Basically, what I did was:
- I took the spare off
- Put a piece of cardboard on top of the bolts
- Cut holes matching the bolts in the cardboard
- I drilled holes according to that pattern about 4 inches apart on a piece of metal
which I bought from Home Depot (aka "la casa de marijuana").
I am not exactly sure what that metal thing is for, but I think it is used in the foundation in building homes. It is basically a thick 7x9 plate with a couple of holes pre-drilled into it. Very very 'tough stuff and about $6.
Notice I had to cut the top corners of the plate to clear the inside part of the wheel. My saw was not the greatest so I had a tough time as you can see !!!! I spent a total of 30 mins on this thing and about 95% of the time was spent cutting. :)
As you can see, I used 3 nuts to secure the plate to the original bolts and 3 new bolts and the original lugnuts to hold the wheel in the new holes. I also used a stack of washers to fillup the gaps as needed. I used an extra set of nuts to hold the new bolts in place and prevent them from turning when tightening the lug nuts.
The new bolts are about 3.25" long. I took one of the lug-nuts to a local hardware store and picked out 3 bolts, about the size of my index finger that would mate with the lug nut. Yes, I know, even I am amazed at how everything worked the first time. From what I remember, they were some sort of metric size, 15-2 are the numbers that come to mind but I'm not sure. I also bought a set of nuts using the bolts I had picked out.
I also ground the top of the circular part on the spare tire carrier in order to make more room to lower the wheel. I think overall it came down about 4 inches (very close to it).
The plate is 9" by 7". I just measured exactly and it looks like the new bolts are about 3 and 13/16-th inches lower than the original bolts. I probably could have gotten exactly 4 inches but the lower hole was getting very close to the lower edge of my 9x7 plate and I would have had to grind more of the top part of the wheel carrier (to clear the inside of the wheel).
