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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.
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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.
I have always carried a spare with no intention of changing a wheel. Threw a tread in SW MO a few months back. The good old boys who drove 40 miles from Springfield and did the job at about 8PM in the dark. Believe me it would have been a more extended stop if somebody had to go find and mount a new tire. They were not equipped to put tire on the rim if I had carried an unmounted spare. They had air compressor, but no other related equipment.
Ralph
I had the same experience with the trailer which blew a couple of the Chinese Carlisles that are excuses for tires. After a 5 hour wait on a turnpike in OK the guys arrived with new tires and the fitting equipment. The coach blew a driver side rear on I 35 twice in 30 miles as both were Michelins. I drove on the rim dragging the hitch well dug into the asphalt until I could get onto an off ramp. So now I have G rated tires on the coach and the trailer with 19.5 inch on the former and 17.5 on the latter. Overkill? Perhaps but try jacking a rig on the driver side with no shoulder! Were it not for the tiny geared jack that Ford supplied I would probably still be there on pushing up the daisies. My 3 ton bottle jack would not fit under any part of the undercarriage because the rig was on the rim. Could not unhitched either because the trailer jack could not lift the trailer and the coach.
Bill, Virgil Dutton lives in Fort McDowell, AZ and designed and produced a custom rear tire carrier to mount on Born Free's old style rear bumper. He built them in batches and sold them via an ad on our Leap'n Lions website. I believe it was back in year 2014 that he said he was going to produce his last batch and would not be making any more.
If you are a current member of our Born Free Leap'n Lions RV Club, you can access Virgil's contact information on our website's Membership Roster webpage.
Bill Hemme - Spencer, Iowa
E-mail: whemme@earthlink.net
2002 Born Free (Ford E-450 V10) 26' RSB
2016 VW Golf GTI - toad
I haven’t any current information on how to contact Virgil. Bill Hemme is on target. Virgil did say when he made mine that he was not going to make them any longer. I guess if you can contact him he may have changed his mind. Virgil was elderly when he made mine 6 yrs ago. It now may be too difficult for him.
Dallas Baillio
2001 26RSB
Born Free Leap'n Lions RV Club Member