Traveling without a spare tire

[Ron & Dee]

OK, anyone else out there traveling without a spare tire, or am I by myself?

I have a 2002 32' Adventurer I bought 3 years ago and have been traveling without the spare. It came with a spare but I removed it to get more storage space in the side compartment.

So far I have been lucky but I thought maybe some of you might have some horror stories about not having a spare.

Thanks,

Ron

[Ron & Dee]

OK, anyone else out there traveling without a spare tire, or am I by myself?

I have a 2002 32' Adventurer I bought 3 years ago and have been traveling without the spare. It came with a spare but I removed it to get more storage space in the side compartment.

So far I have been lucky but I thought maybe some of you might have some horror stories about not having a spare.

Thanks,

Ron

[DriVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ron & Dee:
OK, anyone else out there traveling without a spare tire, or am I by myself? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Ron, 59,000 miles and on the second set of tires. No spare.

[Bob (WA0MQE)]

Ron, 38,650 miles, this is a total of 3 different motorhomes and never had a spare. On our existing Pace Arrow I do have road hazard and maintenance insurance for the tires. Don't know if this was worth it or not. Time will tell I guess.

The advantage of having a spare is you wouldn't need to buy one while on the road and get charged twice what a tires worth. I understand some folks carry just the tire (no rim) so they can have it mounted if one goes bad.

[rickandcheryl]

Ron, 26,000 miles ,no spare, but be sure to have a road service contract "just in case"!

[Ron & Dee]

I probably shouldn't be the one for traveling without a spare because in the past my track record for flats wasn't too good.

My previous MH a 31' Brave over an 8 year period I had 6 flat tires. Four blowouts and two flats from nails. I did pay close attention to air pressure.

The MH before that was a 86 Georiga Boy and I had one tire seperation with that unit.

I have read some of the post about carrying just the tire, and others making a rack to carry a spare.

I'm probably to heavy in the rear to carry a spare underneath because of a rack and powered wheelchair that I carry now on the hitch, and I'm not even sure there is room for one anyway.

I do have the road service plus a tire road hazzard and lots of patience.

Hope that's enough for my upcoming 6000 mile vacation.

Ron

[Richard 34A]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ron & Dee:
OK, anyone else out there traveling without a spare tire, or am I by myself?

I have a 2002 32' Adventurer I bought 3 years ago and have been traveling without the spare. It came with a spare but I removed it to get more storage space in the side compartment.

So far I have been lucky but I thought maybe some of you might have some horror stories about not having a spare.

Thanks,

Ron </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

You must have WAY better luck than I do; no way I would travel without a spare. If I really needed the space, I'd want a bigger MH.

The reality is that I've only had one flat in an RV and I hadn't even left town. I was able to get to a station before the tire went completely flat so no spare was needed. But I don't think I'd want to be out in the middle of no-where at 5:00 pm on a Friday night with a flat or blown tire and no spare...

[Hemi]

I have the 2002 36 foot holiday rambler vacationer; it never came with a spare. But I did by one (new tire only) figuring it would cost me a bundle should i have to buy a spare tire on the road. I carry road service who will repair a flat tire or remount the spare should the flat tire be beyond repair.

The spare is very large and heavy and I can just barely get into the center bay. However I do think it is wise to care a spare tire. HEMI

[DriVer]

Does anyone remember as far back as 2001 when I had a flat tire close to a leaking LP storage tank up in Connecticut. In my past history with 2 motorhomes I only had 1 flat tire but it was a story to be told. Please allow me to share the excerpt with you at this time:

Circa November 2001 ...

After getting the motorhome back, we got back on the road and headed south on I395 to Niantic and on up to Aces High Campground. As we had planned, we stayed at Aces High Campground for one night and we were able to flush out and dump our tanks in the morning. We pulled out of the campground's main gate, and drove out and parked by the office. Returning the gate-key we received our $10 dollar security deposit. When I came back out to the rig I did a walk around and as I came around the right rear I saw that the outside dually was low on air. I retrieved my air gauge and checked the pressure in the tire, 24 psi, not good! I briefly considered using my Truck Air 275 compressor but there isn't any way that I could have gotten the chuck on the valve stem. Darn, and I'm supposed to be in Southwick for lunch. Oh well that isn't happening. Never expecting this scenario, I went and found my Emergency Road Service ID card. I used my cell phone and called, they answered pretty quickly.

