Fiat Ducato Spare Wheel (1 Viewer)

[MichaelT]

I have a Knaus MH on a Fiat Chassis. I was thinking of checking the spare wheel tyre pressure so was wondering how you get the wheel off? The wheel is mounted in the centre of the Chassis about half way along so wonder if anyone else had removed the spare wheel and if so how do you do it/how is it held in?

Thought I would ask before crawling underneath and although I have breakdown insurance may be handy in case of emergency.

 

[Hellski]

If they have used Fiat's own spare wheel carrier you should be in possession of a tool kit that includes the jack among other items, one of which will be a black bar approx 8" long with square key that goes into the winch mechanism. Using the supplied wheel brace, turn anti clockwise and this will lower the wheel to the ground.

Obviously, if the manufacture has used there own system then non of the above applies!

 

[EX51SSS]

On our Ducato Base there is a small plug in the boot which when removed, the releasing nut can be accessed. It's a matching colour plug so need to look for it. Once accessed and unscrewed the frame drops allowing the spare to be used.

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[MichaelT]

If they have used Fiat's own spare wheel carrier you should be in possession of a tool kit that includes the jack among other items, one of which will be a black bar approx 8" long with square key that goes into the winch mechanism. Using the supplied wheel brace, turn anti clockwise and this will lower the wheel to the ground.

Obviously, if the manufacture has used there own system then non of the above applies!

Yes there is a large plastic box in the garage with a jack etc. in. I will have a look when next at the storage yard to see what is in it and test it out. Thanks for your help.

 

[DBK]

They seem to differ depending on the age of the vehicle. On our PVC the actual winding point is behind the rear right hand wheel, it is set back a bit so you have to kneel down to see it. There is a wierd five sided allan key thingy in the tool kit which fits into the winding point which in turn is rotated using the wheel brace.
I would get yourself a can of spray grease before trying to lower the wheel so you can grease the cable which lowers it. Getting the wheel back up again can be a lot harder than the lowering.
You may also need to get a length of tube to actually undo the wheel nuts. They are likely to be very tight. If you have alloy wheels some copper grease put between the wheel and the hub is a good precaution to stop them sticking to the hub. This assumes you can actually get them off even after undoing the nuts of course! If they are stuck try lowering the vehicle onto the ground with the wheel nuts slightly undone. However, this won't work in all cases especially if the wheels have been on for a few years.
I think I would only try changing the wheel if I wasn't able to contact the breakdown service, especially on the side of a busy road.

 

[mike mcglynn]

In my van the spare is in a locker and to test the pressure there is a tube attached to the valve which then comes out in a recess in the bodywork with a dustcap on its so simple but effective,saves dragging a very heavy wheel about,a spare wheel mounted underneath can be very difficult to access when you have flat tyre as many of us have found out.

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[Kingham]

In my van the spare is in a locker and to test the pressure there is a tube attached to the valve which then comes out in a recess in the bodywork with a dustcap on its so simple but effective,saves dragging a very heavy wheel about,a spare wheel mounted underneath can be very difficult to access when you have flat tyre as many of us have found out.

Similar on the Boxer, the spare is under slung, but there is a connecting tube from the spare, to a tyre valve with dust cap mounted under the rear offside bumper.

 

[Alex Black]

Yes there is a large plastic box in the garage with a jack etc. in. I will have a look when next at the storage yard to see what is in it and test it out. Thanks for your help.

Hi Michael.

It's a bit of a faff to get the wheel dismounted from the carrier and out from under the van (we have the exact same van as you) I did the same test as you are proposing and could not re mount the wheel when I was ready to (next day) I took ages to figure it all out and at 1st the wheel would not release and lower (Mounting bolt was removed).. What they failed to mention was the 4 x 12 mm wide tie wraps securing the wheel tightly into the holder and my pentagonal allen key was missing.. Brilliant. So I set to and made one. This was good fun on it's own!!

Round two... Tie wraps cut and the tool in place ready to lower. I then found that the mech' had to be would upwards (I think..Only did this once.. && NEVER AGAIN) 1st to release a 'catch' and allow lowering.. Then the fun began again and I had to crawl underneath (again!!) to try somehow to fiddle the holding bolt and cable ass'y up thro' the wheel to detach the lowering cable from the new wheel.. I won't tell you how many times I swore at this thing but it was a lot. It was a monumental effort for me to release it and extract it from under the van. The whole effort took over three hours.

It did not go back onto the van and I will happily sell the Flammin thing which weighs a lot.

There is no way on this earth I would attempt this whilst roadside, probably in poor weather, so I will be ringing Fiat Camper assist to come and do it. I have already checked and they do attend vehicles with no spare and a shreddies tyre. I don't care if it takes all day either. I will keep the 1st attempt palava in my brain and think of this as I ring them.. ;-)

By the way we used the services of AA 5 star travel twice when we motorcycle toured most of Europe. Very few large motorbikes carry a spare. So a call out was the ONLY option then. and yes that took up most of the day... lol...

Best wishes, safe travels and the very best of health.

 

[Ex-caravantugger]

This is an oldish thread but I would google 'air to spare'. Mike

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[bernard pilkington]

well I have just had a look at my spare wheel carrier and in my motorhome I have a toolkit seeing this post had a look sure enough the hexangon bar was there but when I looked under the back off my motor home the winding mechanism has a square on it instead of hex tried all over to get one no one seems to know anything about it and struggling to find one ????cheers bernard

 

[Neil Bedwin]

well I have just had a look at my spare wheel carrier and in my motorhome I have a toolkit seeing this post had a look sure enough the hexangon bar was there but when I looked under the back off my motor home the winding mechanism has a square on it instead of hex tried all over to get one no one seems to know anything about it and struggling to find one ????cheers bernard

Is the square the right size for a 1/2 inch drive socket extension?

 

[bernard pilkington]

I thought about that aswell but its in storage at the moment but will have look when I go down there when crap weather gets better cheers though thanks for your reply

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