Do I need to carry spare tire?

The coach we purchased has a spare tire, rim, etc. stored under the rear of the coach. Don't know what shape it is in and I couldn't get it out from under there anyway. I have back problems so there are some things I can't do and trying to lift a tire that size would probably put me in the hospital.

It also kind of depends on where you'll be traveling. I have made several trips to Alaska and had a flat in the middle of nowhere Canada and if I had not carried a spare tire and wheel with me, the tire guy told me it would have taken him 3 days to get a replacement for me...that's how far out in the boonies we were. As it was, we were only stuck for 4 hours. Tire guy had the spare put on quickly after he got there, and off we drove a couple hundred miles to the next big town and found an industrial area with a large tire place. Bought a used replacement to carry with us the rest of the trip.

Now that I've moved up to 22.5" tires (from 19.5"), I'll get a used tire...that's 108 pounds. Worth the weight to me and basement storage space lost, considering the remote places I like to travel. With ERS, I won't ever be changing it myself, as a good tire truck service will be able to mount it on a wheel and my RV no problem.

First you have to ask yourself if you are physically capable of changing a tire. If not, then your question is answered. If you are capable, I would carry a spare. On a class A, get a VERY big breaker bar and socket so you can get good leverage to get the nut loose. On the bounder, my breaker bar is 3 ft. with a good quality socket. ALSO don't skimp on a very large sized bottle jack.

mike brez wrote:

Ivylog wrote:
50K miles and it has not moved. It will get me out of a bind.

Lol I'm not to shure about that I can almost see a crack in it and looks bald. That thing looks like it will disintegrate once touched. :E

It looks bald because it's encased in plastic. Whether it's old and cracking or not is hard to tell for the same reason, but I'd venture to guess it's in better shape than it seems at first glance.

Ivylog wrote:
50K miles and it has not moved. It will get me out of a bind.

Lol I'm not to shure about that I can almost see a crack in it and looks bald. That thing looks like it will disintegrate once touched. :E

KD4UPL wrote:
I carry a spare for sure. I can change my own tire long before any help would arrive. That's if I'm even in an area with cell phone coverage. I don't know who I would even call for help really. I assume you have to pay these roadside guys for the privilege of being able to call them. Paying for that and an overpriced replacement tire isn't for me.

Maybe on your pickup.this is a class A forum.

YOU REALIZE YOU POSTED IN THE CLASS "A" FORUM>
It does not make much difference but BETTER responses might be gotten from the Class "C" forum

50K miles and it has not moved. It will get me out of a bind.

An outside dually or front tire can be changed without breaking lug nuts, and I've seen YouTube videos of mechs doing this. Emboldened with this information, I put one of my old tires in the basement for the 6 month road trip, picturing myself out on the side of the road with hammers and crowbars changing a tire.

NOT

The spare is coming out as soon as I get home and that will make room in the basement for the stuff I should have bought but didn't, like a real vacuum cleaner instead of the worthless Red Devil we have now.

As has been said. . . it's personal choice.

We chose NOT to carry a spare to begin with. We took a nail in a tire on our 40' Phaeton at 2:30 in the afternoon driving through the Ocala National Forest. Our rig was about two year old. When the road service contacted us back, she told us the tire guy said our 2 year old tires were obsolete, unavailable, and they would not be able to furnish a matching tire. So they wanted to bring us a brand new different branch tire for $600. We said no, bring us a used tire. So we sat for 8 hours while the "service guy" located a tire for us. In the meantime, I called Michelin and asked about our obsolete tires. They said, "What? No way." In fact, 22 miles away from us in Deland, Florida, was Boulevard Tire and the computer showed they had over 200 matching tires for us. Boulevard Tire does not work with most road services because of the way payment is done, etc. Suffice to say, had we known this and called Boulevard Tire, they would have dispatched a truck and within 45 minutes our tire would have been plugged and patched and we would have been on our way. Instead, there we sat waiting. When the guy got there, his used tire was in such bad shape with a "repaired" sidewall, he couldn't get it to seal on our rim. Eventually he did, but he said our other tire was ruined and he would just take it off our hands. We said, "No, we are keeping it."

Following Boulevard Tire's instructions, we drove the 22 miles to their facility arriving at 10 p.m. and boondocked in their back lot. At 7:30 in the morning, they came out, removed the used tire, took our other tire with the nail, repaired the (nonrepairable) tire and sent us on our way. We got another 50,000 miles out of that tire.

So, we now choose to carry an unmounted spare. . . always will. Don't need to be at the mercy of those charlatans who just want to screw you out of your hard-earned money.

Dale