Tire and wheel carrier

Claim 1

A carrier for mounting a wheel having an axial opening therethrough and a tire mounted thereon which carrier is mounted in the rack of a pick-up truck having a sidewall and a floor, the carrier comprising: base means securable to the floor; upright means adjustably secured at one end to said base means and having a horizontally disposed slot formed therethrough; a top element secured to said upright means other end and securable to the sidewall; a shaft adjustably secured to said upright means and having a free end projecting outwardly therefrom, said shaft having a threaded end disposed through said slot and a pair of nuts threadably mounted on said threaded end with said nuts disposed on opposite sides of said upright means for securing said shaft thereto; a bifurcated arm secured to said shaft free end and projecting outwardly therefrom and having a pair of bifurcations; a pin interconnecting said bifurcations; an offset bar removably mounted between said bifurcations and having a pair of opposed bosses projecting outwardly thereof thus permitting said offset bar to be positioned between said bifurcations with each boss disposed on one of said bifurcations; and a cam lever pivotally mounted on said pin and coactable with said offset bar; wherein one side of the wheel and tire are mountable against said upright means with said shaft projecting through the axial opening in the wheel and said offset bar being disposed against the other side of the wheel thus securely holding the tire and wheel to said upright means when rotation of said cam lever causes said offset bar to move toward said shaft threaded end.