Underslung spare wheel

[PaddyM]

Van 10yr old , never had cause to use spare wheel , it suddenly occurred to me that the tyre may be out of date or not fit for use . Any expert thoughts ? Cheers .
Bailey Approach 740 SE

 

[mikebeaches]

Not only the possibility of out of date tyre, but is the carrier seized? 10 years is a lot of road salt and general wet gunk.

Had the garage check ours and lubricate it at the last big service.

 

[TheBig1]

The tyre may be too old to safely rely on, but will get you home if it's all you have. You should check the spare yearly and lower and lubricate the mechanism, but few people do

 

[PaddyM]

Many thanks , I’ll follow your advice. My garage told me today that an inspection of the spare was a part of the yearly vehicle service .

 

[TheBig1]

Many thanks , I’ll follow your advice. My garage told me today that an inspection of the spare was a part of the yearly vehicle service .

It is, but they just look at it and check the pressure if they can get to the valve. They don't lower the wheel to grease the mechanism

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[Jimbohorlicks]

Van 10yr old , never had cause to use spare wheel , it suddenly occurred to me that the tyre may be out of date or not fit for use . Any expert thoughts ? Cheers .
Bailey Approach 740 SE

A 10 year old tyre is still ok for a spare ,its not been in the sun and I would think if you check it it's still got full pressure in. I just has a puncture and my spare was new in 2017 with the van, just dropped it ok from the hanger and lubricated the cable.
Best to make sure it works ok and the tyre is up to pressure....just in case you need it.

 

[busby]

It is, but they just look at it and check the pressure if they can get to the valve. They don't lower the wheel to grease the mechanism

I put an extension pipe on mine so I can check and inflate without lowering it.BUSBY.

 

[cmcardle75]

If the spare is full size and has the same wheel, I tend to put them into the rotation to stop them going off. i.e. after five years, stick it on the front axle to make sure you get some wear from it.

 

[xsparks]

When I bought a new set of tyres some years ago the 8 year old unused spare had started to de laminate so I would check it out we. There used to be a company that did an extension tube for the spare called something like spare air.

 

[xsparks]

Should read "well".

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[Jimbohorlicks]

Should read "well".

You can edit your response if you check the bottom left there is an edit button,its in the three little dots.

 

[TheBig1]

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[HugoBNB]

I put an extension pipe on mine so I can check and inflate without lowering it.BUSBY.

Brilliant!

 

[Stealaway]

If it's not been unused for ten years and it's out of date why bother with it, take it down and leave it at home.

 

[bigwood]

The spare on our motorhome was as fitted by Ford and over ten years old. I was going to keep it as a spare because it still had the mould marks on it and can’t have ever been fitted.
My only concern was that it was a van tyre rather than the camper tyres I have fitted. It would be just my luck to have problems with an insurance claim with mixed tyres if I fitted it. It may be just me being paranoid but I changed it for my my own piece of mind.

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[PaddyM]

If it's not been unused for ten years and it's out of date why bother with it, take it down and leave it at home.

It has been unused for ten years

 

[Gaston aires]

I just lowered mine to “have a butcher’s”. Quite a contraption. It worked ok and I’m glad I did in case I need to use it. Sure glad for the hydraulic levellers.
Phil

 

[2bob]

when i change my tyres i change the spare for new then put the best that comes off the mh as spare

 

[donkey]

The spare on my 2010 Mondial is unused and out of the sun. It is pristine, never looses air and I would be more than confident to use it for as long as it took me to obtain and fit a new tyre.

Geoff

 

[MarionK]

Many thanks , I’ll follow your advice. My garage told me today that an inspection of the spare was a part of the yearly vehicle service .

That's my understanding too, but either it's wrong, or the previous owner must have taken it out for the test! Mine was absolutely flat and very knackered, no way was it fit for service and I don't believe it could have been fit for use a year ago.

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[Manic]

I had an old spare under mine but I used it just to get a tyre garage and then swap back.

 

[Jake Royd]

Just had a look at mine.
I needed to check the tyre.
What a mixture of good and bad engineering.
My outer 'hole' in the lower side finisher is nowhere near letting me drive the mechanism through it, like you should.
So I start moving it underneath with the wheel wrench, possible but it will take all day, a flat at a time.
So I try to drive it with a socket wrench and discover it's a 5 sided socket or shank.
I find a suitable open ended spanner and put this in the van should it be needed.
The mechanism lowered quite nicely.
But then you have to wrestle the wheel to the side but not so far that you can't tip the centre mechanism to remove it once the hand nut has been removed.
On mine this was just short of enabling you to see what you are doing in the wheel well.
Then you have to lift it up a bit to get the centre mech out.

All hard work but possible I suppose roadside.
in extremis.

My spare tyre BTW dates from 2006 and has never been used. It has not seen any UV and at least looks OK.
The road tyres I hasten to add are nowhere near that old.


I plan to replace it next year (and the 4 road tyres) with Michelin Cross Climate CP's and so don't want to have to buy an Agilis CP right now.

Am I taking a chance, yes.................

 

[dazandandrea]

I checked ours out a week or so after getting the van . Thought it was wise to find out how to get to it and release it from the cradle.
2008 peugeot boxer. Handle located in tray under passenger seat.
Fitted into socket behind drivers side rear wheel.
Wind it and spare drops down on a cable.
Everything was lubricated when i did it.
Glad i wasnt at the side of the motorway trying to figure out how to do it.

 

[cmcardle75]

I stuck an underslung LPG tank on my similarly designed Renault (Vauxhall) van, which precluded the use of the already jammed mech. I just bolted on a newly fabricated bracket that let me attach a spare using standard wheel bolts. I bet in an emergency it will be easier to remove than those dodgy crank mechanisms that haven't been oiled in a decade.