Spare wheel fiasco in the Highlands, again!

Mine being a heavy truck base, I have a heavy duty wheel brace, 6 ton bottle jack, large flat bare to lift and lever the wheel on to studs, also wheel chocks plus extra studs and nuts, then a umberdoodle and head torch and hand lamp, the warning road triangle which flashes, all this for to make the wife job easy. 😂
Just forgot do remember to carry a brake pipe hose clamp, I burst the rear brake compensator seal last year and thank heavens for the cheap tool.
hose clamps.png
 
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trevskoda said:
I carry a fan belt bulbs cloves one axle stand for to be safe when on the bottle jack plus some flat blocks of wood, and a mat, wife dont like getting her coat well laying under the van. 😂
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I ment to type wet but half sleeping. 😂
😂 😂
 
I'm now really thinking I should put a tyre or/and spare in the garage of my motorhome.

Does anyone know what a tyre and wheel weigh, weight of each separately would help me decide ? Approx will do.

2019 Fiat Ducato 2.3 but not sure of tyre size.
 
CliveW said:
I'm now really thinking I should put a tyre or/and spare in the garage of my motorhome.

Does anyone know what a tyre and wheel weigh, weight of each separately would help me decide ? Approx will do.

2019 Fiat Ducato 2.3 but not sure of tyre size.
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Size is on the tyres you have dopey head. 😂
 
We ordered a spare when we bought the van. Just as well ... at a French aire summer 20 and folk walking past pointed out a flat. Call to rescue services and all swapped. Just as well it only took a couple of hours as my daughter flew into Carcassonne... we were only a hour late. But she's still telling the story that she doesn't speak French, is a nervous passenger, never has any money and we were late!
 
Balance of risk and reward.
I have carried a spare wheel in the car - and paid for a spare to put in there when one was not supplied (not had a car with a STANDARD supplied spare (not even a space saver) for over 10 years). Last time I used the spare was approximately 20 years ago. But I put one in the car as either had the spare wheel well available (despite no wheel supplied) or didn't need all the boot space.

Is it worth carrying a spare wheel in your Motorhome? for sure, IF you have a carrier for it. IS it worth buying a spare wheel and tyre, fabricating a carrier or mount for it, even carrying a trolley jack like steve is planning? Then the decision starts getting trickier. And if you don't actually have a space for a spare wheel as the maker of your Motorhome does not supply anywhere to put it (not all motorhomes have "garages", contrary to popular opinion of spare wheel adovates), the decision gets trickier still.

Don't travel to the Far North without a Spare?
Have a word with the Organ Grinder that supplied the vehicle without a spare or the means to carry one, not the Monkey that drives it.

I will drive to the Far North, likely without a spare, and if I am unlucky enough to need a new tyre, I guess I will just have to wait for the tyre place to open ;)
 
I bought my Renault Master as an ex Windscreen replacement company van. It had a spare wheel but no handle to operate the winding mechanism to release the spare which sat on a cradle under the vehicle.

I bought one, which is basically a very large Torx key from a local Renault dealer. They informed me that the handle would have been removed from the vehicle by the company due to H&S reasons and professional drivers are not allowed to change their own wheels. I don't know if there is any truth in this though?
 
Robmac said:
I bought my Renault Master as an ex Windscreen replacement company van. It had a spare wheel but no handle to operate the winding mechanism to release the spare which sat on a cradle under the vehicle.

I bought one, which is basically a very large Torx key from a local Renault dealer. They informed me that the handle would have been removed from the vehicle by the company due to H&S reasons and professional drivers are not allowed to change their own wheels. I don't know if there is any truth in this though?
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Be like an F1 team .... one guy undoes the nuts, another puts the wheel on, driver stays in the cab :)
 
Robmac said:
I bought my Renault Master as an ex Windscreen replacement company van. It had a spare wheel but no handle to operate the winding mechanism to release the spare which sat on a cradle under the vehicle.

I bought one, which is basically a very large Torx key from a local Renault dealer. They informed me that the handle would have been removed from the vehicle by the company due to H&S reasons and professional drivers are not allowed to change their own wheels. I don't know if there is any truth in this though?
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Quite a few companies don't allow their employees to change wheels at the side of the road....
Elf n Safety guv....
Employee getting hit whilst changing it
Wheel falling off afterwards
Employee hurting themselves trying to undo over tightened wheel nuts
Vehicle falling off incorrectly positioned jack
Etc etc

You can see why I guess...
 
CliveW said:
I'm now really thinking I should put a tyre or/and spare in the garage of my motorhome.

Does anyone know what a tyre and wheel weigh, weight of each separately would help me decide ? Approx will do.

2019 Fiat Ducato 2.3 but not sure of tyre size.
Click to expand...
I created an external rear mounting for a spare wheel and estimated that the whole assembly including wheel and tyre added about 30kg so I doubt whether the wheel rim weighs more than 15kg. On that basis I see little point in carrying just a tyre to save weight.
 
Our first MH (a Bessacarr) didn't have a spare wheel with it and we suffered a blow out in Cambridgeshire once. It took a few hours to sort and 150 quid for a van tyre (not a camper one). When we got home I bought and fitted an underslung cradle and a steel wheel and tyre. From memory the Alko cradle was around £120 and the wheel/tyre, £60 (brand new and from a scrappy).

Last week we suffered a blow out in our Autotrail whilst on the M6. The AT carries a spare so all we had to do was wait for the recovery to turn up. I didn't fancy it myself as we were on the hard shoulder (albeit on a junction slip road) and it was a rear off side wheel (so nearest to the traffic). Despite being a "priority" it took over 4 hours to get sorted. In the end the recovery company turned up with an unsuitable vehicle for carrying us to a safe place...despite my emphasising our size and weight! Luckily the bloke who came said 'sod it' and despite his standing instructions, he changed it over for us. It helped that we have a self levelling system fitted, so no jacks were needed.

It's a no brainer for me and if I didn't have a full wheel I'd definitely carry a spare tyre.
 
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