Spare Tire under Galley

mackclauser

Spare tire question. I searched key words already.  We just bought a 2018 TAB 320-CS and I have been going over all parts of it before next year's camping adventures.

I wanted to check out the spare tire which is outside and under the galley. I don't want to be stuck along an interstate and find out I can't change a flat. The camper did not have a jack or lug wrench with it but that is not a problem because I have my own scissor jack and four-way lug wrench. I realized there is no clearance to use the four-way lug wrench. Switch to plan B and use a socket and ratchet wrench.

The nuts holding the spare tire on were very badly rusted and they would not budge. I had to use penetrating oil with a five foot pipe. It bent and ruined the ratchet and still the nuts would not budge. After switching to a more heavy duty ratchet it took another hour to get the spare tire off.

Now I want to remove the bracket and install a spare tire winch in its place to raise and lower the spare tire safely because the tire is heavy and could injure you when the last nut comes off. Of note, I do not want the tire on the hitch because I think NuCamp has the weight calculated for behind the axel for both balance, tongue weight and stability.

So after this long explanation my question is, has anyone installed an RV spare tire winch in place of the standard mount under their camper? I am looking at a Lippert RV spare tire winch or something similar.

Marceline

I have a clamshell and the day I bought it (6 years ago) I scraped the tire on the curb pulling out of the seller's driveway. so the first thing I did was move the spare to the tongue. There hasn't been any negative effect on trailer handling. I do pack my camper pretty carefully for travel with anything heavy on the floor over the axle. There is no way that I'd ever put the spare under the back again. 

If you're really worried I suppose that you could put a couple of pieces of cast iron cookware in the galley. 

Mickerly

We have a '18 CS. I had the same problem as you getting the spare tire off the first time. I cleaned up the threads, oiled the studs good, and put the tire back. Now I try the lugs each time I check the air pressure. When they start getting stiff, the nuts come off one at a time, the stud is oiled and the nut replaced.

A couple of things to think about. The spare tire from the factory has 15/16 nuts. The wheels have 19mm (3/4in). I bought some wheel locks to free up two wheel lugs, so all mine are now the same size. This spring, I'll be buying three new tires. I'm looking for another alloy wheel to match the Dexter wheels on the axle. It will let me rotate the spare into the other tire mix rather that letting it rot until replace.

If you do move the tire to the front, don't forget the trailer is balanced as designed. Moving 45lb or so from back to front means you should move something else from front to back.

rfuss928

There is a modification like you speak of on the T@B IO forum.  He used a pick-up truck hoist that brought the lift-drop drive to the rear.  My 2023 has a lift under the front storage box I like.  My 2009 had the spare under the rear like yours and I moved it to the side of the tongue as others have suggested.

mackclauser

Mickerly said:

We have a '18 CS. I had the same problem as you getting the spare tire off the first time. I cleaned up the threads, oiled the studs good, and put the tire back. Now I try the lugs each time I check the air pressure. When they start getting stiff, the nuts come off one at a time, the stud is oiled and the nut replaced.

A couple of things to think about. The spare tire from the factory has 15/16 nuts. The wheels have 19mm (3/4in). I bought some wheel locks to free up two wheel lugs, so all mine are now the same size. This spring, I'll be buying three new tires. I'm looking for another alloy wheel to match the Dexter wheels on the axle. It will let me rotate the spare into the other tire mix rather that letting it rot until replace.

If you do move the tire to the front, don't forget the trailer is balanced as designed. Moving 45lb or so from back to front means you should move something else from front to back.

Thank you for your reply.  Yes I noticed the different lug nut sizes.  The wheels were 3/4" but the spare was 13/16".  Weird.  And the weight distribution was my thought as well.  I know too much weight behind the axle can cause dangerous sway while towing but I think NuCamp had that calculated.  Moving it to the hitch would be so much easier for access but it adds a lot of tongue weight to your tow vehicle.
So I have three choices.  Mount the spare back as it was and in working order, replace with an easier to use winch holder or mount on the tongue.  

gulfarea

You have another choice! I only carry ONE spare tire which works for my toe car with an adapter AND MY T@B.  I put photos somewhere on this site of it. Art

Marceline

mackclauser said:

And the weight distribution was my thought as well.  I know too much weight behind the axle can cause dangerous sway while towing but I think NuCamp had that calculated.  Moving it to the hitch would be so much easier for access but it adds a lot of tongue weight to your tow vehicle.
So I have three choices.  Mount the spare back as it was and in working order, replace with an easier to use winch holder or mount on the tongue.  

Before you get too "wrapped around the axle" on this, if it's really a concern to you, I'd suggest that you get a scale and measure the weight of the trailer and the tongue weight yourself. I have my doubts about whether NuCamp has been really that precise about it. For example, at some point they replaced the bench at the front of the CS-S with an entire dresser. That had to add a lot of weight up front, but I don't know that they did anything to compensate for that. And a lot of people people switched to much heavier batteries (2 6v golf cart batteries) in the front. And there are loads of people who have added bike carriers to the front. As I said, I've been towing a 2013 CS-S around for 6+ years with the spare on the front and I've never seen any adverse effect from this. In fact, my camper (one of the original ones built by Pleasant Valley (NuCamp), has a ~7gal fresh water tank in the galley at the back, and I learned to travel with no water in the tank because of the ill effect of that weight behind the axle. At some point NuCamp must have realized it was a bad idea because they relocated the CS-S fresh water tank at some point.

Mickerly

When NuCamp moved the spare forward, they moved the axle forward 6in. Moving the spare wasn't the only change for that year; solid lavatory door, cassette toilet, etc. Adding weight to the front won't make the trailer unstable. It makes the trailer more stable. Because you are removing an item from the back and adding it to the front, you're actually changing the tongue weight by double. Having the trailer weighed is a great idea.

Slackers

Our experience is similar as @Marceline With our '19 CSS we brushed the spare the first time we backed the trailer into our yard. We moved the spare to the tongue (mounted to the jack post with its weight resting on the a-frame). After that move we found the trailer rides better behind our TV.

DaveAnna

We just put the spare in the truck bed against the front. Easier to get if needed

Dragonfly4100

Another CS owner here that moved the spare to the tongue, almost impossible to man-handle the spare from underneath without the use of props of some sort.