Spare Tire moved to Tongue - detail and pics

dsfdogs

Yesterday was a big day, I finally got my spare tire moved to the tongue! (Doing this sort of thing is brand new to me). Thanks to this forum and the T@B Camping Facebook group, I knew what I needed and how to safely remove the tire off the bottom of the trailer. I like detail and pictures, so I'm sharing for anyone else that needs/wants this info, and lessons learned.

@ericnliz, this paragraph from one of your posts was extremely helpful and I followed your advice-THANK YOU! 

 The one I ordered is: MAXXHAUL 70214 Powder Coat Black Trailer Spare Tire Carrier $16.99
To mount to the jack tube, you'll need: two "U" bolts, with washers, and I would recommend NYLOCK nuts to secure the "U" bolts. Word of advise, take the mount with you, so you make sure you get the right size "U" bolts. I also bought a rubber "pad" spacer for use between the "U" bolts and the jack tube to avoid damage, and so it wouldn't have tendency to slide around at all. Another suggestion: Mount the spare tire to the tire carrier first, then put it up on the trailer frame for support. makes it a WHOLE lot easier to adjust the "U" bolts on the jack tube.

Parts:
Tire carrier: same as above from Amazon
"U" bolts: I finally found mine at Fastenal (Ace & Home Depot had something different). These are thicker metal and about 3" across and 3 1/2" long (sorry I didn't take a pic before using) and per above, I took the carrier with me to ensure the ends would fit through the holes (after one return to Home Depot).
Rubber pad: found at Ace 6"x6"x3mm thick**
Nylocks and washers: from Fastenal, see pic below for info.
* Whichever U bolts you buy, ensure they are long enough to fit around 2" jack tube, + rubber mat, + carrier, + washer and still have enough threads for the nut.
**Some have reported the rubber pads not weathering well so are trying a clear or rubber tube to use around the U Bolt.

I stacked up two columns of Lynx leveling pads under the spare tire to help ensure it wouldn't fall on me. Someone suggested loosening up both nuts until almost off, then pressing one side of tire up towards trailer with one hand, remove first nut and lower that side of tire. Then do the same with the other nut. With the tire sitting on the two stacks of leveling pads, I pulled it out from under trailer.

But I digress...while one nut came off as expected, the other nut was cross-threaded (thank you to the RV Dealer that installed the tire). Thank goodness I had bought the breaker bar/sockets recommended by @Verna. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RF95TDC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 because it was put to use. My strong neighbor actually had to use his foot and leg strength to push the breaker bar 1/2 turns at a time, over and over, until the screw finally broke off. Shame on the person at the dealer; thankfully we were in my garage and not on the side of the road. Lesson learned: even if you don't move the spare, check the tire pressure (Eric's lesson) AND try taking the nuts off.

I attached the tire to the carrier first and set it on the trailer. Lesson learned: The bolts holding the tire to the carrier are long enough that I needed to go buy an extra deep 3/4" socket so I could fully tighten the nuts. (The 3/4" socket that came with the breaker bar were not quite deep enough).


To avoid the metal of the carrier against the metal of the jack tube I ended up cutting 1" off the rubber pad and Gorilla gluing it to the carrier. (A bigger piece of rubber pad that would have encircled the whole jack tube would have worked as well). 




Then using my left knee, left shoulder and both hands, scooted the tire over and adjusted the rubber pad/bolts to line up with the holes, put on the washers and get nuts started. Make sure the flat plate on carrier is flat against jack tube.



This baby isn't going anywhere!


If I decide to put on a tire cover then I'll get to practice taking off the spare.

I removed the tire carrier from under the trailer--here it is, with broken screw inside the bolt.




Please, if anyone sees something wrong, let me know!

jgram2

Absolutely great tutorial and photos! This should help countless people in the future! Thank You.

dsfdogs

@Twojgrams thank you-I've received so much help, it's my pleasure to pass along anything to help.

ericnliz

@dsfdogs, Glad I was able to give someone tips that helped them out! I used the same rubber pad as yours. If you decide on a spare cover, you don't need to completely remove the spare. Loosen the "U" bolts just enough so you can lift the tire up enough to scoot the cover underneath. Leave them loose until you have the cover fully on though. Makes it much easier to install. Nice job on the spare!

Restless_Native

Great tutorial! This has been on my to-do list for 2 years!

gooselady

Many thanks!

4ncar

Nothing “wrong” per se, but I would have suggested (and used) stainless steel nut, bolts & washers. Don’t think SS u bolts are available, but the SS won’t rust & fuse....FYI 

brookings

Boo on you NuCamp. putting the spare tire in the worst possible place. I scraped mine pulling into the gas station the first day bringing it home from the dealer. I took mine off on a nice sunny day. Awful. Image having to take it off in the middle of the night in six inches of freezing mud. Then.. What to do with the filthy blown tire and wheel.  I put mine in a large leaf bag under the seat and you still have room for tools, hoses, electric cords etc. You can put the blown tire in the bag and seal. no mess. NuCamp could easily put a bracket across the back for a mount. Like Outback but smaller. Cost? $50/$60.

