Chevy SSR Spare Tire Kit Install

in this video i'm going to show you the steps to install the ssr spare tire kit for the 2003 to 2006 chevrolet ssr pickup offered by simple engineering llc you'll relocate the battery from its original location to the area just behind the passenger side rear wheel and then it'll install the gm hoist normally used in the chevy trail blazer it gives you a different ground cable and a battery box to install the battery in that location so let's get into it [Music] i've prepared this ssr for the installation of the spare tire kit by placing two wheel chocks in front of the front two tires i've jacked up the right rear of the vehicle using a floor jack and then placing a jack stand underneath the frame at the lift point just ahead of the right rear wheel area you can use the rear axle if necessary to jack it up it's preferred to use the frame i've also rolled down both side windows to make sure that when the battery is disconnected that they will not interfere with opening the doors and i've removed the seven millimeter headed screws here they're used to secure the wheel liner to get them out of the way and then use the bungee cord to secure the wheel liner to pull it forward you can use a string if you would like that way you have access to the area that you'll be installing the new battery box from the spare tire kit with the liner moved out of the way we can take a look at where the battery box we install from the spare tire kit that mounts to the frame basically where that white label is and to the left the negative battery cable that's in this picture the two connection points will be we'll undo the nuts there remove it clean those posts and replace it with the battery negative cable that is supplied in the kit and then the positive battery cable will be flipped over the frame and drooped over it so it can reach the positive post of the battery in the new battery box and to get the battery box installed there are two wiring harnesses and one cable that need to be moved the tail light harness and the cargo cover release cable does need to be moved off from their location up here down to the side and then also the wiring harness which i believe is where the power port adapter needs to be moved out of the way and i'll be using a quarter inch thick board to be my gauge to make sure there's enough space between the battery box and the body to allow for any body flex to take place next you need to remove the oem battery box and that requires you to remove the two ten millimeter nuts to secure the rear cover to the box tip it out and pull it down to remove it use an eight millimeter wrench to remove the negative battery cable first from the battery and then use the same eight millimeter wrench to remove the positive cable from the battery drape that off to the side use a 13 millimeter wrench to loosen the four nuts on the bottom of the battery box tray this will allow you to slide the tray to the rear and then down which will tip the battery down and expose it to where you can get to the retaining clip on the rear there and use a 13 millimeter wrench to loosen that and remove it then you'll need to kind of manhandle that up a little bit it's 40 pound or more battery so make sure you're capable of doing that or use a jack to bring it down safely now to remove the battery box from the vehicle there are four 13 millimeter head to bolts that you need to remove the driver's side rear bolt also secures a portion of the support bracket goes to the rear bumper fascia make sure you remove the four bolts and gracefully bring down the battery box this opens up the area where the spare tire will be stored in the vehicle now you're going to replace the angled rear bumper fascia brace with the 6061 aluminum version of the brace that came in the kit i removed the 13 millimeter headed bolt here this particular nut was installed strangely from a previous tweak to the bumper patient on this particular vehicle but you shouldn't require that use the bolt that you removed from the driver's side rear portion of the battery box installation to secure the upper portion of it you might have to tweak the aluminum just a little bit to get it shaped just right for your ssr but once you tighten both these bolts the step is complete [Music] now remove the original ground cable from the vehicle there are two securing locations one on the body one on the frame both use a 13 millimeter nut to secure the battery ground cable to those locations remove the two nuts extract the cable ends from there and then push the battery cable off the top of the frame and you should be able to remove it from the bottom once you have that out of the way take the positive battery cable and drape that over the top of the frame leaving the securing clip that's attaching it to the top of the frame in place and then move on to the next step now install the three 10 millimeter units applied by the kit one above the exhaust hanger on the inboard side of the frame i had to use a wrench here to pop it up into place then you install one at the other red arrow which is on the rear cross member and then here we have one on the diagonal cross member that goes above the where the spare tire is and the tire voice connects to and then that diagonal slot right above that is where we'll be connecting the tab from the tire hoist in just a moment make the main mechanism for the hoist place it in the far corner as far as possible that will allow you to engage these tabs from the other end of the tire hoist into the slot in the diagonal cross member with that aligned get the three bolts installed use a 15 millimeter wrench to go ahead and tighten this up that completes the hoist mechanical installation install the new ground cable provided by the kit remove the two nuts one on the frame one on the body clean the connector studs there with hopefully a smaller wire brush than i used make sure the cable the longer leg of the cable goes to the one on the frame the shorter one to the body lay it across the top of the shock absorber