I recently took the time to clean under the spare tire of my 97 SR5. While under there, I realized that the only spare tire security is that the lowering crank arm can only be inserted with the gate open.

My idea involves running a cable through the holes in the wheel - then up around either my hitch, or part of the frame.

Any input?

 

there is a little notch kinda of thing and i just put a small luggage lock on there.

 

are you really that worried about someone stealing your spare? Doesn't look like you have a rack, but if you get a load worrior, you can get a locking set for that, then you can run dual exhaust and it won't hamper your off-road abilities...

 

I bought a bike cable lock and just put it through the spare and around the frame.

Cheap little Master lock from Target ~ $8 or so. Good peace of mind in return.