 

TaB2go

They have done the same with the LGMax, will have to move mine to a spare tire carrier, that goes in the receiver hitch at the rear of the trailer. about $80, or so. eeek! But maybe not so much work, did the same thing with my TAB MAX S as you did, good job, by the way. Jim

Kfer

Hi which model do you have for your t@b?  We are interested in mounting our spare tire on the tongue and we have a 2016 outback t@b 

dsfdogs

@Kfer I'm not sure who you are asking, but mine is a 2018 320S. 

Nan

Does anyone know the weight, in lbs, of the spare tire? I too am going to mount it on my tongue, along with an "upnfront" bicycle upright receiver and concerned about tongue weight. 

Sharon_is_SAM

40 pounds is what I remember.

Nan

Thank you @Sharon_is_SAM that keeps the weight under the calculations of 11-15% of GAWR.

ScottG

Keep in mind that because you are also removing weight from behind the wheel, relocating the tire to the tongue will likely add more than 40lbs to your tongue weight.

The actual amount depends on distance from the fulcrum and other physics stuff I'd rather not think too much about. In hindsight, I wish I had weighed mine before and after the move, but I ain't puttin' that tire back underneath now just to satisfy my curiosity!  :-)

Since every application differs, the best bet is to weigh your own tongue with your T@B loaded in typical traveling fashion. You can use a bathroom scale and a block of wood to do this, but make sure the T@B is level when you do so and raising/lowering the front can have a surprising effect on tongue weight.

rcuomo

Nan- I weighed my spare at 44#. My tongue weight with bike carrier, spare and two bikes was just under 289#. 

Nan

@rcuomo your set up is similar to how I will be setting up mine and when I took into account the tongue weight with LP & battery (from the nucamp website) I get a similar #s number. Thanks so much for the info and picture.
@ScottG I will have to try the wood/bathroom scale technique this weekend. Thanks!

sephaj

@dsfdogs, I was just on the Fastenal site, and need to have more specifics about which U Bolt you bought. Sorry for my inexperience, but there's no U bolt that is 3 x 3 1/2. Also, what material is the one you got? Thanks in advance!

dsfdogs

@sephaj well phooey! I have a Fastenal store in my town so did not shop online. I took in the tire carrier and tested out the right size U bolt in store. It didn't come in a package so I'm not positive of sizes. I took some pictures, below, to show thread length and width of the metal. The jack tube is 2". The inside dimension of the U bolt is 2 1/2".  After filtering for dimensions on the Fastenal site, I think this is as close as I can figure: 1/4"-20 x 2" Pipe Size 304 Stainless Steel Round Bend U-Bolt. Maybe you have a store in your town? Or I might suggest once you get the carrier, take it with you to test out. I'm sorry I can't be more specific.

Dalehelman

A 2 1/4” muffler clamp fits perfectly.

sephaj

Thank you @dsfdogs and @Dalehelman

Sparky13

Wow, follow the “tutorial” above and you’ll soon be sporting your spare tire on the tongue, I bought exactly what he listed and did it myself. 62yo woman, crawling under my T@b...the neighbors were amused. Anyway, be SURE you stack something (I used spare boards) under that spare while removing it so  it won’t drop on your noggin or an arm.

Sharon_is_SAM

Good for you @Sparky13!

ericnliz

@Sparky13, Oh, NOW you tell me about supporting the spare.....

ChanW

Nan, keep in mind that you can always "adjust" your tongue weight by shifting your gear around inside the Tab. If your tongue weight gets too heavy, move some canned goods to the storage behind the couch! ie: the axle is the balance point...

Nan said:

Does anyone know the weight, in lbs, of the spare tire? I too am going to mount it on my tongue, along with an "upnfront" bicycle upright receiver and concerned about tongue weight. 

Sharon_is_SAM

@Nan, I see you use a Honda Odyssey to tow.  Not sure if you have the same arrangement as our Toyota Sienna, but we leave the larger rear-most seat up and use the seat well to put our spare tire.  We cover with some rubber matting and use the surface for our plastic drawer units.  

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/7506/sienna-minivan-spare-tire-storage

Dalehelman

ChanW said:

Nan, keep in mind that you can always "adjust" your tongue weight by shifting your gear around inside the Tab. If your tongue weight gets too heavy, move some canned goods to the storage behind the couch! ie: the axle is the balance point...

Do not forget that tongue weight is important, but more important is the percentage of tongue weight to total weight. 15%-20% below that and you risk a serious sway issue which should not be addressed with a sway bar.

rajamar

 Follow up: I followed @dfsdogs excellent guide to mount the spare on the jack in mid-April. The red rubber pad does not weather well at all:

The T@B has been stored indoors for about a total of 4 months, been in campgrounds or on the road for about 20 days and in the backyard, tongue to the West with the spare and jack covered with a towel, for about 6 weeks (all in  northern California). I will be replacing the rubber pad with a red or clear hose on the U bolts in the next few days. See:
https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/7213/outback-spare-tire-mount-on-tongue#latest

dsfdogs

Wow, good to know @rajamar about the pad. So far, mine looks good. I'll be curious to see how a clear tube or hose weathers. I tried a clear tube, but then couldn't fit the U bolt up snug to the jack tube.

ericnliz

@rajamar, & @dsfdogs, My pad did the same thing (cracked), so I'll take the advise of others & go with the tubing which seems to be a much better solution to the application. Thanks for the idea!!!!

TabberJohn

I notice @Dalehelman 's solution (2-1/4" muffler clamp) encircles the jack pole on both sides with no padding necessary.