Spare Tire Mount..Rear Bumper Best Location?

[jimx200]

We have been leaving our spare tire (mounted on rim) at home but with a upcoming trip to Arizona, we want to carry it. Is the rear bumper the best place to mount it? If so, should it be mounted in the middle or off to the passenger side a bit? Any particular brand of mounting brackets recommended?

Our rig is a Class C, 1999 Shasta Sprite, 22' with the Ford Triton V10. Thanks much!

[Desert_Captain]

We brought a rear bumper mount for our spare and after bouncing through just about every pot hole between Tucson and Maine it fractured leaving the spare hanging at a 45 degree angle. Fortunately our travels on that trip took us through Elkhart and we stopped at the factory and had Nexus custom install a mount up under the rear overhang.

IMHO: Rear bumpers on most RV's are a very poor location to store anything heavy like a spare, bikes, generators etc., unless they have been seriously reinforced.

:C

[IAMICHABOD]

As noted the rear bumper may not be the best choice,although some RVs have them.

To be safe I would suggest mounting the spare using the receiver.

Here are some examples

[Dick_B]

We've had a bumper mount for several years with no problem. Don't know the brand but we bought it from our dealer.

[F1bNorm]

Our Winn has a factory center mount and it gets in the way of the tongue jack on our utility trailer and also when I use a motorcycle rack. I did find solutions for both. The trailer jack was replaced with a side mount folding type and I use a hitch extender for the trail bike rack.

Another thought. If you have a hitch and not using it, get a tire mount that will fit in the hitch. Tow a trailer or a towd, put the spare in the trailer.

Norm

[j-d]

NOT on the square tubular steel bumper unless you reinforce it. No kidding here! After about 30,000 miles, our bumper was tearing where the tubing meets the brackets that bolt it to the frame. A new bumper isn't much over $100 but that's just for the tubing. No brackets and the brackets require welding.

I hate to use up the space and it's heavy to get at, but ours now lives under the queen bed. And under-coach mounting would be great, and a crank-up mounting even better, but we don't have any underbody space that isn't occupied. Hard to believe in a 31-footer, but true. Wish we could, but under the bed it stays.

We've had reports here of a Class C owner having the spare tire mount tear the bumper till the tire dragged on the road. A family member tore the tubular bumper on a popup trailer carrying gas cans on a clamp-on bracket. Those steel tube bumpers aren't really good for much beyond a weak first line of defense in an impact. Far better than a fiberglass end cap. Not really good for sewer hose storage either. The wet hose causes the bumper to rust from the inside out.

[DrewE]

If you have room underneath, the cable hoist ones that mount to the frame are very nice and practical. My class C came with one of those. It does take awhile to crank the spare up and down when needed, but hopefully that's not a frequent occurrence.

I would be rather leery of putting the weight of a wheel on many RV bumpers without reinforcement. The back of a class C may not bounce quite like a trailer, but it does bounce rather more than a car. (If you ever had the privilege of riding in the back of a school bus over rough roads, you'd entirely understand how that works. It's a nice demonstration of a class 3 lever when the rear wheels go over a bump.

[Snowman9000]

(Before anyone says no way, the back bumper on a Class C does not get bounced vigorously up and down like that on a trailer.)

I say fine. Inspect your bumper to make sure it looks solid. Mount it wherever it doesn't interfere with anything like tail lights etc. I doubt if there is any kind of meaningful brand name when it comes to the mounting bracket.