Alko Spare Wheel Carrier is problematic - beware

[BigTim]

I thought I would relate this recent saga as it may help others who have a puncture and have the spare on an Alko spare wheel carrier.

In late August on the way home, via Dunkerque, I discovered, at a night-halt, that our Senator Arizona had a flat tyre. I managed to jack up the van with Alko side-jack. I then with difficulty pulled out the awkward wheel carrier and managed to get out the spare wheel and change it. I then tried to replace the alloy wheel, with the flat tyre,on the wheel-carrier. It would not fit and in trying to fit it I badly scratched the surface of the alloy wheel. In the end I had to squeeze the wheel into the packed car.

On our return to St Helens I took the wheel for refurbishment to the local "Wheelman/Dentman". It was a poor refurbishment and was returned resprayed but scratched. I got a full refund and Tyrecare, who supply my tyres, sent it away to be refurbished.

I picked up the re-furbished wheel from Tyrecare (St Helens) on Wednesday. They had sent it away to a company they use called "Pristine". The wheel refurbishment is a SUPERB job, better than new!!! Tyrecare only charged me what Pristine had charged them, ie, £55.20 (inc VAT) so not much more than the first botched repair.

Tyrecare could not find anything wrong with the tyre and suggested that the flat might have been caused by the valve splitting and blowing out. I don't know when this happened but Tyrecare suggested the strength of the heavy-duty tyre and Tyron band may have prevented further damage to the tyre.

Last Wednesday my son and I set about changing the alloy for the spare. We jacked up the 'van easily with Alko side-action jack on the cul-de-sac outside our home and changed the wheels over fairly easily.

Now for the bad news. We began working on replacing spare wheel on the underslung Alko carrier. What a struggle, there was insufficient clearance to get the wheel on the carrier and back under 'van chassis. Then we dropped the towbar to the road thus increasing ground clearance at the rear. No joy! so we jacked the 'van up again and put down steadies, in case we knocked the 'van off the jack struggling to replace wheel and carrier. Even though I had greased the wheel carrier VERY thoroughly it was VERY DIFFICULT to slide it back under the 'van with the spare wheel on. The thoughtless positioning of the warm-air heating pipe did not help, either. We are both big lads but it took all our strength to get the carrier with the wheel on back in place.

This job took over an hour in ideal conditions, ie, dry flat road, full selection of tools, strong assistant. It would be much harder in a breakdown situation.

Sorry but the design of that carrier is abolute CRAP.

I remember with fondness the underfloor storage well for the spare wheel on our 2 previous Avondales. Just lift the INTERNAL trap door, take out spare AND it would take the wheel with flat tyre too.

With hindsight I know to let the air out of the spare wheel tyre to decrease its weight and thickness if I have to replace the spare in the carrier again.

Hopefully I will never have to use the carrier again!!!

To anyone who has to use the carrier I would recommend letting out some of the tyre's air and gaining ground clearance by dropping the nose of the 'van and jacking it up on carrier pull-out side (put down the steadies when jacked up as it would be easy to knock if off the jack whilst putting the carrier back under the 'van. I would, also, strongly endorse Alko's advice to regularly pull out the wheel carrier and grease the sliding tubes - I had fortunately done this.

I hope this helps anyone who has a puncture and has an Alko wheel carrier.

Regards

Tim

 

[rayc]

Tim, when the wheel carrier was first introduced most caravans had 175 x 13 tyres fitted to steel wheels. It was a bit of a struggle then and I was 20 years younger. My last caravan had 185 x 14 tyres and I noticed the difference in the bulk, [of the wheel and myself!], when removing it for the annual grease up.

Ray; now the proud owner of a motorhome where you do not get a spare wheel but a can of pump up get you home sealer.

 

[Guest]

Thankfully my spare is in the front locker and as I only have a cheapie van, it has steel wheels all round. I did look at fitting the underslung carier but loooking at the one on the van next to me in storage I could see the clearance was very small and if the tyre was flat, it would be a heck of a struggle.

Mind you if it happened to me I suspect I would have thrown the old tyre into the van on the floor until I got home, or cooled off on site.

 

[BigTim]

Hi Ray and Scotchlad

Yes a smaller wheel would help. I think that the whole thing needs a serious re-think. As I said before I don't know why other manufacturers don't follow the Avondale well in the floor idea - it's presumably not patented by anyone anymore, if it ever was, as the AvD company is no longer with us. The Avondale centre-side gas locker, over the wheels, was a good one too - made it much easier to load the 'van correctly.

Regarding steel wheels Scotchlad I wish my 'van had steel wheels. I regard alloy wheels as a REAL PAIN - easily damaged and impossible to keep clean. I would much prefer steel with some durable plastic hubcabs!!! I'm not into looking flash but car and 'van manufacturers seem obsessed with alloy wheels which serve no useful purpose apart from, supposedly, looking good.

