New Style Tire Carrier

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bigdipper
Posts: 353
Joined: Thu May 27, 2010 3:13 pm

Post by bigdipper »

stevek wrote:Hi Ralph,
You mention "on an AK caravan who had just bought new units were told to have spares tied down on the roof.."

Has anybody actually seen a spare tire on the roof?
If so, how do they get up and down?
Or maybe it is just a loose tire on the roof, and not mounted to the rim?

Thanks.. :D
The tires were mounted, put inside metal housings with a chrome band around outside. They were in the roof area with the tie town bars. I never inspected how they were held there, nor were any taken off roofs on the trip.
That's the best of my memory, and I most certainly would not recommend the set-up.
Personally, I am not currently using the hitch carrier. We don't sleep in the overhead so mattress is removed. With Kim's blessing, the mounted spare is above pax side held in place with nylon ties to lag screw eye-bolts.
One needs to not put the eye bolts in too far! This helps add weight to the quite light front end.
Ralph
Ralph
2011 24RB
Former 2001 23RK
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shilohdad
Posts: 436
Joined: Tue May 23, 2006 9:58 am

Post by shilohdad »

OK, so here is some flame bait, perhaps!

We do carry a spare mounted on a rim in our under-bed storage. Yes, it takes a fair amount of room, but we feel more comfortable having a mounted spare, just in case. But we don't want to put a spare tire on the rear.

For those who mount a spare on the rear, or want to mount a spare on the rear, have you weighed your coaches? Our 24' RB is basically at the limit of our rear axle without mounting a spare tire carrier on the rear (which has quite an overhang). Yes, we are packrats to a certain extent, as we go out for several months at a time. However, even if we left out a fair amount of gear, we would still probably be quite near the rear axle limit. Putting over 50 lbs. hanging out the back would probably put us well over the rear axle limit. Is that OK? Maybe. Maybe not.

So, let the flames begin!
Joe and Lucinda
Tonto, Meadow and Shadow, the papillons
Shiloh and Morpho at Rainbow Bridge
2017 Spirit
Formerly 2006 24RB
bill crommett

spare tire

Post by bill crommett »

For years we carried a spare in the back seat area of our Tracker toad. But now I am contemplating a trip all by my self, and to un-hitch the towbar has always been a two person job. So I have unmounted the tire and will place it on the roof as soon as I can figure a way to secure it without leaving it exposed to the elements. I have a BFT / 2004 and would like some ideas as to how to cover and secure the unmounted tire on the roof.
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whemme
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Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2005 8:05 pm

Post by whemme »

I carry a mounted spare in the front side of the compartment under the Flexsteel sofa. Have carried it for 14 years and never had to use it but that is OK - it is there if I ever need it.

However, I can attest to how heavy that mounted spare is and I can assure you I would never attempt to haul if up to the roof using the rear ladder. I think you would need to park the coach under a tree with a suitable limb and use a block and tackle to host it up on top. Then if you ever needed to get it down again, the only way to do that in my opinion would be to throw it off.
Bill Hemme - Spencer, Iowa
E-mail: whemme@earthlink.net
2002 Born Free (Ford E-450 V10) 26' RSB
2016 VW Golf GTI - toad
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Dallas Baillio
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Joined: Sun Jul 02, 2006 10:52 pm

Post by Dallas Baillio »

Shilohdad,

I weighed my BF on a public scale in Alberta. I was 196 lbs. over the allowed rear axle weight. I had a full gas tank, full propane and almost full water tank. I always use the water aboard and never hook up directly to a water outlet so whatever water weight I have is either in the fresh water tank or the holding tanks. I am travelling in my BF almost full time so I have even more clothing (winter and summer), etc. than an occasional traveler.

I am not sure of the weight of the spare mounting assembly, but as I recall I weighted my spare with rim once and it was 70 lbs. Someone may wish to confirm this.

I don't feel I really need to be concerned with 196 lbs. overweight. If it had been 500 lbs. then I would want to make changes to my weight distribution.


PS: Looks like Sam Ryan took Bill Crommett's bait :lol:
Dallas Baillio
2001 26RSB
Born Free Leap'n Lions RV Club Member
bill crommett

the stupid program

Post by bill crommett »

Bill: As administrator could you please do something to make the message reply a little more friendly. I don't know how many times I have had to re-type a message because I wanted to leave a line blank and hit return, as all other Word programs allow. So the message I have typed is now gone to cyber purgatory someplace and I have to start over. Do what you can, please.
bill crommett

spare tire

Post by bill crommett »

Sam: I was not asking for critique on my motives for putting the spare on the roof. I was asking for ideas as to securing it when I get there and ways to protect it from the weather. Any ideas will be gladly accepted.
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whemme
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Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2005 8:05 pm

Re: the stupid program

Post by whemme »

bill crommett wrote:Bill: As administrator could you please do something to make the message reply a little more friendly. I don't know how many times I have had to re-type a message because I wanted to leave a line blank and hit return, as all other Word programs allow. So the message I have typed is now gone to cyber purgatory someplace and I have to start over. Do what you can, please.
Bill Crommett, hitting the return key on your computer's keyboard should not result in your typed message up to that point being lost. I hit the return key all the time to start a new paragraph and I never experience a lost message as you report. I am not positive but you must be hitting another key such as the delete key by mistake causing you typed message to be lost.

