Ducato Maxi chassis - check your spare wheel actually fits

[maz]

Yesterday we got a puncture in one of our rear tyres. First time I’ve ever had a puncture in any motorhome, so I’ve obviously led a charmed life up till now.

Anyway, the AA man arrived in 30 mins via the insurance-included breakdown service. He retrieved the spare wheel from its carrier under the van - but it would not fit!

Luckily he was able to do a temporary repair and we were then able to drive to a tyre shop to get a permanent repair done.

Now this spare wheel was provided new with the van. It was originally fixed in the garage but before collection was moved into a carrier fitted underneath the van by the dealer.

From what I’ve been reading on the web (and it’s on ‘The Dark Side’ so I can’t post a link to it here), Fiat 16 inch wheels for a standard/light chassis (as an upgrade to the usual 15 inch wheels) are a different fitting to the 16 inch wheels for a Maxi chassis. So all I can think is that the van came with a light chassis 16 inch wheel by mistake. The van itself does come in light and Maxi chassis variants - Bürstner Ixeo 680G. We now have to source a suitable spare wheel and get the tyre swapped onto it.

So I thought I’d mention it in case any other Funsters think they are safely sorted with a spare wheel yet, when it comes to the crunch, it won’t fit!

 

[DBK]

Thanks for posting - I'll check mine if it stops raining and warms up a bit. I have had a play with the mechanism in the past to check I could lower the spare wheel and check the pressure but never tried fitting it. It certainly looked the same and had the same tyres as the originals were. I guess it was the stud spacing which was wrong?

 

[maison]

Spare Wheel.

What’s that?

Our PVC came with the repair/inflation kit only. I’m not particularly happy about it but there is no space to fit an underslung spare and space is at a premium. Will have to hope that any puncture is easily repairable or a new tyre can be sourced easily.

 

[DBK]

Spare Wheel.

What’s that?

Our PVC came with the repair/inflation kit only. I’m not particularly happy about it but there is no space to fit an underslung spare and space is at a premium. Will have to hope that any puncture is easily repairable or a new tyre can be sourced easily.

The normal Ducato spare wheel is held underneath, central and just behind the rear axle. It is lowered by twiddly a shaft behind the rear right wheel.

Unless your converter has used this space for say a waste tank it should be possible to retrofit a spare wheel carrier as the fitting points should already be there.

 

[maison]

The normal Ducato spare wheel is held underneath, central and just behind the rear axle. It is lowered by twiddly a shaft behind the rear right wheel.

Unless your converter has used this space for say a waste tank it should be possible to retrofit a spare wheel carrier as the fitting points should already be there.

Thanks @DBK .

I have had a look and must say that I can’t see much room to fit the cradle. When the rain stops, (probably around February), I will have a better look.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Mr B]

I think you might find you can get 2 sizes of 16 inch Ducato wheels. As you’ve said it depends on the chassis, heavy or light, Fiat or Alko.
You can get 16 inch heavy (130 pcd )
Or the light chassis version (118 pcd)
The heavy chassis has bigger diameter discs etc.
I have done a bit of digging on the net as I’m thinking of putting 16inch on our van.

 

[Geo]

Do yourself a favor
Old fashioned, old school, out of the ark and against all modern thinking maybe
BUT and you see its a big but
More than capable of getting you off or out of a difficult situation until an authorised permanent repair can be carried out
I think every motor home should have a kit they start at £2.99 for a basic kit
HERE
I'd use the reaming tool to clean hole in the tyre before inserting the repair string , he doesn't think its required though
even if you may not be confident to use it it may help someone to help yuo

 

[Speve]

I think every motor home should have a kit they start at £2.99 for a basic kit

Just looked at it priced £6.95 but looks very handy little kit.

 

[mitzimad]

ive got a wheel here if we can find common ground to swap it you going to tinsel at shrewsbury?

 

[Geo]

Just looked at it priced £6.95 but looks very handy little kit.

They still start at £2.99

Just looked at it priced £6.95 but looks very handy little kit.

£2.99

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[DBK]

Thanks @DBK .

I have had a look and must say that I can’t see much room to fit the cradle. When the rain stops, (probably around February), I will have a better look.

Just taken this picture.

The rear axle is the square tube on the right, rear bumper is off to the left.

 

[maison]

@DBK
Many thanks. As helpful as usual

 

[Lenny HB]

Bought my own spare, it should be OK as I made sure it had the same part number stamped on it as the ones on the van.

Anyone buying a spare for the Maxi chassis check the load rating a lot of aftermarket wheels are only rated at 1000kg.

 

[maz]

I have had a play with the mechanism in the past to check I could lower the spare wheel and check the pressure but never tried fitting it. It certainly looked the same and had the same tyres as the originals were. I guess it was the stud spacing which was wrong?

Yes. The stud spacing was wrong and also the central hole was undersized.

 

[maz]

ive got a wheel here if we can find common ground to swap it you going to tinsel at shrewsbury?