The ERS dispatcher handled the call professionally I thought, asking me about the model, length, tire size, of motorhome that I had, and then he told me he would call me back. About 10 minutes went by when the phone rang, it being the ERS, the dispatcher told me it would be an hour and a half before the service could get there. An hour-and-a-half! I was fairly annoyed by that answer but I just said thanks and hung up the phone. I was initially disappointed but I looked around and just surrendered to the fact, we're home, and not sitting in a car on the side of the highway. I cranked up the antenna, started the generator, and turned on the TV. Bunny and I had lunch and we just hung out. The time passed quickly enough when Bunny saw the tow truck arrive. We had waited for about an hour.

When the service truck arrived out of New London, the mechanic showed up with a lot of confidence but nothing to back it up with, and certainly not enough equipment to fix my motorhome. The ERS mechanic didn't have any tools to change a 19.5-inch tire and he laughingly showed up with an air tank that had 110 PSI of air. The chuck on the portable air tank didn't fit the outside dually's stem either, it was a small automotive type. No need to say that I immediately got back on the phone and called Workhorse ERS at that point and told them that the ERS that was sent didn't have the tools needed to change the tire and that they would have to send a better equipped vehicle. After a profuse apology, another rig was dispatched, and the ERS said they would get right back to me with an ETA. Well, when the phone rang again the good news was that they found somebody but the bad news was that it would take another hour. The 1st ERS guy was just getting around to picking up all his stuff and getting ready to leave when something else happened.

A class A RV had pulled into the campground and was parked in front of the propane filling station diagonally across from us about 60 feet away. Without too much fuss the campground person who was filling the tank walked rather briskly back towards the office. I sort of looked over and saw the motorhome's owner and he walked over and told me that they were having a problem with the fill nozzle and that liquid propane was leaking out of the nozzle onto the ground. We had already turned off the generator a while ago I thought to myself, so I just hung back and waited for the boom! About 5 minutes later a fire engine, a ladder truck and the fire marshal arrived along with many other private vehicles with volunteer firemen. Initially everyone stood around with little activity. All of a sudden one of the firemen went over to the machine and quickly started stretching a line and charging it with water. It got a bit exciting there when I saw the firemen quickly pulling a line off the engine, but I was sure that it was only needed to cover and not needed for fire suppression because where there isn't any smoke there's no fire.

At this point it looked like no one would be coming in or leaving anytime soon. The driveway was full of hoses, and fire apparatus. After about an hour or so of this, the propane company arrived and the man went into the cage, turned off a valve, and that was it. The motorhome owner got in, and drove into the campground so that he could turn his RV around. Returning, he lined up with everyone else trying to leave. Eventually all the fire equipment cleared up and everyone left. It was quiet out there for about 10 minutes before the other ERS showed up.

The next rig that came was a huge 10 wheeler and had 2 men, an air compressor and tools. They took an air hose off the truck and started getting ready to work on the tire. They wanted to jack the motorhome up, but I offered to use my hydraulic jacks in stead. I chocked my front tires using the big rubber wheel chocks, and using the HWH jacks, I raised the rear of the motorhome clear off the pavement. I also thought that it would be a good idea to put the front jacks down just for stability.

The mechanic first approached the tire with a 1/2 inch air gun, and I told him before he even started that he wasn't going to get anywhere with a 1/2 in drive. He returned to the truck and got out the 3/4-inch drive air gun and started working. The 3/4-inch drive gun took a while because the air delivery system on the truck wasn't that great, since they were only using the air brake compressor, but the lug nuts eventually backed off, and they were able to remove the tire.

Once the tire came off it was time to get the spare. Just when you think all is well, the big rig didn't have any small tools in order to lower my spare tire. I had to get my 3/4-inch socket out of my tools, a 3/8-drive ratchet, and a pair of pliers to get the spare down. We checked the pressure in the spare with, you guessed it, with my tire gauge, and it read 90 psi. We were good to go. I let the mechanics do their thing because they probably didn't need me to supervise. After air wrenching up the lug nuts, they used a pipe, a bar, and the tire lug tool that came with the motorhome and tightened up the lugs.

