Beware! Spare tire stolen

[pawpaw47]

Just a head's up everyone!
On our way home to Texas from visiting family in the Cincinnati and Indianapolis areas, we overnighted at the Hinton RV Park in Sikeston, MO. That night some low life stole my bumper mount assembly and spare tire. I can't believe we didn't hear anything - the SOB's knew what they were doing. I know it was stolen at this park because the day before I had put another coat of 303 Protectant on the spare tire cover.
I didn't notice it was missing until the next day when we had a flat and I went to get the spare. It was GONE! I called the RV Park to report the theft and left a message (no one answered the phone). They didn't even bother to return my call! Wow, how disappointing!
We were on I-55 headed south and had to limp along on the shoulder at about 10 - 15 MPH for about 4 miles until we got to the next exit. I called my emergency service company Coach Net. They were awesome and help was on the scene in about an hour with a new tire. The tech mounted a new tire on the rim on the scene and we followed him to their tire shop (about 7 miles away). After inspecting the other three tires very carefully, I decided to replace all of them with new 10 ply tires. The only brand they had in stock was Travel Star. I had no choice. I've never heard of them, have any of you?
My new spare tire will not be mounted to the bumper, I'm going to carry it in the covered bed of my truck.
Lesson learned!

[pawpaw47]

atwowheelguy wrote:
My TT is a toy hauler with no rear bumper. The spare is mounted with a winch lift under the floor behind the axles. Out of sight, out of mind. Something to consider.

https://store.lci1.com/products/cargo-security-storage/cargo/spare-tire-racks-receivers

Good idea. I'll check into it. Thank you

[atwowheelguy]

My TT is a toy hauler with no rear bumper. The spare is mounted with a winch lift under the floor behind the axles. Out of sight, out of mind. Something to consider.

https://store.lci1.com/products/cargo-security-storage/cargo/spare-tire-racks-receivers

[Mr_Beebo]

I can feel our kids roll over in bed at the other end of our camper at night.
That said, I might confuse said vibration by the tire thief for someone stirring inside.

I would probably put a pillow case over the tire next time and keep it in my bunk. Problem solved and I'd have good neck support.

[Horizon170]

A big thick chain and a large lock has solved the lost tire problem for me.

[Mr_Mark1]

Whether it was stolen or fell off, it's gone now. I feel for the OP poster as well as it really wrankles me when people steal stuff.

Now back to the 'fell off scenario'. I've seen so many things fall off over the years and have dodged many things on the highway/freeway. It is so extremely dangerous when things fall off as you all know.

If it's possible that the bolts can come loose, that should be on the inspection list before departure.

Just the other day, I noticed a piece of metal in my driver's side tag tire. It did cross my mind that someone might have wedged it under my tire for me to roll over. I didn't pull it out as I made that mistake with my SUV once when a nail was in the side wall. I pulled it out and air started coming out so I put it back in and the air stopped escaping. I drove straight to the tire store.

While I was in for an oil/filter change on the coach, I had the tech look at the tag tire. The metal piece was just in the tread, no air loss (dodged $1000 bullet as Michelin 365's tires run about that at the Prevost shop).

Safe travel to all, keep everything glued down!
MM.

[Bucky_Badger]

TomG2 wrote:

mgirardo wrote:

DutchmenSport wrote:
My question is? Didn't the OP do a walk around the camper when he pulled out of that campground? If he did do a walk around, wouldn't he have noticed the tire gone?

He said he did do a walk around and he did not notice the spare was gone.

OP's second post.

-Michael

If he missed it on the walk around, who is to say that he did not miss it the evening before? Could have been stolen hours or even days before..

Because this is in the first post

I know it was stolen at this park because the day before I had put another coat of 303 Protectant on the spare tire cover.

[down_home]

I haven't read all the posts but...When we had our Fifth Wheel until 2006, there were many reports of stolen trailer tires. Seems most of the tires from the factory didn't last long. Our's didn't; Goodyear Wranglers.
So I suspect that was the reason so many were stolen.
Batteries and boxes on the outside back then and even propane tanks and bikes on ladders etc.
And... we still see coolers and chairs and ladders and septic drain lines,but not so many tires, on the shoulders and more so in the medians of the Interstates.
Since his mount was missing too I would suspect theft. I haven't looked at many spare tire mounts on Trailers in a long time so I 'm not up on what might com loose or give way. Most new ones, tht I've seen have spares underneath somewhere or none at all.
If in fair health and a little time safety break cables could be ingeniously placed around a spare or things and underneath to a loud alarm and battery.
The better and or larger RV parks now have gates and no one in and out during the night. Of course a lot of these tales or instances seem to revolve round, some Campers laving as soon as they can and perhaps taking some of our goodies.

