Sprinter spare tire

[hpdrver]

We recently downsized from a large class A and never carried a spare since we used roadside assistance. With our new sprinter motor home, it carries a spare tire and rim under the frame. I just weighed our motor home loaded and it is 100 pounds overweight. We are thinking about removing the rim and keeping the tire or removing the tire and rim entirely to reduce weight.

Has anyone done this and how much weight did you lose? Has anyone without a spare used coachnet to replace a tire. Is the 16 inch tire easy to find?

[Old_Crows]

If you are over GVWR and or GCWR....even by 100 #s you are operating in a degraded safety environment. Empty tanks. Jeep toad. The simple solution is to take all your "stuff" out of the RV and the Jeep and lay it all out on the tarmac. Go through every item and chuck out what is redundant, unnecessary, not relevant to the "mission" (e.g., your Speedos when you are going North in the winter), the three parkas when one will do. Feather weight every item. Ditch the Wedgewood china for paper plates and plastic ware. You don't need quarts of oil or gallons of DEF. Buy that stuff when you need it. Empty the Jeep!!!

Shedding 100lbs? Should not be a problem. Traveling without a spare? A problem.

I'd not travel without the spare.

[CharlesinGA]

Spares stored underneath tend to get ignored. Pull it once a year and wash it thoroughly to make sure dirt isn't collecting in the rim and rusting it, and of course to check inflation. I wished my spare was underneath, but WBO put the tanks in the rear, widest part of the frame, only place the spare will fit. I measured the big void behind the differential and it is too narrow, sigh.

To answer your question about the availability of the tire, I think you have a LT215/85R-16 which is a fairly easy to find tire. If you want to keep it and expect to use it, make sure you have the tools to do so. Long ½ drive breaker bar, 16 or 18 inch extension, 19mm socket, and remove the jack and make sure it actually works (its a two stage, so it goes quite high). DO NOT depend on roadside service to know the ins and outs of changing YOUR tire/wheel. You need to know this, even if they are changing it. For example, underneath the lugnuts there are conical split washers that can easily become lost during a roadside tire change. Make sure they get properly reinstalled (steel wheels, not sure what they use on Aluminum rims).

Charles
2007 Winnebago View 523H on a 2006 Dodge (Daimler-Chrysler aka Mercedes) Sprinter 3500 chassis (T1N). Bought Sept 2015 with 18K miles on it, Prog Ind HW30C, Prog Dymanics PD4645, Chill Grille, PML/Yourcovers.com deep alum trans pan, AutoMeter 8558 trans temp gauge, Roadmaster sway bar, Fantastic Ultra Breeze hood, added OEM parabolic mirrors and RH aspherical mirror.

[j-d]

I doubt your spare and wheel are anywhere near 75, and even if so, running w/o spare isn't a good way to save weight.

LT215/85R16E in Firestone TransForce weighs 36-lbs.

Maybe 50-something with the rim. I can carry the mounted spare in the same size for our E450. 75 and I wouldn't be doing it.

[midnightsadie]

I don,t worry about it and tow a 18ft ft boat to AZ almost every year. ours is a older one with the I 5cyc MB engine.still gets 17mpg towing the boat. doing 65 or better. you,ll learn to live with less. just look at the item ,if you havn,t used it on the last two trips,you don,t need it. we love ours.

[Horizon170]

The last thing I would worry about is 100# over weight.

[hpdrver]

Draining water out of the tank is not an option. I had the waste tanks empty and only 10 gallons in the fresh water tank. Weights on both axles were below specs so perhaps the best option is to reduce items carried but we are already pretty light. I don't think I can get rid of the 100 pounds by removing stuff.

[DrewE]

The spare apparently weighs approximately 75 pounds from a quick google search. The wheel apparently is about 25 pounds of that, and so the tire would be about 50 pounds. The air in the tire does weigh something, but it's a small enough amount to be neglected in these rough computations.

Removing the wheel from the tire to save weight makes no sense in my opinion; draining three gallons of water out of the fresh water tank would accomplish the same thing. I wouldn't want to travel without a spare, even with roadside assistance, as not having one could easily turn a half hour service call into an all day affair, particularly if it's more an automotive sort of service truck that gets dispatched rather than a big rig truck mobile service.

[EV2]

That weight difference is so insignificant that it is not worth considering. Now, we need a bunch of people out on the runway to pee. We have a sea plane landing.:p

[midnightsadie]

I have your same set up and would not go with out a spare. dump some of your stuff ,that you know you won,t use. coach net is great ,my daughter has used them three times and never a problem. we love our sprinter ,found out a class A just holds more stuff we never used.