Looking over the job, I immediately noticed that they didn't pay attention to the valve stem alignment. The valve stem is now oriented 90? from the other stem. The valve stems are supposed to be 180? out, or opposite from on another. As a result the outside dual's valve stem can be seen and not used. Now I have to go and have the spare repaired and have the outside tire put on the right way. You would think that these rocket scientists would have changed Budd wheels before and knew about the valve stem opening in the wheel cover.

Bottom line and lessons learned. Make sure that the ERS dispatcher sends the right equipment for the job and don't be bashful to over emphasize the type equipment that you need. Don't forget to have, or know where your tools are to remove the wheel liners. The ERS needed my lug wrench, and a 5-foot pipe to tighten the lugs, because they didn't have a breaker bar with them and they couldn't get the nuts tight enough with the air supply they had. Forget about a torque wrench. Don't forget to supervise! Completed, I was reminded to have my lug nuts checked again after a few miles. So there you go.

[Gregg]

I've got one,
A brand new Michelin XRV mounted on a steel wheel, monster torque wrench, air compressor, sockets & extentions.
I wouldn't leave home without it.
I did a tire change in my drive way recreating the best I could the conditions I think I would experience on the road, I changed the tire, double checked the air presure, put everything away & was ready for a tall glass of water in 45 minutes !!
Calling for road searvice will cost you a minimum of a half a day of your vacation.
My tme off is very precious, 45 minutes is a cake walk as opposed to a half a day.
My .02

Gregg

[FrontRangeRVer]

Remember, there is a BIG difference in a 22.5" spare tire and a 19" spare tire. You will not be provided a 22.5" spare tire with your coach as the weight is too much.

We have Coach-Net, and that is our piece of mind if we have a blow out. You couldn't change out your 22.5" tire anyway.....it's too heavy.

[max49]

When I bought my MH a Sea Breeze and the Damon were in the finals. The Sea Breeze had no spare and I bought the Damon. The Sea Breeze sales man tried so hard to get someone to say they'd put a spare on for me. Finally they said they'd give me a spare tire and rim for free. I said "where willyou put it?" He said that I had all kinds of room in the MH for it. I bought the Damon.
I doubt if I would ever buy a MH that did'nt have a place for a spare.
Constuction people laugh when people say a 22.5 tire is too heavy to change our selves.
They/ we are all human, no body can just throw it around, you have to finess it in place
. If you are healthy, you could change the tire.
1 st, always remind yourself that you are smarter than the tire. That means, Have a bottle jack that can pick up the MH, find out what size socket you need and have it with you. Get the extension you need. A breaker bar and a 4 or 5' cheater bar. ( a pipe that will go over your breaker bar and give you extreme leverage. A 4 or 5 ' pry bar for for lifting and manipulating and persuading the tire onto the lugs. Prepare for hard work and you're gonna get dirty. Now the part that you may not be able to do alone is getting your spare out and the other tire in it's place. Again be smart and put it some where you can get it in and out. If you have air brakes or a compressor buy an impact wrench. I carry an electric one. If it does'nt have the power to break them loose , use the cheater bar and the impact to finish spinning them off.
I've seen truck tire changers that were only about 130 lbs and did it just as good and faster than some 200 lb ers.
If you're not healthy, don't do it, but if you are and don't like spending the day on the side of the road, you could do it.
Good exercise too, but dirty.

[NeilV]

I won't leave home without one.

If you would like to carry one but your rig does not have a place for it or you would like one that may be easier to get to, check out the link below:

http://www.rvtirecarrier.com

[John-D]

When I got my Intruder it came complete w/o spare

So far I've needed a spare one time, and there was a tire store less than a mile away that had one.

I just replaced the used tire I got (Cheap) from them with a brand new one last week. (First chance millage wise)

Alas, I found where they put the spare, I'm using the space for something else now. The only place for a spare is on the roof, or on a "Contential" mount..... I might consider the C-mount