if the wheel liner has been removed in the case the wheel line are still present so make sure the cable bends like you see it here and make sure the positive cable is sitting on top of the negative cable or routing to the battery later on you need to relocate the two wiring harnesses and the deck lid release cable to create space for the new battery box the outside of the battery box occupies a portion of the space that the cables and harnesses currently occupy so that's why you need to move them the metal clips that hold the wiring harnesses and the cable need to be detached from their current locations and reattached to the lower edges of the body near the frame's body mount location this ssr had the taillight harness and the deck lid release cable arranged so that the deck lid release cable could sit underneath the taillight wiring harness if that is not the case with your ssr you may need to temporarily remove the taillight bulb socket to rearrange those items separate the battery box from the bracket assembly and install the bracket assembly on the frame i'm using a quarter inch pegboard as my guide to make sure i maintain the quarter inch gap necessary on the left or outside of the bracket assembly here use one or two c-clamps i only had one to expand the gap of the frame and the bracket assembly backing plate and install the four stainless tech screws and the using the 3 8 inch hex driver provided in the kit and then make sure those are nice and snug and then with that ready we're ready to prep the battery i have to caution that my led headlamp is flashing at right that my camera picked up so there's a lot of light flashing here but use the saw to cut off the ears of the battery if necessary if it won't fit in the box supplied with the spare tire kit these are often for the carry handle that you see sitting on the ground therefore i remove that but then i cut off the ears i gently drop it into the battery box and you may want to take the opportunity to install the two stainless rods here to secure the battery in the battery box i deferred that until i elevated the battery box using the floor jack and engage the slide tracks it's usually a little bit easier using the floor jack to elevate that for that purpose engage the hooks in the lower positions and now i'm going to bring the positive cable over and make sure that it fits the distance it needs to which it does no problem now this is where i take the opportunity to install those two stainless rods to secure the battery in the battery box make sure you put the one with the eye loop on it on the top of the battery and then use the nut and secure it down to the point where it's gently snug on the battery but not too tight you don't want to crush the battery using that it's there just to mainly keep it from moving around in a large amount then i bring over the negative battery cable and attach it to the negative battery post make sure the battery cables are routed to the left or aft side of the body support brace this completes the installation of the new battery box in your ssr cut the string or remove the bungee cord you're using to secure the wheel liner out of the way while you're installing the battery box allow the wheel liner to go into its normal position but you'll notice there's about a six inch circle that needs to be reshaped because it hits the corner of the battery box this protrusion into the wheel area will not be a problem for any of your wheels or tires but you do need to heat it up and use a heat gun in is it which is the preferred tool or a very low temperature propane torch your objective is not to melt the plastic just heat it up enough to where you can reshape it use some protective gloves or a towel on your hand to help you reshape that area heat it up and reshape it as necessary until you can reinstall the two seven millimeter headed screws if the rim that you're using for your spare tire includes a center wheel cap you must remove that to allow the tire hoist bracket to be fed through that center hole and that bracket is what's used to raise and secure the spare tire into the storage location in the vehicle if you did not purchase the optional tool kit sure you have a 10 millimeter socket an extension and a ratchet wrench to operate the tire hoist going in the clockwise direction will lower the spare tire and the counterclockwise direction will erase it a couple final notes here with the battery being disconnected for a period of time you might have to reindex the side windows of the ssr check out the link in the description section of this video to the video i already have on my channel to show you how to do that the date and time might be lost in your aftermarket radiohead unit my pioneer unit does lose the date and time when it's disconnected like that the pcm or ecm in your vehicle might lose some of the performance settings and those will be relearned after driving it for a short period of time so with that make sure you start the vehicle make sure the charge indicator light in the upper right corner of the instrument panel doesn't stay on or anything and make sure you've got a good connection then you're done thanks for watching the entire video if you found it to be informational make sure you hit that like button subscribe to the channel if you haven't already hit that bell notification to be notified when i upload new videos just like this one if you'd like to purchase this particular ssr spare tire kit check out the link in the description section below and check out the other links for ways to support the retro car guy 530 efforts on making videos for the ssr community just like this one thanks for checking out the video and i'll see you in the next one [Music] you

Channel: RetroCarGuy530

Views: 4,068

Keywords: RetroCarGuy530, spare tire kit installation, spare tire kit, simple engineering llc, chevy, chevy ssr, chevrolet, chevrolet ssr, convertible truck, retractable hardtop, how to, diy

Id: epgSdGn0nIk

Length: 10min 52sec (652 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 22 2021