Spare tire mount device

Claim 1

A specialized tire rim mount for a pick-up truck having a box including a pair of sidewalls and a floor, each said sidewall having an upper flanged edge portion, a spare tire wheel and rim retaining means having a suport member adapted to be fixedly fastened to a wheel and rim mount foundation, the imrovement in the means for securing said wheel and rim mount in a torsion and torque resisting relationship to said retaining means, said improvement comprising: the combination of a trunk means including a vertical substanially straight elongated trunk member constructed of heavy gage flat steel strip stock arranged and adapted to extend generally from the trunk bed of the box substantially to the top of the truck box with the outward flat side of said member arranged generally parallel to the side of said box, said trunk member having a generally elongated shoe member rigidly and fixedly mounted transversely to the top end of said trunk member in the general outline of a "T" having spaced fastening elements adapted to mount said shoe member fixedly beneath the upper flanged edge portion of said pick-up truck box for fixedly fastening the top end of said trunk member to the upper flanged edge portion of said pick-up truck tox; a pair of substantially equal length torsion resisting diagonally spaced brace portions constructed of heavy gage flat steel strip stock fixedly and rigidly fastened edgewise at their top ends to the vertical side walls of said trunk member generally planar with said trunk member and substantially equidistant from and adjacent to said top of said trunk member, said brace portions extending diagonally from said trunk member to said pick-up box floor at a generally 45° included angle with each of said brace portions having a generally flat rectangularly outlined shoe member fixedly attached horizontally to the bottom end of each brace portion for fixedly attaching said brace shoe member flush to the bed of said trunk box, said rim retaining support member being attached at its free end fixedly, contiguously, and rigidly to the inward side of said trunk member adjacent the upper ends of said brace portions and a sufficient distance from the bottom of said trunk member and the box floor so that a truck tire will substantially clear the floor when mounted on said retaining means; cantilevered tire rim supporting means including an annular cantilevered heavy gage tubular stub arm portion having a flatted tube end portion fixedly, contiguously, and rigidly mounted to the inward side of said trunk member and a flatted inwardly directed tube extremity; an annular tire mounting means including a generally flat, heavy gage steel mounting plate member generally centrally fixedly and rigidly fastened contiguously to said inner directed extremity of said arm stub adjacent to said top ends of said side braces and at least two mounting stubs fixedly, rigidly, and radially mounted on said inward face of said plate member cantilevered inwardly to accept the rim mounting hole spacings of the conventional tire herein involved, said mounting plate being located upwardly a sufficient distance from the bottom of said trunk member so that said tire will substantially clear the bed of the truck box; and a steel rim mounting starter extension and locking bar member cantileveredly mounted fixedly and rigidly to said inward face of said plate member substantially axially to said stub arm member, the inward tip of said bar member extending inwardly substantially farther than the free extremities of said stud members so that the tire may be rested on said bar to assist in locating the tire rim holes over said stud members, said bar member having a bore at the free extremity thereof for receiving a locking device.