77 Eldorado Spare Tire Trunk Storage

[Dave MacGregor #18998]

Hi,

I have a 77 Eldorado in which the full sized spare tire was never really properly stowed in its trunk for as long as I can remember both as a kid when my grandmother had the car and even now after owning it myself for the past 5 years.

Its always been stored kind of sloppily, but is not usually seen by anyone much, but me because I keep the felt cover over it to make it look nice.

Ive tried many times to properly store it per the sticker inside the trunk, but cant seem to get it to mount correctly as instructed.  All the hardware is there and the spare is even the original Uniroyal TPC spec. tire!  Not sure how the jack base goes, mounting bolt, washer, etc. is to work.  The jack itself and the wooden blocks, etc. themselves are otherwise properly mounted and secure.  The spare tire was used once on a return trip from Scranton, PA back in mid 1977 and was never put away properly since!

Can someone please possibly "show" me and/or take a digital picture of what their "actual" setup looks like so that I can try to match it?

Thanks and Happy Holidays to Everyone Here and Their Families!

Dave

[JIM CLC # 15000]

12-16-05
Dave, tell us more, please. Does it mount in a "spare-wheel well", or in the middle of the trunk above the diff. on/at an angle. It has been my experance, that the out-side of the wheel goes to the floor or to the outside with the holding nut to the "back-side"of the wheel. Also, The jack had/has a hole in it that the "tie-down bolt" goes through and the tire holds the jack.
HTH
Good Luck, Merry Christmas, Jim

[wm link]

By 1977 most cars had the inflatable spare, although the full size spare was still an option (I think). Point is your mounting hardware MIGHT be for the Mini spare. The full size spare should mount UP so you can check the air pressure without removing the spare.

[Dave MacGregor #18998]

Hi,

The spare mounts in the middle of the trunk and I think its supposed to mount face up.  I dont think the car ever had a mini spare as my grandparents always went with ordering a full-zised spare as an option in those days.  The mounting bolt is extremely long compared to most Ive seen too.

Dave

[George Woodford clc21025]

My 1977 Biarritz has the original spare tire.  I remember I removed it once to clean the trunk.  It is a little stubborn to reinstall it in the trunk with the wooden blocks.  The original spare tire is not a regular tire, but a slick as I would describe it.  Reinstalling the spare with a regular mounted tire with the wooden blocks may be the problem.  My 1976 Biarritz has the original regular mounted tire on the spare rim.  It has never been removed from the the trunk.  It is mounted upside down and no wood blocks are used; this may be your solution.

[Dave MacGregor #18998]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.  I think your answer is in the way your Biarritz spare is mounted as it seems to best fit what I see in my trunk.  It also explains the one decal inside my trunk better.  On my decal for a full-sized spare, it kinda shows a wheel mounted upside down, but I wasnt sure because the drawing is, of couse, a two dimensional drawing lacking enough detail to show up from down on the wheel.  It does however, show the blocks in the diagram too.

What Ill do is try it with and without the blocks to see how things fall into place.  Once I get it set, then Im going to leave it.  Shame the nice wide nearly pristine original Uniroyal whitewall has to face down.  Oh Well!  Ill get to see the shiney wrong side of the wheel and the brass of the wrong end of the valve stem!  :-)  OH!  Then again, I do have the felt cover to hide all of that too!  Haha!

Again, Many Thanks for your reply.

To all others, also thanks for your help too!

Happy Holidays!!!

[Bruce Reynolds # 18992]

Gday Dave,

I have had a few vehicles where the wheel is positioned upside down and they are a real pain when it comes time to check the tyre pressure.

My present car has it upside down so that the jack can be positioned inside the wheel centre, and the long screw holds it all into place.

If I needed the space in my 60 CDV, I would sit the spare upside down, as there is a lot of wasted space under it.  

Bruce,
The Tassie devil(le),
60 CDV