I now have 10 alloy wheels to clean and maintain. 4 on each of our 2 cars and 2 on the 'van. They're no sooner cleaned than they're dirty again.

Anyway moan over.

Regards

Tim

 

[vernon]

Hi Ray and Scotchlad

Yes a smaller wheel would help. I think that the whole thing needs a serious re-think. As I said before I don't know why other manufacturers don't follow the Avondale well in the floor idea - it's presumably not patented by anyone anymore, if it ever was, as the AvD company is no longer with us. The Avondale centre-side gas locker, over the wheels, was a good one too - made it much easier to load the 'van correctly.

Regarding steel wheels Scotchlad I wish my 'van had steel wheels. I regard alloy wheels as a REAL PAIN - easily damaged and impossible to keep clean. I would much prefer steel with some durable plastic hubcabs!!! I'm not into looking flash but car and 'van manufacturers seem obsessed with alloy wheels which serve no useful purpose apart from, supposedly, looking good.

I now have 10 alloy wheels to clean and maintain. 4 on each of our 2 cars and 2 on the 'van. They're no sooner cleaned than they're dirty again.

Anyway moan over.

Regards

Tim

And the 'Alloys' are heavier, my steel spare weighs 14kgs, while the 'Alloy' road wheels weighs 15.4kgs.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hi Ray and Scotchlad

Yes a smaller wheel would help. I think that the whole thing needs a serious re-think. As I said before I don't know why other manufacturers don't follow the Avondale well in the floor idea - it's presumably not patented by anyone anymore, if it ever was, as the AvD company is no longer with us. The Avondale centre-side gas locker, over the wheels, was a good one too - made it much easier to load the 'van correctly.

Regarding steel wheels Scotchlad I wish my 'van had steel wheels. I regard alloy wheels as a REAL PAIN - easily damaged and impossible to keep clean. I would much prefer steel with some durable plastic hubcabs!!! I'm not into looking flash but car and 'van manufacturers seem obsessed with alloy wheels which serve no useful purpose apart from, supposedly, looking good.

I now have 10 alloy wheels to clean and maintain. 4 on each of our 2 cars and 2 on the 'van. They're no sooner cleaned than they're dirty again.

Anyway moan over.

Regards

Tim

Hello Tim,

I seriously doubt that the through the floor wheel storage was ever patentable, there just to much prior examples.

 

[KeithJ]

Hi Tim

My alko wheek carrier was removed by the dealer (with my permission) to allow him to fit the mover. The wheel now sits in the front locker - very easy to get to - and the alko carrier has gone to the tip!!!

Keith

 

[BigTim]

Hi

Keith J - Is your spare wheel secured in any way in yor front locker? Doesn't it make your 'van a bit nose heavy?

I'd be interested to hear.

Tim

 

[KeithJ]

Hi Tim. My van is a S6 Pageant Burgundy - so same as yours only a bit cheaper!

There is a well in the front locker on the right hand side (looking in), that is obviously made for the spare wheel. I hold it in place by putting the waste slide under tank in front of it and then one of my Fiamma yellow leveling ramps. The whole lot is quite secure - the wheel can't move width ways across the compartment because the gas bottle is in the way and the waste tank stops it coming forward.

I only ever have one 6kg calor cylinder (a Calor lite now) and a camping gaz cylinder - or often just two camping gaz cylinders, because we do virtually all our caravaning abroad, always between mid April and October when I find we use very little gas and depend on electric hook up except for cooking.

So the weight in the front locker is not very much and I can easily keep the nose weight below 100kg, which is the max allowable for the hitch and within the car's allowance also.

I have been keeping the spare wheel there for two years now, since we had the mover fitted, and never had any problem.

Hope this helps

Keith

 

[otherclive]

I have a s5 Pageant Bordeaux with the spare wheel carrier behind the van wheels. I know from experience just how difficult getting the spare wheel out can be even without the additional hassle of a puncture and uneven ground. So this summer when getting ready fora trip to France I decided mainly on safety grounds to carry the spare wheel in the van. That way if I had a puncture I would not have to remove it from it's carrier when I was in the main traffic flow and not near to the kerb. It travelled on the van floor just over tha axle and wedged with a coolbox. In over 1800 miles towing it did not budge once. When on site I just slid it under the van annd secured it to the chassis with bike chain and lock. It was also hidden from view as it sat behind the awning draught skirt.

 

[BillD.]

This has reminded me to try out my spare wheel carrier (ALKO)

This came as part of the van package (Swift bought in April this year) The Swift has alloy wheels.

We bought a spare wheel carrier separately for our previous van (Sprite-steel wheels) and I remember what a gut wrenching exercise it was to replace, and that was just a trial run on our drive, fortunately never had to use in anger.

Where do we stand if it is too difficult to use in reality and/or will not house the punctured alloy wheel, 'not fit for purpose'?

Bill D.