since our spare is now a 235/85/R16, it will no longer fit in the Victoria trunk on our 1972 22' Barth Limited. After thinking about it often, while riding over 1000 miles with the spare in the middle of the galley floor; I'm thinking the best way to carry it would be on some sort of continental kit.
Is anyone aware of such that would plug into a receiver hitch? We don't really want to add anything to the body for that heavy tire, and definitely don't want it inside either.

any other suggestions are welcome, too.
thanks, geoffrey

Suggestion: Dump the spare. If you have decent tires (other than the two new front) blowouts/flats are very rare nowadays, and road service isn't THAT expensive, compared to the hassle of carrying a spare. You've already proven that carrying a cell and calling for help works.
A typical "spare" is an old, dry-rotted, wornout, unsafe tire "good enough to get us to where we can repair/buy a new tire"; a tire so poor it was replaced with a new one at some point.
Give some serious thought to doing without.

Victoria trunk, huh?............. There's a voice from the past.

I am of the opposite opinion, but this is a matter of personal philosophy, and there is no right answer. My failures always occur at inconvenient times and places. I will be out of cell phone range on a Sunday afternoon in the rain with a pickup load of extras from Deliverance driving past eyeing me. Carrying a spare also protects you from delays and predatory pricing. I know one fellow who spent most of a week waiting for a tire. A large part of this evaluation would depend on how far out in the sticks you go in your travels.

Gunner is right about the spare often being elderly. That can mean a lot of things, but is surely means manage its age well and drive slowly and carefully on it. My spare has Goodrich Age Master lovingly massaged into it every few years.

Now, as for the mount, some Barths have a vertical beam coming up through the bumper apron, which looks pretty slick. A mount on the hitch might not look as nice as that, but a good blacksmith could do either. I may have to do that if Momma wants more space under the bed.

As for conitnental kits, try http://www.dyersonline.com/p-2701-intertek-continental-kit.aspx

or http://www.go-rv.com/coast/do/catalog/page?dealerId=1478&pageNum=289

quote:

Originally posted by Gunner:
Suggestion: Dump the spare.
A typical "spare" is an old, dry-rotted, wornout, unsafe tire....Give some serious thought to doing without.

If I ever blow a tire I'll call road service. The only thing my company doesn't do is tires and towing. There are way to many tire companies out there doing this service for cheap that I'll never get involved in it.

Dump the tire. Save the room of the spare. Unless your driving a car it really doesn't make any sense. By the time you try to break it down and get it off of the hub and then mount the rotted out/ half filled up useless tire... It's really not worth the sweat.

You know what some of these things weigh after you put all of that air psi in it?

Geoffrey,
Here are pictures of my spare tire mount.

Another

Last one.

I previously had the same problem on another vehicle. I bought a drop down hitch (without the ball) which looks kinda like a big spatula with a square handle. Then I bought a bike rack adapter which slips over the square stock that goes into the receiver on your vehicle. It has a smaller square receptacle on the top which a short piece of square tubing can sit. Drill a couple of holes put in a couple of bolts and away you go. The tire rests on the hitch plate and the bolts hold it in place just like it's bolted on the back of your vehicle. Also the whole thing removes in a matter of minutes.

thanks for the suggestions. I'd neglected to mention the spare was one of 3 new tires put on by previous owner in october of '04. It still looks new and had a 40,000 mile tread defect warranty, so I don't want to just junk it. However, all the rear tires are the original size 7.50/ 16s...so the spare is probably only usable on the front, correct? (we'd discussed getting another rim and spare for the back...in light of advice here, probably more cost effective to replace the two older rear tires and keep one or both for possible re-use as a spare...??

IF so, then the advice to leave spare at home is probably o.k. since the front tires ARE 10 ply truck tires. However, I prefer to be prepared when possible...I was just lucky I had cell reception where the tire blew since within a few miles it disappeared, and was very spotty for another couple of hundred miles as that part of west texas is fairly unpopulated.

shtym, thanks for the description of your setup. could you please post a picture of it, in case I decide to try to duplicate it. (I work better from photos than descriptions)
thanks again...
geoffrey

Geoffry, how old are the rear tires?

quote:

Originally posted by geoffrey:
...since our spare is now a 235/85/R16...

...the rear tires are the original size 7.50/ 16s...so the spare is probably only usable on the front, correct?

That's correct. By putting the tire on the back your causing the rear end to think that it's always turning a corner. The rear will eventually burn up.

If you look at those donut tires it will tell you not to go past 30 miles or exceed 45 mph. The reason is you'll burn the rear or transaxle up.

It's ok if your going to the next exit but reality is you'll drive it till you get back home. Keep all the tires the same size to minimize problems on the road with a spare tire.

Putting a smaller diameter spare on the rear will not be noticed by the differential. But it will cause the larger tire on that side to be overloaded.

Thanks, bill and Bill.
We'll be living with different sized rear and steer tires for now.
I looked through the paperwork in 'the Toaster'. there's no records from the first owners who had it from 1973 until 1983, then detailed records kept by the second owners until 1997 (they bought tires in 1983 and 1984). Then almost no records until they pick up again after Paul bought it on Ebay almost 2 years ago. He replaced one front and two rear tires. SO, I'll assume the other two rear tires are old enough to be replaced and will add that to my list of things to be done before taking another trip in it.
I'll probably sell the used front tire and get 2 new ones for the rear, keeping the best of the old ones as a spare; for emergency use only. then it can go back into the trunk where it's mounted, and it could be used in any position to get to the nearest tire store should that be necessary.

does that sound like a good plan to you experts?

thanks,
geoffrey

quote:

Originally posted by bill h:
Putting a smaller diameter spare on the rear will not be noticed by the differential. But it will cause the larger tire on that side to be overloaded.

Hey, who stole my password. I didn't write that...

The second I typed that I left on a service call. While driving down the road it hit me that the smaller tires would be added to the set that was already larger.

While a larger tire would indeed cause the differential to heat up it would not wear one out for very many miles! It would have to be a rather severe off set to cause damage right away.

The larger tire would take the load and if the load rating of the tire is exceeded it could cause a blowout. Mixing tires of different sizes is never a good idea on the same axle. Try to avoid it at all cost.

The answer I gave you would apply to a car, 4 wheel drive or an all wheel drive a lot faster then any big rig or coach. Sorry for the confusion.

Tire date of manufacture can be determined from the "DOT" number on the sidewall of tires sold in the USA.


Pre -1999 DOT number GGHH123429
GGHH123 Manufacturing plant and production numbers. Useless info for anyone but lawyers and tire techs.
429= date code 42nd week of 1999

A typical 2000 up DOT number BBFF994203

BBFF99 Manufacturing plant and production numbers. Useless info for anyone but lawyers and tire techs.
4203 = 42nd week of 2003

The problem with pre 1999 is that you could have an 11 year old tire and be told it is only a 1 year old tire.