Spare Tire....How many of you carry one?

[Baja_Man]

I have a spare but it is heavy. I need to weigh it but probably around 70#. I have to carry it in a storage compartment and it takes up quite a bit of space.

I know having a spare tire is essential if a flat tire happens, but.......

That being said, in my Class C, GVWR is at a premium. I'd rather have that 70# be used for other items.

I also don't like to have to carry it in one of my storage compartments. Its big bulky, and awkward to lift.

How many of you carry a spare?

Where is it carried?

Have any of you built a spare tire carrier UNDER the rear of your Class C?

[Baja_Man]

without a torque wrench and using a long breaker bar 30"-40", how will you know you meet or exceed the 140 ftlbs required for lug nuts?

[TheSidwells]

All I'm going to say is better safe then SOL.

[falconbrother]

I have changed a tire on my older class A on the side of the road (16 inch). It's not a bad job. Just heavier parts..

[3Fivers51]

I came across this forum and got me thinking. We just bought this class c and I never considered a spare. First I know it was not with the rig and second I just thought we would use the Good Sam insurance. Frankly, actually with a little embarrassment, I have never changed a tire on a dually so I am not sure how much more difficult it would be. Front tires would be ok. But I agree with the one who said how dangerous it is in the first place to change tires on an interstate. I am definitely doing some rethinking on this. It really ticks me off though that the rv manufacturers don't include one. They do on the fivers and tt"s. The more I get into this class c the more I think maybe I should have stayed with the fiver and just worked through those headaches instead of adding more with motorhomes. Bill

[OldRadios]

Unless you want to be at the mercy of whoever brings and charges you whatever price they want for whatever quality tire they have I'd always carry a spare. With most roadside services there's no charge for changing it if you already have a spare.


Mine's bolted into the rear compartment next to the compressor I added. I get a new one whenever I replace the rest.

[Dakzuki]

ron.dittmer wrote:
Baja Man,

I understand you are retrofitting your rig to accommodate a spare tire. I like your plan to mount the tire under the rig behind the rear axle. I assume you verified that you have enough room underneath and have a good place to mount the spare tire winch.

As far as tire-changing tools are concerned, I purchased a 30" long 3/4" breaker bar, a 3/4" extension for the dual rear tire lugs, and the right size 3/4" deep impact socket. The extra long 3/4" bar is strong enough to stand on if necessary. I found everything cheap for sale on the internet with cheap or free shipping.

I work on many different vehicles at an automotive charity. The best professional grade impact tools cannot loosen the worst of stubborn lug nuts on simple cars, and stubborn E350/E450 lugs would be worse yet. An extra long breaker bar is the only means to break stubborn lugs loose, and an extra long 3/4" bar will support the weight of a person standing on the end of it.

There is also another tool you can make yourself that aids in using the breaker bar. Get a piece of wood (your choice but the following will dictate the size) and set it up next to wheel of your RV. Drill a series of holes in a pattern such that the piece of wood will support the extension when torquing on the bar. Just pop the extension/socket through the hole at the right height. The will allow more energy to be expending turning lug nuts and less keeping things aligned.

[Sooboy]

Baja Man wrote:
My Ford E450 chassis does not have a factory one installed underneath behind rear axle. I would like to install one in that location. Are they available from Ford or another source?

I bought an aftermarket spare tire hoist from these guys. Highly recommended. They are an OEM supplier who will also sell direct. In my case, they had one heavy-duty enough for the 22" wheel/tire combo used on my Embark. They have a number of models that will fit a Ford cutaway chassis.

[Baja_Man]

All58Parks wrote:
Going without the spare would be very ill advised. I remounted my from the rear bumper to an under-the-frame mount, right behind the axle. Bought the mounting kit on Amazon for something like $150, was easy to install and works great. Obviously, you're still carrying the weight though.

Interested....Do you have a pic and or Amazon link to the one you purchased?

[DrewE]

Baja Man wrote:
ron--

Yes...I have about 36" between the chassis and a large cavity between the axle and the rear bumper. Spare tire is about 30" in diameter.