Thanks for that but we’re down in Chichester and will be heading over to France and beyond for the winter later this month. At least we found out about this problem before heading off .......

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[maz]

Anyone buying a spare for the Maxi chassis check the load rating a lot of aftermarket wheels are only rated at 1000kg.

Yes, I’ve started looking on the web and it’s not exactly straightforward to find a replacement. The Tyremen site seems very informative:
Broken Link Removed

Their version of a replacement wheel costs £124 and has a load rating of 1275kg. Do you know the load rating of the original Fiat wheels, please?

 

[Mr B]

These on the net. Don’t know about the payload though. Might be a phone call to confirm.

 

[mikebeaches]

Spare Wheel.

What’s that?

Our PVC came with the repair/inflation kit only. I’m not particularly happy about it but there is no space to fit an underslung spare and space is at a premium. Will have to hope that any puncture is easily repairable or a new tyre can be sourced easily.

I'm slightly surprised by that.

I'd assumed - obviously wrongly - that more or less all PVCs came with a spare as standard issue from Fiat?

Our last van, a Chausson coachbuilt, came with only a repair/inflation kit. I hadn't realised when we purchased new - just assumed there would be a spare. But like you, there wasn't anywhere to fit one, because there were water tanks fitted where it should have been. So for 5 years and 30,000 miles we travelled the continent with that nagging doubt in the back of my mind. Thankfully, no punctures or issues, so no spare required - phew!!

But I made certain the new van, a Rapido V68, had a spare as standard.

Which PVC have you got? Oh, and good luck in any case, and may you have many puncture-free miles also ...

 

[Guigsy]

My 2007 PVC that started life as a decorators van had a seriously out of date inflation kit by the time I got it. I found someone selling the wheel winch kit and bought a rim from a breakers. 5 new tyres a couple of months ago. Hopefully I'll never need the spare.

 

[maz]

These on the net. Don’t know about the payload though. Might be a phone call to confirm.

Yes, I saw those but, as you say, no load rating is mentioned. Because of the relatively low price I imagine they may be one of Lenny’s 1000kg wheels.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Ex-caravantugger]

Yes. The stud spacing was wrong and also the central hole was undersized.

Hi @maz. Before you go any further, check that your carrier will carry the bigger wheel. The positioning of the wheel bolts is different on the two wheels so the holding bolt may not be correctly positioned. Fiat should be able to tell you. Mike

 

[maz]

Hi @maz. Before you go any further, check that your carrier will carry the bigger wheel. The positioning of the wheel bolts is different on the two wheels so the holding bolt may not be correctly positioned. Fiat should be able to tell you. Mike

Thanks for that, Mike. Ye gods! How much more complicated can this thing get?

 

[mitzimad]

£124 without a tyre??? i will deliver you one with ausable spare tyre for that

 

[pappajohn]

Do yourself a favor
Old fashioned, old school, out of the ark and against all modern thinking maybe
BUT and you see its a big but
More than capable of getting you off or out of a difficult situation until an authorised permanent repair can be carried out
I think every motor home should have a kit they start at £2.99 for a basic kit
HERE
I'd use the reaming tool to clean hole in the tyre before inserting the repair string , he doesn't think its required though
even if you may not be confident to use it it may help someone to help yuo

Got one in the car boot Geo... Might even be that one.
Got a slow puncture in a rear on the car but it was on the edge of the tread out of the repair area.
Not binning a good tyre and the legalities are for people who give a shit.
Kept that tyre going until the MOT where the tester found a deep cut (visible cords) on the inner sidewall and the other tyre wall was cracking (1st MOT at 3 years old) so a pair were bought.
Been handy on my trailer as well.

 

[maz]

£124 without a tyre??? i will deliver you one with ausable spare tyre for that

Yes, I thought it seemed pretty expensive. The Magnetto one is the cheapest I’ve found so far at £59 delivered.

I’ve found an old post in another thread by @Techno where it seems the load rating of steel wheels is irrelevant. I’ve quoted it below:

The steel wheel is capable of the load index of ANY tyre that will fit it by a great margine. Only the alloy alternatives have a load rating and I've not come across an alloy of this size that can take more than 1250kg

That was posted in this thread back in 2015:
https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/fiat-16-steel-wheel-load-capacity.110102/

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[maison]

@mikebeaches
We have a Swift Select 144, 2018 model.

We are otherwise delighted with the unit but will investigate if there is room for a spare cradle but, at first glance, it doesn’t look like it.

 

[soreeyes]

https://www.tyremen.co.uk/guide/fiat-ducato-motorhome-wheels

 

[The general]

Spare Wheel.

What’s that?

Our PVC came with the repair/inflation kit only. I’m not particularly happy about it but there is no space to fit an underslung spare and space is at a premium. Will have to hope that any puncture is easily repairable or a new tyre can be sourced easily.

Best of luck