Readying the van for the big trip

[Atlee]

Getting the Roady ready for the big trip. Deciding which items will go with us, and which ones will not. With the Roadtrek, I do not have the luxury of carrying everything, including the kitchen sink, like I did with the travel trailer and truck. Since I've had Class B's before, all this is not a shock. Not like I've had Class A's all my life.

One change I decided on yesterday is to remove the spare from the Continental kit and carry it inside the van. I know I'm giving up some valuable "real estate" in the "cross the rear storage". I'm doing this because the tire is so heavy, I do not want to have to drop the tire every time I need something from the left side of the rear storage.

One added benefit is I lose about 10" from the rear when parking.

 

[avanti]

Just be sure to secure that heavy tire robustly. It would make a fine proectile in a crash.

 

[The Eyesore]

Personally, I ditched my spare altogether, after I bought a new set of tires and a TPMS that monitors temp and pressure. No regrets so far. It's a gamble, but a gamble I'm willing to take. I love not having that 90lb beast on my van.

I'm ditching my 90lb Spare Tire - fight me!

Haha! I'm not really looking for arguments or "stupid games" responses. I'm hoping for some insight about how often your spare has come in handy? The spare hanger hanging off the back door of my Dodge was poorly designed and has caused the door skin to shear open from fatigue...

www.classbforum.com

 

[wmgeorge]

Not sure I would want that inside my Trek, I can lower the outside spare by myself, but my wife helps me put it back. I think with some sort of extension pipe or ? I could lift it up myself.

 

[Atlee]

Just be sure to secure that heavy tire robustly. It would make a fine proectile in a crash.

Doubt it can go anywhere. It will be under the rear seats, via the rear door. If I were in an accident so bad to break the tire loose from underneath the rear seat, any worries I had would have already be gone before a tire could get to the front.

 

[Atlee]

Not sure I would want that inside my Trek, I can lower the outside spare by myself, but my wife helps me put it back. I think with some sort of extension pipe or ? I could lift it up myself.

If I had one of those EZZ Lift devices that were available when 2004's were young, I'd leave the tire alone.

I will want to get to the stuff stored behind the left rear door many more times than I want to lift that tire.

 

[booster]

I built the air powered lift for our spare probably close to 15 years ago and it has been working well since. We already had a mounted air compressor for the rear airbags on the van so that made it a lot easier to do.

That said, we rarely have to drop the tire to get stuff out of the left side, as we can just reach in around the door to get them.

 

[wmgeorge]

I built the air powered lift for our spare probably close to 15 years ago and it has been working well since. We already had a mounted air compressor for the rear airbags on the van so that made it a lot easier to do.

That said, we rarely have to drop the tire to get stuff out of the left side, as we can just reach in around the door to get them.

Ditto, I do the same just reach around. You lose a Lot of storage space with that spare inside. I do carry a small air compressor and if I was motivated I could build up a air lift.

 

[Bangorbob]

I removed the continental kit off including the tire holder. Now I can open up both doors in the rear. Spare is stored to the right under the bed. I have an 05C210V

 

[otr]

we ditched the "continental carrier" on our 2000 RT 190 V as the door sagged after two decades of carrying 75 pounds of tire which is probably half or more the weight of the door. Built a hitch carrier and added a receiver to the left of the center one as we use it to carry a bike rack.
The only issue is the lift when you lower the tire to access rear storage. The vertical is a piece of receiver size tubing drilled to bolt to the mount and for two long bolts to hold the tire

 

[wmgeorge]

My 2008 RT 210 P has a extra 2" receiver hitch welded to the frame just for the spare holder.

 

[Lanex005]

Getting the Roady ready for the big trip. Deciding which items will go with us, and which ones will not. With the Roadtrek, I do not have the luxury of carrying everything, including the kitchen sink, like I did with the travel trailer and truck. Since I've had Class B's before, all this is not a shock. Not like I've had Class A's all my life.

One change I decided on yesterday is to remove the spare from the Continental kit and carry it inside the van. I know I'm giving up some valuable "real estate" in the "cross the rear storage". I'm doing this because the tire is so heavy, I do not want to have to drop the tire every time I need something from the left side of the rear storage.

One added benefit is I lose about 10" from the rear when parking.

We had the same issue but able to make an assist device that makes lowering the spare easier. RT 07P 210 Chevy. Ordered spring-bought u bolts, steel L bar, and eye bolts. Works well.
In previous RT 02 pop 190 dodge removed the tire bc of rear door hinge strain, added TMPS & carried pump with combo tire leak foam. That worked well too.
Ki

 

[ChicagoTom]

Getting the Roady ready for the big trip. Deciding which items will go with us, and which ones will not. With the Roadtrek, I do not have the luxury of carrying everything, including the kitchen sink, like I did with the travel trailer and truck. Since I've had Class B's before, all this is not a shock. Not like I've had Class A's all my life.

One change I decided on yesterday is to remove the spare from the Continental kit and carry it inside the van. I know I'm giving up some valuable "real estate" in the "cross the rear storage". I'm doing this because the tire is so heavy, I do not want to have to drop the tire every time I need something from the left side of the rear storage.

One added benefit is I lose about 10" from the rear when parking.

Often a debate, but I removed my tire. 1-I don't go off the beaten path. 2-I have TMS 3- I never go cheap on tires. 4-I'm in pretty good shape, but would rather not jack up around 10,000 pounds. 5-Took about 100 pounds off the ass end. 5-I have towing insurance 6-Looks more stealth 7-took about a foot off the rear end.

 

[wmgeorge]

We had the same issue but able to make an assist device that makes lowering the spare easier. RT 07P 210 Chevy. Ordered spring-bought u bolts, steel L bar, and eye bolts. Works well.
In previous RT 02 pop 190 dodge removed the tire bc of rear door hinge strain, added TMPS & carried pump with combo tire leak foam. That worked well too.
Ki

Excellent Idea!! Thanks.

 

[booster]

Often a debate, but I removed my tire. 1-I don't go off the beaten path. 2-I have TMS 3- I never go cheap on tires. 4-I'm in pretty good shape, but would rather not jack up around 10,000 pounds. 5-Took about 100 pounds off the ass end. 5-I have towing insurance 6-Looks more stealth 7-took about a foot off the rear end.

Yep, lots of designs like that on the internet over the years. The big problem with them is safety, because you have to remove the springs before you remove the tire and folks tend to not know, or recall, that when they are changing a tire on the road. They come up with a force that will half take your head or at least break you jaw, if you are in the way.

That reason if why ours is air powered with highly regulated airflows so it can't move fast in any direction.

The Roadtrek version had a horrible to try to use safety latch setup on their spring loaded setup. It was safer but very very hard to use.

 

[Thevon]

2006 190p, I was lucky enough to get an Ezee lift right before they went away, it makes a huge difference