[K_and_I]

WTP-GC wrote:

pawpaw47 wrote:

I hope this doesn't happen to anyone else. It sure put a damper on the whole trip.
Happy camping everyone - stay safe and be aware!

OP, don't feel like it put a damper on your trip. Instead, see the bright side of things. I'm one of those people that believes everything in this entire world happens for a reason, so things like luck and coincidence are not concepts I believe in.

So you didn't have the spare tire, which meant you weren't going to be able to fix it on the side of the road. Considering that only a few weeks ago, a family of 5 that was passing through our area died when the driver of their vehicle veered off the road and collided with a disabled tractor-trailer...perhaps not having the option of replacing the tire on the side of the interstate wasn't a bad thing.

Here's another one. Its safe to say that so many RV'ers don't pay any mind to their primary tires, let alone their spare tire. So (without presumption) what if the spare tire was bad and you went on your merry way after putting in on...only to have a major blowout down the road that might have caused several thousand in damage to your rig.

pawpaw47 wrote:
After inspecting the other three tires very carefully, I decided to replace all of them with new 10 ply tires.

So lookey here...you determined that your tires needed to be replaced as a result of this. What if you had the spare, installed it, and got on your way without noticing that the other tires were bad. Let your imagination be the guide as to what could have happened in the event that one or more of those tires failed.

I'm not in the guessing game of stolen vs. fell off. OP believes it was stolen, and since I'm not there, that's good enough for me. Either way, I'm sure the OP was not a happy camper at the moment, but sometimes blessings come out of unfortunate situations...even those blessings which you're unaware of.

I'm old enough to remember this:

No That's Good

[Lantley]

TomG2 wrote:

mgirardo wrote:

DutchmenSport wrote:
My question is? Didn't the OP do a walk around the camper when he pulled out of that campground? If he did do a walk around, wouldn't he have noticed the tire gone?

He said he did do a walk around and he did not notice the spare was gone.

OP's second post.

-Michael

If he missed it on the walk around, who is to say that he did not miss it the evening before? Could have been stolen hours or even days before.

I think he mentioned adjusting the spare tire cover the night before.
Maybe he should have checked the bolts as well?:@.....
Maybe the nice neat cover attracted the thief

[DutchmenSport]

TomG2 wrote:

mgirardo wrote:

DutchmenSport wrote:
My question is? Didn't the OP do a walk around the camper when he pulled out of that campground? If he did do a walk around, wouldn't he have noticed the tire gone?

He said he did do a walk around and he did not notice the spare was gone.

OP's second post.

-Michael

If he missed it on the walk around, who is to say that he did not miss it the evening before? Could have been stolen hours or even days before.

I missed that I guess. But supposing the OP did just overlook the tire missing, I suppose everyone is entitled to a brain fart every now and then. How many times have you started to pull out and someone yelled across the campground ... "Antenna UP! Antenna UP!" or "Black tank cap open! Black tank open!" Or... This actually happened to a poor fellow last March. I yelled to the top of my lungs and couldn't stop him ... "Jack still down! Jack still down!"

I still think it was stolen though and did not fall off.

[TomG2]

mgirardo wrote:

DutchmenSport wrote:
My question is? Didn't the OP do a walk around the camper when he pulled out of that campground? If he did do a walk around, wouldn't he have noticed the tire gone?

He said he did do a walk around and he did not notice the spare was gone.

OP's second post.

-Michael

If he missed it on the walk around, who is to say that he did not miss it the evening before? Could have been stolen hours or even days before.

[mgirardo]

DutchmenSport wrote:
My question is? Didn't the OP do a walk around the camper when he pulled out of that campground? If he did do a walk around, wouldn't he have noticed the tire gone?

He said he did do a walk around and he did not notice the spare was gone.

OP's second post.

-Michael

[1968mooney]

4 pages discussing if stolen or lost. What difference does it make? It's gone. Preparing for either is quite simple. Keep the attaching bolts tight and be very observant of all the thieves that hang out in campgrounds.

[toedtoes]

If you read through the posts, the OP came back and stated that he DID do a walk-around before leaving the campground. He said that he sensed there was something "off" but couldn't identify it. He double checked all his "before driving away" checklist items, but the missing tire/holder didn't register.

He also said that the TT bedroom is in the front and that they had the A/C going all night.

So, it still doesn't prove stolen over lost, but makes stolen less "unbelievable".

For me, in situations like this where it really could have been either way (stolen or lost), I choose to believe the one that is less negative towards other folks. It feels better to me.