1930/1931 Rear Spare Carrier Wanted For 157 WB

[rsierk]

Neil, I think I sent you pictures of my wheel stops when we were discussing which way the hinges are mounted (mine are on the left). Most of my office is in temporary storage while we are renovating the house, so they may be hard for me to find. I will try to measure them as they are.

[rsierk]

CORRECTION! Why did I say that? My hinges are the long ones and are on the right side, with the latch toggle being on the left. Sorry for the confusion.

[E.Moore]

Neil, I believe I'm going to move the swivel bolt to the left frame member and move the carrier hinge to the right frame member. Once the engine is installed in the frame and the exhaust pipe is extended to the rear of the bus body, the spare tire carrier latch will interfere with the exhaust pipe during removal of the spare.

With the spare carrier hinge on the right frame member, the exhaust pipe should be able to be routed to the outside of the carrier hinges, allowing removal of the spare tire.

This may also explain why the wheel is a bit too far to the left frame rail. Once the carrier hinges are mounted to the right frame rail, the spare wheel will also shift a little to the right, hopefully centering the wheel to the wheel stops. If this turns out to be correct, it may be that the wheel stops and carrier hinges were adjusted to contact the spare wheel rim correctly, depending on which side of the chassis the spare tire carrier was mounted.

Various body types appear to have determined whether the exhaust was extended to the rear of the frame, or left short if the truck had a stake bed or dump bed. With a bus body, the exhaust needs to extend beyond the rear of the body to prevent CO from accumulating inside the bus.

For cowl-chassis configurations from the factory for special truck bodies, the spare wheel rim was bolted upright to the rear crossmember and the exhaust was the short type, same as the passenger cars. Once a special body was installed, such as a bus body, it would have been the responsibility of the body builder to extend the exhaust pipe to to the rear of the body. Some of these may not have had the exhaust pipe extended.

If the special body did not have an exhaust pipe extension, the spare carrier could have been mounted on either frame rail.
The spare tire carrier hinges on a 157 parallel wheelbase could be mounted on either frame rail with a stake bed or a dump bed or some other open bed which would not allow exhaust gasses to build up.

This could help to explain why some spare tire carriers were mounted on the left frame rail and some were mounted on the right frame rail.

What are your thoughts on this?

[Neil Wilson]

Hello Eric and Randy,
The Ford parts lists have a right hand and a left hand wheel stops (AA-1498 and AA-1499).

Based on what has been analysed currently, the right and left wheel stops would not extend in from the frame side members the same distance because the spare wheel is not centered between the frame rails. Consequently, the carrier could not be swapped in direction and still have the wheel stops fit properly.

The only Ford archive photo I currently have showing the wheel carrier is for the '31 AA157 Express. The carrier hinges from the right side.

Per Randy, his carrier hinges from the right. However, Eric's original carrier must have hinged from the left given that his swivel bolt is riveted to the right side. So, something is wrong here. Maybe Eric's carrier was installed incorrectly???

It would help if Randy would provide the measurements of his wheel stops (from the inside of the frame to the inside tip). This would help confirm that the right and left stops have different lengths.

It would also be interesting to hear what happens after Eric reverses his carrier.

[rsierk]

I have measured my stops and it looks like they are identical but symmetrically opposite, as they are nearly the same length. The left one is (measured the same as Neil's diagrams) 7 9/16 long and 1 3/4 high. The right one is 7 3/4 and 1 11/16. A little extra pressure upward on the right one over the years could have extended it an 1/8 or so, so it seems they are intended to be the same. I am attempting to post pictures of them. An interesting difference is in the slope of the tip of the stop where it should contact the wheel rim flange; the right side one is much more pointed. Maybe this was hand-dressed (belt-sander?).

[rsierk]

Here is the point on tip of right hand wheel stop.

[Neil Wilson]

Hello Randy,
Thank you for the pictures. A top view of the right and left stops would also be interesting. This would show if the stops extend out from the frame straight or are curved forward.

If your truck has the wheel carrier mounted, would you mount a wheel and see if it is centered between the side frame members? I am thinking that it is 5/16” off center and is closer to the hinge side of the carrier.

[E.Moore]

Neil, I had a spare swivel bolt and mounted it to the left frame rail and moved the spare carrier hinges to the right frame rail. I believe your wheel stops are pretty close to being right. I fabricated the left wheel stop and it fits very well. I'll fabricate the right side as soon as more time becomes available.

[E.Moore]

More Photos

[Neil Wilson]

Hello Eric,
Thanks for the new set of pictures. By the time this subject has closed, there will be enough information to publish a correction to the information on this wheel carrier previously documented in the 2002 and 2005 newsletters.

I reviewed the Oct. 8, 1931 Service Letter which anounced the release of the under frame carrier for the AA131. This indicates that the AA-1470-B rear hinge bolt and nut assembly is to be mounted on the left frame member.

[rsierk]

Eric, your bolt on the left now looks like mine.

[rsierk]

First, in response to Neil's request, see squareness of stops to frame channels.

[rsierk]

Responding to Neil's request for centering information, here are photos showing the yardstick zero lined up with outside of frame channel on each side, to see if any difference shows up. The first set I did this way, it looked like the carrier was offset about 3/8". Now I am not so sure. Will wait until I have time to get out spare and mount it to declare which way I think it is.

[Neil Wilson]

Hello Randy,
Okay on your first two pictures showing that the right and left stops extend straight out from the frame side members. I had questioned this based on conversations with Bud Valerius.

I did some more measurements of the wheel carrier (with wheel) on my AA157. The rivet holes for the stop on the center cross member are centered (side to side). The spare wheel is about ½” off center to the right. This is with the carrier hinges on the right. From the inside of the frame to the edge of the wheel it is about 5-1/2” on the right and about 6-1/2” on the left (this is to the center line of the wheel).

It will be interesting to see what you come up with on your AA157 when you have time! And, if Eric would do the same measurements on his AA157 now that his carrier is hinged from the right – that would be great.

If all three measurements agree, then it must be that the left wheel stop is about 1” longer than the right stop. This would mean that the carrier could not be reversed and still have the stops hit the wheel correctly. Does this sound correct to you two???

[E.Moore]

Neil, Thanks for your latest message. The spare wheel rim does slightly shift from one side to the other when the spare carrier hinges are moved from left to right, however, by slightly adjusting the radius of the wheel stops and making adjustments to the carrier hinges, the wheel strikes the wheel stops just fine, no matter which way the carrier is mounted to the frame.