Hauling the spare tire around - Not easy

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

THEBigLarry

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 7, 2011
Posts
554
Location
Oklahoma City
I purchased 6 new tires today and in doing so I renewed my spare tire.  I had to remove it from the side bin and then replace it after the tech balanced it for me (for free).  He was a guy my age and I wanted to help him since he was doing me a favor.  Getting the 245X70/R19.5 back into the bin was a tough job.  Additionally the top of the tire rides on some trim that it has destroyed over the years.  I am looking for a better way.  I plan on trying to build an angled 'rack' in the bin that the tire can set on and be slid in and out.

What type of spare tire haulers do you have on your Adventurer?  I thought about leaving it at home with 6 brand new tires, but did not think about it for long.  1.  Is there an underframe hauler?  2.  Is there a rear mount platform? 

How do you haul yours?
 
- How many years/miles have you hauled the spare?
- How many times have you used it?

I've run my coach over 60k miles in the past 8 years and never used/needed a spare. I hauled one for a couple of years and decided it wasn't worth the space/weight it took, AND that if I ever did need it, it would be unsafe due to age/deterioration.
 
My 2000 Adventurer on a Ford Chassis had the spare tire under the rear of the chassis behind the gas tank.
 
My W20 has a spare between the frame rails at the back. It is on a carrier that pivots down on the end towards the rear so you can remove the tire. Two bolts hold it up.
It can be difficult to start the bolts because of he weight and someone might have given up and put it in a compartment.
You might want to call Winnebago with the VIN and see if your coach had the carrier when it came from the factory. That's assuming you are not the original owner of course.
 
Paul does have a point. I have often wondered about that same question. I was glad I had it with me last trip as I had a blowout & replaced it myself. Now that I am getting older & heart surgery I question the wisdom of changing it myself. It was a real BEAR to get the blown tire back into the rack under the Voyage. A younger man would have better luck. My tires were 6 years old & the right front blew & the left front had a bulge on the inside. Yes I have to agree that just having one that someone else could change would save time. In the original post he did ask for our suggestions for help to remount the spare tire back in its place. He would pick up a lot of cargo space & some CCC if he did not carry the spare as Paul suggests. But as we humans are funny like that we would sure kick ourselves for not having it IF we ever needed it. As he bought a brand new spare tire he might do well to carry it. I just used my new spare for 400 miles then put it back under the coach and only bought 6 new tires instead of 7. I am thinking about not carring the spare & the mount to save weight & to make sure I never try to wrestle that thing out from under the coach ever again. To carry or not to carry that is the Question. I haven't made up my mind yet. Art
 
Maybe this topic will help some folks.

My spare tire (19.5) in my ex-RV was situated in a bay since who knows when. (a 1995 Winnebago).

  I never was able to move it without a robust helper; never did. It felt that the pressure was there. Never checked for pressure nor date code. Probably was a 1994 or prior. 

Carried it for 7 years myself before selling the RV. What a waste.

  Even with roadside help, what good would a 17 year old tire do. I am in the camp with folks who would never be able to change their own tire on the road and don't know if their spare is usable. There must be thousands in the same boat.

  There would have been no way to change it myself on the road.. I would have depended on my emergency roadside service for helping me out in the event of a tire failure. YMMV.
Just a thought..
Carson FL

 
My spare is in a bay. Have not had to use it on this coach/ On a previous coach, '84 Pace had to use the one mounted on the back, Continental style. I was lucky to have the spare. I was near rip off Needles Ca on a Sunday afternoon.
J
 
My rig never had a spare or a place for one, I like most folks have roadside assistance plans  but in my case there is a compelling reason to carry a spare. My tire size, as I have recently found out is a oddball size (9R 22.5) and no road service trucks carry my size, in fact I live in NY and had to have my two new tires ordered and shipped in because the big truck tire shops do not stock them. This Friday I will be getting two new steer tires and one of my old steer tires will become my new spare, my plan is to fabricate a hinged mount above my rear bumper, this will allow me to swing the tire out of the way for engine access (side radiator rig). I am buying a steel rim and mounting the tire so I am good to go if I have a failure, my first plan was just to carry the tire  (no rim) so road service could install it, but I can handle the removal and replacement on my own so I am opting for a mounted tire, if service is there quick they can do it but if I have to wait for a long time on the side of a road I will do it. If I had to replace all the tires I would replace the 9R-22.5 with 255-80-22.5, 1.1 inch wider but otherwise very close and a good readily available substitute for my present tires.
 
