Born Free Leap'n Lions RV Club Info & Discussion Forum

We have a Chevy Tracker for a toad. It had a minimal back seat which we removed and replaced with a fully mounted spare. Because there is minimal structure to prevent the spare from moving in case of a bad accident or a roll-over, I took extra pains to manufacture tie-downs that criss-cross over the spare and keep it in position. Occasionally the tie-down straps get a little loose and have to be tightened.

This arrangement has two constrictions: One is that there is no place to ride a second passenger, and secondly there is little room to carry groceries or other cargo. But the last thing I want to see is a big truck tire coming over the seat at me when I hit a guard rail or bridge abutment.

I'm enclosing 2 photos of the spare tire mount on my BF. I purchased
the unit used so I don't know who made the mount. Perhaps someone
on this list knows.

It's a bit hard to see but there is a threaded fitting welded onto the
receiver froward of the tire. There is an Allen head bolt in the fitting
that can be tightened to eliminate any wobble.

Regards, Roger

I fabricated a clamp from 2 pieces of wood, one spans the inside of the tire and the other goes behind the rear ladder. The 2 pieces of wood bolt together effectively holding the tire against the ladder. The weight of the tire sits on the rear bumper so that neither the ladder nor the clamp carry much weight. A white spare tie cover covers the tire. One drawback to this arrangement is accessing the roof without removing the tire and removing the tire is a bit tedious.

Mike

Roger, I really like the way your spare tire is mounted on the back of your Born Free. But I have one question. How do you access the storage area that is covered by the spare?

I'm using an already establishe thread though old. other than the obvious are there any problems puting a spare tire on the roof.
pressure on roof etc. It seems to me that most people would never need to use the spare tire so leaving it on the roof seems to be a good spot.
any negatives(other than hassle)


gerry

On our 2011 24RB with sleeping area in overhead, I removed mattress, put mounted spare forward on right side. It is strapped and lag bolted to floor. Since we are light on front anyway this killed two birds with one stone and even improves left to right weight since DW weighs less. Incidentally Kim gave me the OK on this insofar as BF structure up there is concerned. It does have downside in slightly raising center of gravity of the rig. Also I hope to not slip a disc if ever removing and replacing it there. Just couldn't resist adding to the many good suggestions already offered.
Ralph

I have a 26 RB and carry the spare tire underneath the couch and slid all the way toward the front. The rear side of the tire is about equal to the front side of the access door. In two previously owned 26', the spare tire was carried in the same place. Works well for us.

I like my spare on the roof. Had Kim put a cover around it and it stays clean, out of the sun, and out of the way. Getting it up and down is not easy, but I will have a tire guy (gal?) changing it anyway and he (she) can help in getting it down. Just did 15,000 miles from Iowa to Key West to Iowa to Colorado to Vegas to Alaska and back and it was a comfort to have a spare tire and rim with me all of the way, even if not used!

thats my logic. if your (probably) not going to use the spare tire why not leave it on the roof.



gerry

When we prepared for an Alaska trip I put an unmounted spare on the roof. I could lift an unmounted but not a mounted. Covered it with a tire cover and wiched it tight into the corner of the roof rack. (One winch around and one over the tire)

When we prepared for our trip to Central America I wanted a mounted spare so we added a hitch receiver to the front and a spare tire mount using the hitch receiver and put a mounted spare there. This had an added benefit of moving weight to the front axel where we were light and I have seen no difference in the heat of the engine when running (I monitor engine heat real time with a scan gauge).

I recommend the front mounted spare as it has worked great for me. I did need to add a gizmo to eliminate movement of the tire mount within the receiver but now everything has been solid with no issues.

Mike, ha ha

Mike,

What gizmo did you use to stabilize the front hitch to keep if from wobbling.

Here are the pictures. (Sorry about the 9000 miles worth of dirt on it right now. ) The black mark on the tire cover is permanent. It's where one of the bikes rubbed on the tire cover for 40,000 miles.

I really like that with this arrangement the weight of the tire is entirely on the bumper with very little stress on the ladder.

The boards are 3/4" plywood. The board behind the ladder is sized to effectively lock it between the steps above and below it. 2 plywood cleats (1 on each side of the board) prevents side to side movement.

If I were to do it again I would try and make the inside board cover the entire tire opening. It collects a little dust but stays surprisingly clean inside despite being open to the elements.

Altogether it cost virtually nothing and has worked perfectly for 6+ years.

The tire cover was inexpensive and I remember ordering it on-line but don't remember where - maybe Camping World.

I hope the pictures help people understand the design and its effectiveness.


Mike

Here are some pics of the front mounted spare. You can find a front receiver being doing a search for "E450 front receiver hitch" or something similar. There are several designs out there. I just went to a local hitch shop and they had one in stock.

The tire mount is a generic receiver/hitch spare tire mount. My searches kept turning up only one design which surprised me.

The gizmo I used for tightening the mount so it wouldn't rattle as you go down the road is a Quietride Hitch pin with Lock. I bought mine off of Ebay and they are still selling them there. On our Central America trip I had to tighten the pin of this gizmo each day for a few weeks and then it suddenly became rock solid and I haven't had to tighten it since for around 18 mos.

I have also included a pic of the unmounted spare on the roof and how its strapped down. The cable you see was to lock the tire down. I locked everthing down before our CA trip including adding locks to the compartment doors that didn't have them.

Mike,

Thanks for the pictures and great info.