I do recommend however if you are going to type in an especially long message to do this: First type your message into a word processor program such as Microsoft Word. Then every so often as you type the message, save the message to Word. Do this saving process several times as you type in the long message. Then when you are done typing in the message, simple cut and paste it over to the Message Body part of you intended post on our forum.

The forum we use is a commercial phpBB forum and there is really no way to change the way the forum responds to keyboard key strokes.
Last edited by whemme on Mon Aug 19, 2013 6:03 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Bill Hemme - Spencer, Iowa
E-mail: whemme@earthlink.net
2002 Born Free (Ford E-450 V10) 26' RSB
2016 VW Golf GTI - toad
bill crommett

Post by bill crommett »

Thanks, Bill.
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shilohdad
Posts: 436
Joined: Tue May 23, 2006 9:58 am

Post by shilohdad »

Dallas,

Assuming you weighed your coach with that spare tire mounting already on, you are probably correct - 196 pounds over is probably safe.

When we got our coach 4-corner weighed by Walter Cannon of the RV Safety & Education Foundation, we found we were 50 pounds over. He said that is OK. He has had some coaches where they were several hundred pounds over the limit. THAT is a problem. So, is 196 too much? I don't know. Just don't start putting a ton of stuff in your back closets!

We took out our cab-over mattress and use that area for storage of some of our heavier stuff. That puts most of the weight on the front axle, which is not even close to the axle limit on our coach. We bought some pull-out bins from Wal-Mart or Target or some such place and use them for storage in the over-cab.
Joe and Lucinda
Tonto, Meadow and Shadow, the papillons
Shiloh and Morpho at Rainbow Bridge
2017 Spirit
Formerly 2006 24RB
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whemme
Posts: 2110
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2005 8:05 pm

Post by whemme »

I researched the weight of the Ford tire rim and the weight of the LT225/75R16E tire used on the Ford E350 & E450 chassis.

The rim used is Ford P/N F8UZ1015AA which is made for Ford by Accuride and their P/N for the rim is P/N 29579. According to the Accuride website, that rim weighs 35 lb. The typical weight of an LT225/75R16E tire is also 35 lbs so total weight is 70 lbs - quite a bit to haul up the ladder to the roof of your BF coach.
Bill Hemme - Spencer, Iowa
E-mail: whemme@earthlink.net
2002 Born Free (Ford E-450 V10) 26' RSB
2016 VW Golf GTI - toad
Virgil and Anne Dutton
Posts: 107
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 11:59 am

Post by Virgil and Anne Dutton »

I have weighed our 2006 BFT with full gear, water, propane and spare tire with spare tire carrier and both of us on board.
The results are:

Front axle: 4020 pounds, GAWR: 4600 pounds.

Rear axle: 7280 pounds, GAWR: 7800 pounds.

Total weight: 11,300 pounds, GVWR: 11,500

The weight of my new style spare tire carrier is 45 pounds and the weight of a tire on a rim is about 75 pounds for a total weight of approximately 120 pounds.

Virgil
2006 22 ft BFT diesel
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shilohdad
Posts: 436
Joined: Tue May 23, 2006 9:58 am

Post by shilohdad »

One thing to consider, the weight added onto the back axle is not just the weight of the combined rim, tire and carrier. Because the weight is added well to the rear of the axle, the weight added to the back axle is greater than that, due to a cantilering affect.

When we bought our 24' RB, Ed Newman sent us a spreadsheet that shows the weights as delivered (total, front axle, rear axle), based upon the installed equipment, weight of said equipment, and where it is installed relative to the front bumper. We then started playing with this, adding what we thought was about what gear we would add, and where we added it. The resulting axle loadings were really quite good compared to what we got when we weighed.

So, I just went back and modifed the spreadsheet, putting in 70 lbs. placed at 24' to the rear of the front bumper (where the spare will be mounted.) A 70 lb. additional weight added about 110 lbs. of weight onto the back axle, due to the cantilvering affect. Of course, if one is removing 70 lbs. from the middle of the coach, assuming one has the spare under the bed, does affect this somewhat, but not all that much.

The moral of the story is that where the weight is put really matters!
Joe and Lucinda
Tonto, Meadow and Shadow, the papillons
Shiloh and Morpho at Rainbow Bridge
2017 Spirit
Formerly 2006 24RB
Virgil and Anne Dutton
Posts: 107
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 11:59 am

Post by Virgil and Anne Dutton »

You are absolutely right. Does it adversely affect drivability and does this affect safety?
2006 22 ft BFT diesel
Vlamgat
Posts: 152
Joined: Sun Sep 29, 2013 9:11 pm

Post by Vlamgat »

[quote="Dallas Baillio"]Janet G,

I don't believe anyone directly answered your question, but I am sure you have figured out that Born Free does not provide a spare with their motorhomes. Just a weird, unexplainable thing. Lots of rather weak explanations have been postulated on this website, but none that can standup to the cold light of day.

:[/quote]

Actually not true. I have a new Triumph with a spare mounted on the rear panel. The main reason why they are options is that demand is low. With the aging demographic few can handle the spare let alone the jacking process or the 150 lb plus torque on the lug nuts. And try and do all that on the driver side on the edge of an interstate at night. If you have not believe me it's as difficult and dangerous as it gets.
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