Can the basement compartment handle carrying a spare?

[KSagal]

I don't know if a good idea or not, but the 88 Fleetwood Southwind I recently bought has a mounted spare in one of the basement pass thru compartments.

It is in the center 'hump' of this particular pass thru. I have not yet taken it out or investigated it.

So, while I do not know when it was placed there, I suspect mine is not the only MH driving around with a spare in the cellar.

[ga traveler]

Originally Posted by KSagal

I don't know if a good idea or not, but the 88 Fleetwood Southwind I recently bought has a mounted spare in one of the basement pass thru compartments.

It is in the center 'hump' of this particular pass thru. I have not yet taken it out or investigated it.

So, while I do not know when it was placed there, I suspect mine is not the only MH driving around with a spare in the cellar.

That is a factory spare. It came from Fleetwood that way.

[Tha_Rooster]

Originally Posted by jondrew

Thanks for affirmation on my decision. You're the second person to tell me this size is hard to find. It's Ive played around a bit in the bay moving things around and it's probably fine. I put a piece of cardboard under it to make it easier to slide in and out.

Like any other insurance, I'm hoping it just sits there until it dry rots.

Sounds like you answered your own question. I don't see any difference carrying one 90 lb object verses like most of us 90 lbs worth of stuff piled in a bay.

[KSagal]

Originally Posted by ga traveler

That is a factory spare. It came from Fleetwood that way.

Thanks.

This is a good forum. Common knowledge to some, is a great bit of new data to us getting into it. Thanks again.

Now, should there be an easy way to get that tire out of there? I have not investigated, but it looks heavy. (I bought this MH late this fall, and got it into my shelter before the snow fell, so I have not had much time to figure out the outside stuff till it warms up some.)

I was thinking there should be a slide or rack or something to help get it into and out of that mounting in the center of that bay. If there is, I will find it, if it is missing, I was hoping for a hint of what I should be looking for...

[GRUU]

I have my "mounted" spare in the basement, no problem.

[Pa Miller]

I hauled 1200 lb of floor tile in my Monaco dynasty with no problems .

[Dutch Star Don]

On a lot of the Freightliner chassis', especially the XC, there is room under the coach to put a mounted spare between the frame rails. My BIL has an Itasca Meridian and on the Winnebago site they show you how to make a mount that locates the spare between the frame rails. This coach and my last coach, the entire bottom had a belly ban.

[firedoc]

Originally Posted by SarahW

I'd say call Fleetwood and ask. I know the compartments on the bottom of the slide on our Bounder have a maximum weight capacity of about 300 pounds total IIRC. Personally I wouldn't bother with the spare; takes up too much space.

Where did you get this 300 lb figure?

[mel s]

Originally Posted by moisheh

There are probably 100,000 units running around with no spare.

Originally Posted by jondrew

Which is an interesting fact that has nothing to do with my question

jondrew
Great point.
BTW, I too believe that caring an unmounted spare is an excellent idea.
Mel
'96 Safari, (1 of the "probably 100,000 units" WITH an on board spare)

[frankdamp]

When we bought our (recently sold) '02 Georgetown, the original owners had installed a full spare wheel, not just a tire. It was mounted by a heavy chain to the structure holding the propane tank in place and hung just below it.

We put 6 new Toyos on the rig when we bought it (it had the original GYs from the 01 chassis build). In four seasons and 6000 miles we never even unhooked it. I wouldn't have gone very far or very fast on it, as I'm sure it was one of the OEM chassis tires.

[wa8yxm]

First,,,I would rather carry plastic than rubber...Rubber, even sored in the basement,,,Gets old and cracked. Plastic does too but they send you a new card no charge .

Now the question you ask is properly answered with a ruler.

Measure the tire....Measuere the compartment..IF the tire is say 8 inches wide and 36 inches in diamater...And the compartment is 6 inches high and 30 inches wide...The answer is NO

[jplante4]

If you don't want to put a spare in the basement, you could get something like this that I have on the gasser.

[mel s]

Originally Posted by jondrew

I have a 2014 Fleetwood Excursion, but I think this question applies to many different MHs. I decided I'm going to carry an unmounted spare in case of a flat. I have coach.net, but figure its better to have a tire available instead of getting stuck waiting for the wrecker to find one.

The tire is a 255 70 22.5 and weights about 90 pounds. It fits in the basement of my coach, but just barely. The basement of my Excursion are plastic watertight compartments that run side to side under the coach. There is a steel bar under the plastic for support, but it doesn't seem super strong. I'm just wondering if it can handle weight of carrying the spare. I don't see much in the coach literature about loading the basements or capacities.

Originally Posted by wa8yxm

First,,,I would rather carry plastic than rubber...Rubber, even sored in the basement,,,Gets old and cracked. Plastic does too but they send you a new card no charge .
Now the question you ask is properly answered with a ruler.
Measure the tire....Measure the compartment..IF the tire is say 8 inches wide and 36 inches in diameter...And the compartment is 6 inches high and 30 inches wide...The answer is NO

Jondrew, (the OP.) is concerned about the "weight caring capacity" of the floor in his basement compartments... not the "size" of the compartment" or the "size of his unmounted spare tire".
(Measuring "with a ruler" does not address his concern).
Mel
96 Safari

[LVRVLUVR]

Originally Posted by Dutch Star Don

"jondrew".....I had a different coach (Monaco) and carried an unmounted spare around for years. I had the same size tires as yours and they are hard to find, so for me the spare was a good idea. My coach had a slide out tray and the spare sat atop the tray. I made a small metal stand out of 1/2" square tubing that supported the sides of the tire where it would span the open area of the slide tray. I wrapped the tire in plastic wrap and then bought a roll of masking tape and wrapped it again to keep it clean and preserved to a certain degree. I filled the center of it with items and didn't really lose a bunch of space.

Even though your storage bays are plastic, they're strengthened by their one piece design. You might think about attaching some angle iron down both sides of the bay and build a shelf across the bay. It will be cumbersome to get the spare up on the shelf, but it will be out of the way. Attach the angle iron at multiple points and use large flat washers. I like to get things high up in my more storage bays to gain space.

Crawl into your storage bay and move around, you'll see tat they're pretty stout.

good post,,,,thanks