I'm carrying the 1/2" impact only for assistance and efficiency. I plan on also carrying similar tools to the ones you mentioned for manual use.

I am considering the TECA winch. I will weld 3 angle iron pieces to chassis (from one side to opposite side). Center one for winch and the two others to stabilize the wheel/tire once it reached the winch and tops out.

At least on my motorhome, the tire tops out resting against the main frame rails, which quite effectively secure it. You might not need two of the three angle irons with a bit of care. My setup does require that the dished part of the wheel face downwards, which is rather inconvenient to manage when winching it up (as gravity wants to make it flop towards a vertical orientation); that's not a big problem in the grand scheme of things as raising and lowering the spare is not a frequent task.

[Baja_Man]

ron--

Yes...I have about 36" between the chassis and a large cavity between the axle and the rear bumper. Spare tire is about 30" in diameter.

I'm carrying the 1/2" impact only for assistance and efficiency. I plan on also carrying similar tools to the ones you mentioned for manual use.

I am considering the TECA winch. I will weld 3 angle iron pieces to chassis (from one side to opposite side). Center one for winch and the two others to stabilize the wheel/tire once it reached the winch and tops out.

[ron_dittmer]

Baja Man,

I understand you are retrofitting your rig to accommodate a spare tire. I like your plan to mount the tire under the rig behind the rear axle. I assume you verified that you have enough room underneath and have a good place to mount the spare tire winch.

As far as tire-changing tools are concerned, I purchased a 30" long 3/4" breaker bar, a 3/4" extension for the dual rear tire lugs, and the right size 3/4" deep impact socket. The extra long 3/4" bar is strong enough to stand on if necessary. I found everything cheap for sale on the internet with cheap or free shipping.

I work on many different vehicles at an automotive charity. The best professional grade impact tools cannot loosen the worst of stubborn lug nuts on simple cars, and stubborn E350/E450 lugs would be worse yet. An extra long breaker bar is the only means to break stubborn lugs loose, and an extra long 3/4" bar will support the weight of a person standing on the end of it.

[mgirardo]

Our Greyhawk came with a rear bumper mounted spare tire. It was a pretty robust mount. However, it did get in the way of a bike rack or hitch haul, so I moved the spare under the queen bed. Had a blowout back in March and was glad to have the spare available for AAA's mobile tire repair to swap for me.

-Michael

[DrewE]

My rig came with a spare mounted on a winch underneath, behind the rear axle. It came with the requisite lug wrench, but not with a jack that I've ever found. The chassis manual is not very helpful with locating the jack on a motorhome; it just says that (on the van body) it's somewhere tucked in a corner near the hinge on one of the rear doors.

I now have a bottle jack and wheel chocks, and can change a wheel without too much drama. On an E-450, an impact wrench is not essential to change the wheel; the lug nuts are torqued to only 140 ft-lbs, not too hard to handle with any halfway decent breaker bar or similar, of course depending on one's physical abilities. If you can't lift the wheel up into position on the hub (and they are kind of heavy and difficult to manage), then it's a moot point whether the lug nuts can be loosened or not.

If you have one of the older E-450 or even older E-SuperDuty chassis with the transmission mounted parking brake, a set of wheel chocks are absolutely positively essential if you're going to be jacking up one of the back wheels. Without a wheel chocked, you have no brakes holding the rig in position if one of the rear wheels loses traction. Whee chocks should, of course, be used anytime one jacks up a corner of any vehicle, but it's doubly important in this case.

For emergency use, I would not hesitate to drive carefully on a spare that is old provided it's not in obviously dilapidated and completely unsafe condition. One presumably isn't going to drive cross-country on the spare at highway speeds, but rather just get to someplace for proper repairs or whatever to be made.

[Baja_Man]

Still deciding on where to carry spare (under chassis mount or use my valuable basement storage).

Purchased a few items at Harbor freight in the event I need to change a tire:

Heavy Duty Impact Wrench

Low Profile Heavy Duty Bottle Jack

12ga x 50' Extension Cord