Spare wheels

[Guest mrs l peterman]

HELP WE OWN A AUTOSLEEPER legend It is impossable for me or my husband to remove the spare wheel from under the motorhome on a 1990 ford transit . Does anybody know the way to mount the spare wheel on the rear(the ladder seems quite firm)

[Guest AlfM]

Hi On our legend (1988), we have a towbar fitted. On the mounting point for the towbar has been welded a vertical piece of steel which has mounting points for the spare wheel. I suppose fitting the spare to the ladder could be done, but I would take engineering advice as to the strength of the ladder mounting points. The spare is a heavy piece of equipment, and the ladder is not designed to have a force permanently pulling it away from the rear.

[Guest Mike C]

If you have to fit a towbar to achieve a carrying point it may also be worth looking at the possibility of fitting a Beeny Box, if there is sufficient space under the vehicle. See website www.beenybox.co.uk. This is likely to be at approximately the same cost eg. From £345 fitted. The wheel would then be in a slide out drawer but would still need to be lifted out. They should be able to advise whether it can be fitted and the maximum weight that the box can support. Regards and hope you solve the problem. Mike C.

[Guest David Powell]

I have seen a Transit Luton Van with the spare wheel on the drivers cab door. I thought it a bit odd at the time, but on second thoughts my 4X4 spare wheel is on the rear door.

[Guest Derek Uzzell]

I echo AlfM's advice - mounting the spare-wheel via a tow-bar extension would be the best solution. Motorhome ladders are engineered to tolerate very occasional use by a human when the vehicle is stationary, not the stress of a heavy weight continuously shaking about on our less-than-smooth roads. Auto-Sleepers' ladders and monocoque body are strong, but not that strong! Besides which, it would look hideous. Mike's slide-out drawer suggestion is worth investigating, but I'm pretty sure the sheer size of the wheel would make a drawer too large to fit in the available space. I believe some later Transit motorhomes carried the spare-wheel more centrally, beneath the vehicle's side floor, so it might be possible to arrange this on your 'van with a hinged section of the side-skirt giving access to the wheel - a bit like the Beeny Box set-up but without the drawer. You don't say why it's impossible for you or your husband to remove the spare. If you've got some sort of box or carrier on the back of the 'van that prevents this, then the wheel will obviously need to be relocated. But if (as seems more likely) it's the physical effort involved that's inhibiting you, then it's fair to say that the spare-wheel location (and/or the fixing mechanism) on many motorhomes makes removal/replacement of the wheel by the motorcaravanner impractical in an emergency. Ford's wind-down mechanism (which I assume your Legend has) is probably as good as it gets for a coachbuilt design with a sub-floor-located spare. I used to remove/replace the spare-wheel relatively easily on my Transit-based Herald, but this was always done 'in comfort' and at my own pace. I would not have relished attempting it at the roadside - that's when breakdown/recovery insurance earns its keep. For what it's worth, the technique I used to employ involved first placing an old, smooth-faced 2m x 1m rug beneath the spare-wheel position, then winding the wheel down on to the rug, then pulling the rug backwards, then repeating the winding and pulling process until I could get at the wheel's inner well to release the retainer. Replacement was a variant of the removal procedure - fix retainer, do some winding, push wheel along rug, wind some more, etc. etc. (A piece of heavy-duty builders' plastic membrane might be even better for sliding the wheel on, but the rug worked OK for me and I didn't have any plastic!) Worth emphasising that I never found this a fun experience even in fine weather and with no time constraints.

[Guest Mr Malcolm Peterman]

many thanks for your replies. The problem is age related I am 73 years old and I have trouble climbing under the van and then standing up. no problem in lifting spare wheel and fitting it.I had a puncture a few weeks ago and called the emergency service we belong to(who should be nameless) and they did not tighten the nuts enough costing me a new wheel, nuts & studs. I think the the tow bar will be the best solution

[Guest David Powell]

Have you ever thought of having your tyres puncture proofed Malcolm? All mine have been done for years, just had my latest new set of tyres done at the Newbury Show, I have not had a flat tyre since I started using puncture proofing. I usually use "Tyre-safe" but I think the firm at the Newbury show was called "Protex", All the same stuff I expect.