79 F350 Fleetside. They had a longer wheel base than other trucks and most of them are what are called Super Camper Specials. Not all of these are SCS's but definitely the majority. I know keith needs the mounting hardware for the rear gas tank on one of these (they are special). Hawkrod

[shrektruck]

You know what? It was a 73. I was pulling tailgate hardware and the cargo light. Got confused jumping around from bed to bed. I do remember thinking that would be cool and that I could put another tank in the spare tire space.
Kieth, do you still need parts off one of these?

[FORDification]

Absolutely! I have the tank, but I need both mounting straps and the skidplate. I could also use the two rear crossmembers that the skidplate bolts to, but since they're probably riveted in, they'd be a major hassle to get out. If they just unbolt, then definitely grab those too. And if the exhaust heat shields are still there, I could use those as well.

Here are a couple pictures of the setup removed, courtesy of Hawkrod:

[shrektruck]

Ok, didn't get to the boneyard on Thursday, work went on and on and it was dark when I left.
Got the digital today though and soon as I finish up here I'll run over.
I don't have a cold chisel in the toolbox (but I think I'll add one now) so rivets would be a problem but there's always tomorrow.

[shrektruck]

Hi Kieth,
Finally got to crawl around the boneyard on Friday. ( Marie thinks I was working.
The gas tank setup was gone out of the 73 but I found a 76 with a setup that had a tank with the spare mounted under that. The owner seemed to think it was pretty special as he wanted $250 for the whole setup. I had to pass. It looked like so:

[shrektruck]

If you want I'll be happy to go yank it. It looked real clean but I thought $250 was pretty steep for a tank.
The '73 F-350 fleetside was picked pretty bare but did have a 4bbl intake (390) and that cool spare mount (no cover though).
Here's a pic of that. Wonder if the bottom of the 76 bed can be married to the top of a 72 to give you that storage.

[FORDification]

I appreciate the effort, that's not the one I'm looking for. That's actually just a standard truck tank. The one I need hardware for is the F350 Super Camper Special tank. The SCS trucks have an extended wheelbase (140") and the spare tire is mounted in a special compartment in the passenger-side bedside.



As you can see, the rear axle is extended back enough that there wouldn't be room for a spare tire behind the axle. Here's what their spare tire storage compartment looked like: