Spare tire carrier

There are mounts that hold the tire under the tongue. It has a cable that pulls the tire up, and holds it tight. Try a RV dealer. They should have one. My TT does.

Move it under the front of the trailer. 95%of spare tires are never used so why not get it out of site under the trailer. I saw recently that CW is selling a mount for under the trailer. I made one pretty cheap out of some box tubing and angle iron.

I have the mount that places the spare flat under the trailer frame .
It cranks down with the 3 /4 " socket wrench that the stabilizer jacks use to go up and down .
mine is immediately forward of the trailer axles .
but you can mount the spare well forward depending upon your frame crossmember location .

Lance TTs have the spare in the tongue A-frame. I think there's another brand that does too. Not sure if you could just bolt one in or you'd need to do a bit of welding. You also need to remove the standard battery box supports. The battery(s) would have to be moved somewhere and then you be taking away the tongue weight you want to add. Warranty-wise, this may or may not work and I would confirm with the dealer. Could get rather costly too I would think unless you did most of the work yourself.

BAL makes a spare tire carrier that goes underneath called the hide-a-spare. It comes in 4 different versions depending on your type of frame. Available here on sale for $199 totalHide-a-spare or here at reg. price for $160 totalHide-a-spare (cost may vary depending on your ship to location)

You could mount the BAL carrier as far front as possible, just rear of the A-frame. I think this would be the better way to go and would be close to the amount of weight added by having the tire in the A-frame. It's a simple bolt on too. You'd need to locate it so it doesn't conflict with the stabilizers. I'd like to install one if I can talk DW into it.

Some have gone to an auto wrecking yard and removed the spare tire carrier from under a pickup truck and adapted that. Do-able but not a simple bolt-in job.

Just what is your tongue wt. and GVW of the TT? The factory specs say dry hitch wt. is 739 lbs and dry wt. is 5676 lbs which works out to 13%. I would expect it to go up when fully loaded. It doesn't list GVWR but it should be 6701 lbs (CCC + dry weight). Not knowing the TT's actual weight, you want a minimum of 10% of the GVWR or 670 lbs, but the factory amount is above this.

How much additional weight have you added for DS's special needs? You'd have to add quite a bit to upset front - rear balance that much. And then I'd be questioning whether or not you've exceeded the GVWR, which you don't want to do.

People often say you can shift weight around by loading things differently. Personally, I just don't see how that can really be accomplished by any amount that will really make a difference. It's not like you can load all your food and supplies on your bed and then move them back into the kitchen when set up at the CG.

One of these http://store.lci1.com/spare-tire-winch-with-offset-cable-p100.aspx mounted to some cross bracing. I had one on my Heartland and the spare tire was mounted under the front tongue.

Huh... I just found this Lippert under chassis storage unit that also carries a spare tire. If it's more weight you definitely must have, this is good for 75 lbs. But if you want it up front on a TT, it might hang down too low. The storage compartments would be good for sewer fittings, chocks, etc. Only $519 plus shipping for the double box version with tire carrier. :W

under chassis storage

Just for curiosity sake, what where the weights? Where you weighing tongue with the WDH bars unhooked?

How about water, black, and gray locations and levels?

Can't remember all the #s and the paperwork is in the truck with DH and DS...sent them on a Wal-Mart trip so I can enjoy some quiet time...But the tongue weight was 405....way lower than we expected. We guesstimated all DS' s extras at maybe close to 200#. We try to pack carefully and this model has most of the weight in the rear to begin with. We hate to pull in for the night and have to rearrange the whole trailer, but need a Plan B for the trip home. When we make our next regular trip without the extras we're going to reweigh. DS truly hates camping and the ONE trip each year is to FL for spring training. He lives and breathes baseball, so as long as he can handle the trip it's a given...just have some tweaking to do. Will check the BAL and the link above. Many thanks for the suggestions. BTW...sunny and low to mid 80's ....maybe spring will actually happen.

405 lbs sounds awfully light compared to the TT's GVWR and the factory dry tongue wt. The dry tongue weight usually goes up, and in some cases nearly double (like ours did). You would have to add a lot of cargo or mods to the rear of the TT to lighten the tongue that much. I think the weighing procedure and/or math was not correct so don't buy a spare tire carrier just yet.

How did you weigh it all? With a TT, it takes 3 separate passes at a scale. One with TV and TT and WDH hooked up. Another with TT and TV hooked up but WDH bars in TV. Then just the TV. If you're a little unclear on how to do the math from the scale numbers, just ask. When weighing, the TV and TT should be all loaded up with everyone and everything you would have for a camping trip and the TV should have a full tank of fuel.

If you wanted to take it a step further, you could also figure out how much weight is being transferred by the WDH to the steer and drive axles and the TT axles and also the actual payload capacity of the TV.

If you think your tongue weight could vary due to changes in how much you load into the TT and where it goes, you might want to invest in a Sherline tongue scale. tongue scale

dadmomh wrote:
Can't remember all the #s and the paperwork is in the truck with DH and DS...sent them on a Wal-Mart trip so I can enjoy some quiet time...But the tongue weight was 405....way lower than we expected. We guesstimated all DS' s extras at maybe close to 200#. We try to pack carefully and this model has most of the weight in the rear to begin with. We hate to pull in for the night and have to rearrange the whole trailer, but need a Plan B for the trip home. When we make our next regular trip without the extras we're going to reweigh. DS truly hates camping and the ONE trip each year is to FL for spring training. He lives and breathes baseball, so as long as he can handle the trip it's a given...just have some tweaking to do. Will check the BAL and the link above. Many thanks for the suggestions. BTW...sunny and low to mid 80's ....maybe spring will actually happen.

When I weigh TW I will pull onto the scale so the tongue jack is as close to center (without the trailer axles touching the scale) and unhook and pull away. No math makes for a better reading.