Spike in spare wheel well - can I cut it out?

My QP has a space-saver spare (and an inflator) in the well under the boot floor. A bit like this pic, but on mine the wheel is the other way up and there is a foam insert with tools etc in it.



I was thinking of leaving the spare (and the cover) behind on some trips where extra luggage space is needed, but there is a metal spike that sticks out of the boot floor (where the centre hole is in the picture below), which is designed to secure the wheel in place (with a nut on top).



I was planning to just remove (the top of) this spike, to make the wheel well into a useful luggage area.

Any reason not to do this? The spare fits very snugly in the well, so I'm not worried about rattles or vibrations.

Any good ways to do this - I was thinking of just cutting it off as low as possible with a hacksaw or bolt cutters, but is there a more elegant solution?

Of course, I also have to find out why it is a bit damp in there.....

Angle grinder </UKRM>

C

CatmanV2 said:

Angle grinder </UKRM> C

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Humm. Don't seem to have one....

Why not leave a little there and tap it so you can re fit the bolt at a later date?

safrane said:

Why not leave a little there and tap it so you can re fit the bolt at a later date?

Click to expand...

Sounds beyond my technical skills. Also, surely, if most of the spike was gone, you would need to then fit a new spike onto the little bit that was left, so you would need a new bar with a threaded hole, I suppose...

Hacksaw, leave an inch or so, keep the bit you cut off, then to refit half thread a nut onto it, then thread the other part into the other half of the nut until it locks, sorted!

As it turns out, once I had removed the boot trim, I found that the spike was threaded at both ends and could be removed with a pipe wrench.



Now I just have to deal with the inch of water in the boot.

Dry the boot out, put kitchen towel down in various places in the dry boot. Close it and hose the car down.
Open the boot and look at the paper, the boot seal leaks where the wet bit is