GrandpaKip wrote:
The spare is mounted on the cargo rack and is under the rack when the rack is lowered. My son has the same setup on his Pioneer. I’m going to tell him he’s got one more thing to keep an eye on.
I had just traveled down I-840 to bypass Nashville. The roadbed has settled just before the bridge abutments and there are also a few construction areas making for a really rough transition between the bridge deck and the roadway surface. This definitely contributed to the failure of the rack. I didn't notice anything odd about the spare during the previous two walk-arounds that day but I also wasn't specifically inspecting the welds on the tire rack so I don't know if this was cumulative damage or just due to the rough condition of the I-840 bridges. This was only the third trip out with a brand-new RV so it's rather disappointing to have had the spare tire mount tear loose. It was due to metal failure of the tubing to which the rack was welded, not the weld itself.
I'm going to install a BAL 28217 spare tire carrier underneath the travel trailer and will not be attempting to repair the original spare tire rack.