Mine is in one of the bays and I never realized how much of a PITA it would be until my blowout (driver's side front) a year and a half ago.

Blew out in a place where there was just barely enough room for me to fit off the highway with a guardrail beside me.  Needless to say, it's in one of the passenger side bays and there wasn't enough room to open the bay door to get it out unless I pulled a foot or two into the highway lane.  Just for us to get out of the RV was quite the squeeze since we couldn't open the door much.  If it was on the driver side, would have had to stand in the highway to get it out. 

The contractor CAA sent me and Quebec highway assistance (whatever they're called) had to get me to back it up maybe a 10th of a mile to an on ramp where there was more room so the spare could be accessed.  Would have been nice to have something that could be accessed from the back in this situation.
 
It probably depoends somewhat on where you travel too.  We frequently travel through area without cell phone coverage so if we had a flat and no spare, we would be waiting a long time.  I've had two flats in areas that did not have cell phone coverage and was glad I had a spare.
 
Just for folks that have a spare but know they could never change a flat because the lug nuts take a massive amount of torque to loosen, I see that you can now buy (about 160.) a small light torque multiplier wrench just for removal of the lugs on trucks/RVs. Watched a little girl (in a short skirt) remove the lugs off a big truck with ease after a man jumping on a 4 foot breaker bar failed to do so, very impressive (the wrench was impressive also). They advertise 40 lbs of pressure results in 2000 lbs of torque.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uribk1Yha6M&feature=related


The Nutcracker - Undo Truck Wheel Nuts Easily
 
Just had my six tires replaced and used the best 6 year old for the spare, but at the time I seriously considered just carrying the tire without the rim and letting coachnet mount it when needed. It would save a bunch of weight, and it would have been a lot easier to get it in and out of the bay....probably should have gone that way.
 
Just had my six tires replaced and used the best 6 year old for the spare, but at the time I seriously considered just carrying the tire without the rim and letting coachnet mount it when needed.
Mine are 22.5's so I do not have a rim. I will carry a spare tire though when traveling in out of way areas so I know I can get back on the road if the tire is destroyed. Then I don't have to wait for the correct tire to be shipped in and pay that "special" price.
 
Hi Ho:  If your Adventurer is like our Suncruiser the spare is in the back underneath.  The easy to take it out and back in is with a floor jack.  I have wondered how I would do it in the boondocks but in 11 years have not had to do that.  Changing the front tire at home was relatively easy with impact wrench and floor jack.  I just use the RV jacks to get the tire off the ground.
Dirk
 
My class C Coachmen (Ford chassis) has a spare on one of those crank-up/down cables underneath.  As with most all of with this type of spare stowage, it is in the center between the frame members.  One has to crawl under to drag it out and it ain't light.  I found that if I carry a hall runner carpet about 6-8 feet long, I can roll it out and under the spare, crank the spare down and drag it out.  The winch cable has to be long enough to allow this and mine just happens to be.  But, if the cable is not long enough to accommodate this, I betcha a longer cable could be installed.  Oh yes, the carpet runner doubles as a dirt catcher at my entry steps when I don't want/need a larger carpet.
 
I carry an unmounted spare in a rack I made that is attached underneath to the frame just in front of the rear wheels.  My OEM tires are Michelins and an odd size.  I ordered the exact Michelin tire and it took 7 business days to come in. 

It may be a bit of a pain but I'd hate to be stranded somewhere waiting days for a tire to come in, and at what rip off price?

My choice, I'll probably never need it, but I'm glad it's there.  Just a simple call to my ERS and have a tire guy come out and mount and install the spare.

Best Regards!
 
Yep....Coachnet has my $500 spare tire.  ;)

Actually, Winnebago doesn't include an OEM area for a 22.5" spare tire in any units that I know of. (that's what size ours is).  Like others have said, I wouldn't want to carry around an extra 200 lbs.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
131,749
Posts
1,384,216
Members
137,520
Latest member
jeep3501
Back
Top Bottom