spare tire carrier

movinout · 01-06-2008, 07:03 AM

We have a 2001 Adventurer 35U with the Chevy 8.1 Vortec engine. I do not have a spare tire,(that I can find anyhow. From the specs it looks like there should be a drop down cage at the very rear of my unit. My coach is in storage right now so it is a trip to drive there and crawl under it looking for this cage. I will do it in spring when we get to take it out. In the meantime I would like to get a tire mounted on a rim an be able to have it ready for this years adventures. Does anyone else have this same coach and do you have the drop down spare tire rack?

movinout · 01-06-2008, 07:03 AM

We have a 2001 Adventurer 35U with the Chevy 8.1 Vortec engine. I do not have a spare tire,(that I can find anyhow. From the specs it looks like there should be a drop down cage at the very rear of my unit. My coach is in storage right now so it is a trip to drive there and crawl under it looking for this cage. I will do it in spring when we get to take it out. In the meantime I would like to get a tire mounted on a rim an be able to have it ready for this years adventures. Does anyone else have this same coach and do you have the drop down spare tire rack?

bruceh · 01-06-2008, 07:56 AM

I have the same coach and it did not come with a spare. I bought one and carry it in the side compartment behind the entry door. I made supports from wood to keep it out of the way.

Others have had more creative solutions and this is a recurring thread.

Gary CA · 01-06-2008, 09:23 AM

Movinout: Welcome to the forum. Check out this web site for a spare carrier. Also add the year and model of your motorhome in your signature, it will help you later with responses.

http://www.rvtirecarrier.com/

movinout · 01-06-2008, 09:35 AM

Thanks BRUCEH. So you did not find this drop down cage eithor. I thought I was going blind! My sister has the same coach, but it is a 2002 and they have a spare mounted under the coach just behind the rear wheels.

John_Canfield · 01-06-2008, 09:44 AM

And the other option is to not carry a spare. Most of the large Class A's don't carry a spare. I read where the typical large tire like we have has a very thick tread so it is probably more puncture resistant than the typical car tire.

I wanted to carry a spare tire when we did Alaska in '06 so I hauled one on top of the Jeep for thousands of miles and withstood numerous jokes about it ("say - isn't that tire a little large for the Jeep...")

In retrospect I shouldn't have bothered with the spare. Even in the isolated area of the Yukon, worst case scenario was if I had a blowout and the tire couldn't be repaired, I'd have to wait for 10-14 days while one was trucked in. Of course I wasn't on a two week vacation where every day was precious. We had all summer to be up there.

Welcome to the forum!

movinout · 01-06-2008, 09:55 AM

Thanks John,
We do plan on the Alaska trip and that is why I thought it was a good idea to carry a spare. My understanding is that flat tires up there are more common than in the lower 48

movinout · 01-06-2008, 10:18 AM

Would it make any sense to carry a spare without the rim? We have the Good Sam insurance to change flats, but I wonder if they would also mount it on a rim. It would probably also have to be balanced.

Fakrwee · 01-06-2008, 02:07 PM

Last year I went to Alaska for a couple of months.

After debating whether to take a spare or not I arrived at a halfway decision. I took just the tire without the rim. We carried it in the toad and never needed it. It never bothered us but I felt secure that I could find a place to mount it in a emergency faster than I could find a spare.

Now I have one less tire to buy when I get new ones. I already have 21,000 mi. on the rig so that should be pretty soon.

Regardless you'll have a great time.

To

Ding-a-ling · 01-06-2008, 02:17 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by movinout:
Would it make any sense to carry a spare without the rim? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

We carry an unmounted tire, wrapped in heavy polyethylene. I used nylon straps to draw it up between the frame rails at the rear of the coach.

I figure it's easier to call a tire service to mount it than having to wait for one to be delivered from who knows where.

Couple of years ago one of our fellow campers had a flat replaced at a CG. The repair tech removed and remounted a new tire with hand tools while the rim sat on the ground. These guys do that all the time. That's their business.

NeilV · 01-06-2008, 02:54 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by movinout:
We have a 2001 Adventurer 35U with the Chevy 8.1 Vortec engine. I do not have a spare tire,(that I can find anyhow. From the specs it looks like there should be a drop down cage at the very rear of my unit. My coach is in storage right now so it is a trip to drive there and crawl under it looking for this cage. I will do it in spring when we get to take it out. In the meantime I would like to get a tire mounted on a rim an be able to have it ready for this years adventures. Does anyone else have this same coach and do you have the drop down spare tire rack? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes mine has it as has every 2001 35U that I have looked at. The original owner may have used it and not bothered to replace it. It is not a user friendly carrier as it has no built in device for raising or lowering the tire. The user has to provide a heavy jack to safely raise or lower it.

Check out pages 61 & 63 at the following link:

http://www.winnebagoind.com/service/...01/1wfg35u.pdf

Jeeperrmartin · 01-06-2008, 04:26 PM

I carry an unmounted tire, because I had a blowout once, and it took 4 days to get a tire. So when I got all new tires, I kept the good ones for a spare. I take one with me all the time on a trailer. Plus I don't have to worry about someone taking advantage on my situation.

John_Canfield · 01-07-2008, 04:05 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by movinout:
Thanks John,
We do plan on the Alaska trip and that is why I thought it was a good idea to carry a spare. My understanding is that flat tires up there are more common than in the lower 48 </div></BLOCKQUOTE>I have secondhand knowledge of one coach that had tire trouble the summer we were there. We were there from early June to early September. (Speaking of trouble, we won't mention the guy that got distracted by an insect in the coach and managed to damage a good part of his rear cap after driving into an immovable object...)

The aura of driving through a wilderness where you need to be self-sufficient for days on end and suffering through several tire failures was from what I heard a very accurate description of the Alaska Highway 20 or 30 years ago. It is greatly improved and the road is completely paved except for the few miles here and there where it is under repair ("there are two seasons in Alaska - winter and construction.") If we ever go back, all we are carrying for a spare tire is our credit card

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by movinout:
Would it make any sense to carry a spare without the rim? We have the Good Sam insurance to change flats, but I wonder if they would also mount it on a rim. It would probably also have to be balanced. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>My understanding is virtually all of the emergency service trucks that deal with breakdowns of large trucks can unmount/mount your tire right there on the roadside.

I have never read or heard about roadside service taking advantage of a stranded RVer by selling a tire at an inflated price. I'm sure it happens, I just haven't heard about it.

movinout · 01-07-2008, 06:17 AM

Thanks everyone for all the great responses. I have some great ideas to implement. This is a super forum with good participation. RV'ers are in a class by themselves. Nice to be a part of it!

comp-time · 01-07-2008, 11:32 AM

We had a 2004 Adventurer 35U and I still have the original brochure on it. In checking the specifications, the spare tire is standard for the Ford chassis and not available on the Workhorse chassis. So that may explain why some Adventurers have the spare tire and others do not. Since you have the Workhorse chassis, you did not get a spare.

movinout · 01-07-2008, 12:26 PM

Thanks Comp-time, I think that solves the mystery.