Spare wheel,

[Corky 8]

Having once lived in an area frequented by Travellers/Tinkers. and hearing regular tales of Spare wheels going missing from vans/trucks, and as my Spare needed checking, I decided to see how easy it would be to remove my spare wheel , Mine being under the rear of the M/H , its open to all. Pull up two pins push back pin holder carrier and spare wheel drops down slide out spare, not even one Minute, and how much would a alloy wheel plus tyre cost to replace, I shudder to think, I checked the tyre presure and wheel condition ( corrosion had started even on the un-used spare ) sprayed WD40 on the alloy part of the wheel wrapped the whole wheel in a large plastic bag and replaced everything back, adding a short piece of Chain and a padlock around the carrier and securing it to the back of the tow bar , (I will remove the pins and replace them with two long shank padlock asp). How many more of you have an underslung spare wheel and when was the last time you checked yours , Corky :-D

[Clive]

Hi Corky,

Our spare wheel (like all the rest) is steel. Stronger, cheaper and less attractive to thieves. Its also less likely to end up with siezed nuts due to corrosion caused by electrolytic action between dissimilar materials. Like yours its under the back but you need a spanner to release the two clamps that hold the rear of the cradle up.

I believe that wrapping your spare in a plastic bag will do more harm than good as wet WILL get inside, by condensation if nothing else and the dampness will be retained by the bag for weeks!

Best aproach I believe is regular inspection, keep it fully inflated and cleaned. How about fitting a simple stone guard just in front of the wheel position? My guard is called a water tank!

 

Happy new year.

 

C.

 

[fred grant]

if yous worried about yer spare wheel me ansum corky, then spare a thought for all those motorhomers who bought a new van in 2007. Most ad no spare wheel anyway my biddy, so as they they down under, no worries!!!!

 

now alices spare wheel, thats a different story.

 

flatulantfred

[sshortcircuit]

Have secured mine using a motorcycle chain and padlock from Aldi/Lidi. Very robust and you would need to get under with disc cutter.

 

Proposing to carry a can of puncture repair to cover situations where you want off the road/motorway quickly.

 

Although I do not need to, removal of the spare would add a considerably ammount to the user payload available.

[Derek Uzzell]

Any owner of a Transit-based Hobby T-600 FC like mine should have no concerns whatsoever over their motorhome's spare-wheel being pinched, as it's near as dammit impossible to remove it with the Ford tools provided with the vehicle. It's quite likely that other motorhome manufacturers' coachbuilt designs that use a Transit FWD platform-cab chassis with the spare-wheel slung beneath the floor-pan are just the same.

 

When Porsche introduced the famous 911, Motor Sport magazine published a report on it. This mentioned that the vehicle carried a 'skinny' emergency spare wheel beneath the sloping front bonnet but, due to the very limited space there, the wheel was stored with its tyre deflated. "Not to worry", explained the report, as Porsche provided a 12V electric tyre-pump and a big plastic bag. If your 911 suffered a puncture, you removed the emergency spare wheel, inflated its tyre with the pump, removed the punctured road-wheel, put the spare on, put the road-wheel in the plastic bag, put the bag + wheel in the passenger seat (as the road-wheel was far too bulky to fit beneath the bonnet) and off you went.

 

A letter to Motor Sport subsequently asked "What do you do if you are carrying a passenger? You can hardly expect a lady friend in her best party frock to happily nurse a big alloy wheel and tyre in her lap, protective plastic bag or not."

 

Follow-up letters included the following helpful suggestions:

 

1. That's when you'll find out whether or not she really loves you.

 

2. Telephone your butler and instruct him to send the chauffeur down with the Bentley so you can continue with your journey. Chauffeur to change wheel on Porsche and deal with puncture repair.

 

3. Give lady friend the taxi fare home and directions to nearest phone-box. Porsche wheels and tyres are hard to obtain and terrifyingly expensive, so it makes no sense to leave the punctured tyre/wheel at the roadside and risk it being stolen. Much cheaper to placate an angry lady with a sumptuous gift later than have to fork out for a stolen Porsche wheel. And, if the lady isn't your wife, you can forget the sumptuous gift as anyone who can afford to own a Porsche 911 should have absolutely no trouble finding a replacement girl friend.

 

This was of course in pre-Political Correctness days...

[Corky 8]

Hi Clive,Fred,Derek.Sshortciruit

Thanks Clive the only reason I wrap my spares in Plastic is to protect it from stone chips and the salt they tend to throw on the roads this time of the year, I do try to check the spare regularly ,but I do like the idea of a stone guard, I,m now looking for a large plastic barrel to cut the bottom out of, with holes drilled in to let the water out of coarse. on the same theme I have just sent away for 4 mudflaps from a HGV spare supplier at only £5.89 +vat each for a 22"wide by 12"drop they have to be worth a go at, there are no fixings with it but thats not a problem. I will see what they are like when I get them and post the Web Site if they are ok, someone was asking for them in an earlier thread , Fred your right, and I do make a point of having a spare ,sometimes a few, and I think if I was buying a new van I would insist on a spare,but on M/H without spares there is no designated place for a spare. poor souls. The Motorbike chain lock I will obtain from my son who has to many to use all at once,thanks for reminding me Sshortcircuit , Dave you can tell the rich ones by the car s they own ,I think you were speaking from experience there what with knowing when to call the Butler an all. May I wish everyone a Happy ,Healthy and Prosperous NEW YEAR :-D

[Mel E]

SS,

 

Interesting that Aldi/Lidl (I can't remember which) were selling extending handle bolt cutters this summer. At the time I thought: 'Now they should be just the job for cutting thru Aldi/Lidl padlocks.' - let alone the chain. No need for a disc cutter and power lead!

 

Mel E

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