Spare wheels

[Mike_374344004]

This is my first year as a caravaner, been away a few times and enjoyed it so much we upgraded our 'trial van' to a Stirlings Eccles Amber 2002 model, love the van! But I've just come up with a major snag that I'd like some advice on. We are planning to go to South Wales next week so I thought I'd give the van a once over! Decided to check the spare wheel - start of a long chain of events. Firstly it was impossible to get the wheel holder loose, with no instructions in the manual this had to be guess work. Despite buying the van fron a reputable local dealer and supposadly having it serviced before collection, the spare wheel assembly was siezed together - it had obviously never been moved since the van was born! The tyre was compleatly flat. Needed new valve - not a major issue. With WD40 and hammer managed to free the two parts of the holding frame, and greased the two parts so they moved easily. Now to the questions, after all this waffle. Firstly has any one managed to change a spare wheel on this model of caravan and lived to tell us how its done, because the bracket extends about 2 meters out into the path of oncomming traffic - before you can remove the wheel. Would it not be safer to use a tube of tyre weld and then take the van to the nearest Kwik-Fit. Is it safe to tow the van with a wheel reinflated with tyre weld? has anyone done it? If any one has managed to change a wheel on one of these vans how the f??? do you get the whole thing back in place with the wheel attached without having access to a pit.

Next question, why don't I just dump the whole lot to save weight and rely on the tube of type weld I've had in my boot since I bought the van, because no-one told me the van had a spare wheel in the first place. Sorry for the ramblings but I'm having a break from trying to get the (any expresion you like) wheel back under the van without gettin a hernya. Comments please from all you experianced 'vaners.

This could act as a warning to everyone - before you take a trip in your new van make sure you know how to change a wheel and do it in the safety of your own drive, think how would you do it in anger because I for one would never attempt to do this on a motorway. Lastly whats the point of having a spare wheel then anyway?

Mike

 

[Jennifer2]

Surely the carrier is fitted so it is pulled out on the nearside? That way it should not be in the path of oncoming traffic. Certainly ours is that way (Sterling Searcher)

 

[joeby]

sounds like your carrier is fitted the wrong way round ,every caravan i have had its been fitted to take it from the nearside ,which can also cause problems ,because if you are too near the kerb the carrier will hit it ,i had a puncture on the offside ,but you need to jack up the nearside so the spare wheel will clear the chassis, when you pull the carrier out , then you need to jack up the offside to remove the punctured wheel ,and as for using tyre weld,i had a puncture at 60 MPH and the tyre was torn to shreds ,the last puncture i had i just called out the RAC and thats what i will do in future ,so carry a spare ,you can allways put in your boot

 

[rob_jax]

And of course, some caravans like our Eriba, the AL-KO cradle is fitted so that the spare wheel slides out towards the rear of the caravan.

But Mike, you're right there's no point having a spare tyre if you can't extract it at the roadside. And since most tyre problems occur because of low pressure - you'd be well served by making sure that the tyres are correctly inflated and visually checked before each journey.

Robert

 

[RogerL]

The Al-Ko spare wheel cradle can be assembled to exit either side. Logically those that tour abroad as well as the UK should switch the cradle to the other side when getting off the ferry but I doubt anyone does.

The cradle needs removing and re-greasing at the annual service.

 

[joeby]

The Al-Ko spare wheel cradle can be assembled to exit either side. Logically those that tour abroad as well as the UK should switch the cradle to the other side when getting off the ferry but I doubt anyone does.

The cradle needs removing and re-greasing at the annual service.

thats a good idea RogerL never thought about switching the cradle around ,

 

[WatsonJohnG]

After reading several posting about new vans having tight spare wheel carriers I checked mine and it was "dry" so I lubricated it with Teflon spray as used on bike chains etc

It was still very awkward to replace and needed levering against the drive to get it started

The next time out we had need to use it and it slid out very easily indeed

It is a very awkward mauling job to lift and push a heavy wheel in on the carrier and certainly one that would not contemplate at a ferry terminal

 

[KeithJ]

The fitters had to remove my spare wheel and carrier to fit the motor mover. I was not too pleased when they told me, but then I found there was a shaped place to put the wheel in the gas locker at the front. Since I only store the gas and lightweight equipment (empty water carriers etc) in the front it was still possible to achieve the correct noseweight and the spare wheel is much easier to get to to check condition and tyre pressure, and to get out if necessary. Plus I saved the weight of the carrier and eliminated all the problems discussed here!

 

[KeithJ]

forgot to add:-

As for changing a wheel, I would never do this at the side of the road - certainly not on a motorway - unless I could get well away from the road I would always call the RAC! This is nothing to do with ability, purely safety.

 

[Zafiral]

When we bought our Ranger series 5 470/4, we had the spare in the front locker. We found it impossible (without putting weight in the wardrobe at the back of the van) to get the nose weight below 85 kg.

We now have the spare underslung in an alko carrier. putting the weight near the axle must improve stability.

 

[KeithJ]

Of course - it goes without saying that you must get the weights right, but I have found I can do this with our van, and we don't have anything heavy at the back.

 

[Zafiral]

Mine is spot on now the spare wheel has been moved.

 

[Carli_374365147]

Our 2008 Bailey Ranger 460/4 has the spare wheel in the front locker and I don't have any problem, and thats with 2 full gas bottles.

 

[Zafiral]

Carli, the difference you are aiming for 100kg, I am aiming for 75kg. If my car took 100kg noseweight I would have no problems and would not have had to move the spare.

 

[Carli_374365147]

Carli, the difference you are aiming for 100kg, I am aiming for 75kg. If my car took 100kg noseweight I would have no problems and would not have had to move the spare.

When I first got the van I weighed the noseweight with the spare wheel and gas bottles. My Power Touch motor mover is also fitted forward of the axle.

The noseweight was bang on 75kg so would have thought without the mover it would be slightly less.

I suppose with the different layouts its making a big difference to noseweights of the same type of caravan.

I am lucky enough to have a tow car that can cope with 120kg nose weight and so have it around 100kg.

 

[Guest]

My spare wheel is in ther front locker also. But the van has the longer drawbar as compared to UK vans so there can be an increase in the locker weight without adversely affecting the noseweight. Howver, i have also dropped back to 1 gas cylinder to give even more relief.

 

[Garfield]

Every van is different, we had to remove the spare wheel, both gas bottles and everything else of significant weight from the front locker and place the awning and poles in the rear bathroom of our Lexon 640 to get anywhere near 75kg noseweight, load the van as normal and we were well over the 100kg limit of the caravan hitch.

 

[Zafiral]

When I first got the van I weighed the noseweight with the spare wheel and gas bottles. My Power Touch motor mover is also fitted forward of the axle.

The noseweight was bang on 75kg so would have thought without the mover it would be slightly less.

I suppose with the different layouts its making a big difference to noseweights of the same type of caravan.

I am lucky enough to have a tow car that can cope with 120kg nose weight and so have it around 100kg.

From memory, 100kg is the max for the Ranger Series 5, makes for happy towing.

 

[SBS]

Has anyone had a puncture on a 'van that could be repaired with Tyreweld? Some years ago, we had a blowout on our last 'van in France. It not only shredded the tyre but took some of the floor with it. Fortunately, we were near an Autoroute maintenence entrance and could back into there to change the wheel. Couldn't get the bottle jack under the axle plate but got some help from a maintenence monsieur. We fitted an Alko jack after that.

The Alko spare wheel carrier is OK as I don't expect to use it for a long time but give it a grease up each year on the basis that I'll not need to use it.