Spare Tire In Roof Rack

[vt_maverick]

Not sure if you bought Sue's Thule 695 from her, but if you did you might try this:

http://www.vehicross.info/forums/sho...a+spare&page=8

You can get the Yakima spare kit for $70-ish on the web, required fasteners for about $10 from Lowe's/Home Depot, and bit set (if you don't already have it) for no more than $20. It's more expensive than a bungee set but also a lot more heavy duty. I probably won't ever need the strength for offroading, but I'm pretty sure that if I roll my VX someday I won't be firing a 70 lb. projectile down the highway.

[VX KAT]

No, I got a Coleman rack included with one of my roof racks. Sold it to Circmand. I can't quite recall the spacing on the floor of the basket, but I think the Yakima spare tire holder could be made to fit, like Mav did.

I sure prefer having a couple chunks of steel holding my 78 lb wheel/tire combo rather than even a ratchet strap. When I was having some custom ratchet straps made (you know the one with purple paw prints on them...isn't that what everybody gets? )...the manufacturer had about 4 or 5 different products, made of a few different materials, some would actually stretch a few percentage points when wet, some would degrade faster in sun, some colors would run in rain, etc.. They were really inexpensive, even custom made.
http://www.strapworks.com/Default.asp?Redirected=Y
Here's the 6 different types explained:
http://www.strapworks.com/webbing_an...brics_s/20.htm

So just saying "ratchet strap" generically, may not be enough. I'd certainly want to know that I had the strongest ones holding down my tire/wheel.
I have the Yakima spare tire unit AND also a 2" wide polyester ratchet strap holding mine down. Can never be too safe. Bad enough that I've changed the center of gravity a bit by putting that weight up there, so I dayam sure want it to stay up there!

[circmand]

I even checked autozone. Nothing seems premade. They have tons of plastic crap and chrome tape to PIMP your ride and nothingthat is functional or useful. I think I may check out a few yards and see if imagination strikes.

[MSHardeman]

Don't know what rack or basket you have for your roof, but I have the Yakima Load Warrior and I use Yakima's spare tire carrier ( http://www.realcyclist.com/yakima-sp...8-001b2166becc ) to secure the tire to the basket. Once that thing is sinched down that tire isn't going anywhere, plus it has a place for a lock to keep it from wandering off.

[VX KAT]

I have the Yakima Load Warrior and I use Yakima's spare tire carrier ( http://www.realcyclist.com/yakima-sp...8-001b2166becc ) to secure the tire to the basket. Once that thing is sinched down that tire isn't going anywhere, plus it has a place for a lock to keep it from wandering off.

Yep, Mark that's the one I have as well as Vt_Mav, can't see it though in my pics. I have the ratchet strap woven through the rim as a 2ndary /backup system.

And for those so inclined....strapworks.com has designs with skulls, bullets, about 5 different camos, and many more. They make them by the foot, so I didn't have a bunch of excess strap to deal with.