Lifting the SEE spare in place

[peakbagger]

I swapped out one of my tires for a much better spare. Getting the spare off was fairly easy as I had already greased up the holding screw previously (FYI unless you have greased it, its most likely rusted in place from years of sitting and a PITA to unscrew). Getting the tire back was more of a challenge. I ended up lifting the backhoe boom a bit and stuffing a piece of unistrut under it so it hung out over the FOPS and then dropping the boom back down to hold it in place. I didn't have a lever hoist so I used a ratchet strap and some blocking to raise it a little at a time. Once I got the bottom of the tire lined up with the platform I just pushed it over into the space and then pushed it up over the chock.

A lever hoist would save dealing with blocking but there could be an issue where the final distance from the unistrut to the top of the tire would be to short and the level hoist would get two blocked. I could bend a strut so it has higher lift point but expect if I had a flat on the side of the road I would roll the flat tire into the bucket and strap it in for the trip home.

 

[The FLU farm]

You now reminded me of that I still ​haven't got around to try using the backhoe to lift the spare into place. Oh well, one of these years...

 

[peakbagger]

This definitely doesn't justify buying a spare SEE or a HMMH to lift the spare tire into place .

 

[The FLU farm]

But of course it does! How else would you justify getting a spare SEE, or two?