Clearance of Spare tyre under van

[Smirke]

hi. We are trying to decide the location of the spare tyre on our van for when we move it. We started off thinking of the drop down at the back then saw how people mounted them underneath.
We are wondering how much clearance you have between the tyre and the ground. (it looks like the tyre will be closer to the ground than the water tanks.)

 

[dagree]

Didn't really think about clearance when relocating ours to the rear bar.... It was more along the lines of ease of removal if on a muddy/dirty/hot track or road. Learnt the hard way when we had the 100 series cruiser with spare under the rear on a wet gravel track at Dwellingup

And the further back it was mounted helped with evening out the ball weight once the ali box was fitted on the drawbar and loaded!

 

[Meanderthals]

I did a write up on my tyre relocation to the rear on our Outback Work n Play some time ago ( http://www.expandasdownunder.com/threads/phil-lyns-17-51-2ob.3590/page-2 ) at posting 23. The pictures are there amongst many others as a side view. I didn't measure ground clearance but it is lower than the tanks. Although my mounting was a bit of over-kill I doubt that I could manage any more than 40mm more clearance without cutting away some of the chassis framing. Neither could I move the tyre further forward as it is almost touching the rear most tank now. The tyres on ours are 16in and 245 width so smaller tyres might gain a bit more. Bit wet and dark to go out and measure at the moment. I think that there's a few people on the Forum who have mounted the tyre in front of the front axle and did write up their project.

I still have this idea stuck in my mind that there's a much better way but the Project Manager around here would try and veto it, at the moment anyway. It may only suit a Toy Hauler but I keep dreaming while under the van sometimes of cutting a hole in the rear floor and some of the chassis cross rails then inserting a boxed up frame with a lid to drop the spare in to it from the inside. This would raise the spare up around another 100mm and keep it clean. Would be hard to get to the tyre though if theoretically someone was to carry some glamorous water sports toy in the back
Not that I'm picking on anyone of course, much.
I've heard a rumour somewhere in the Forum that Jayco themselves may have a relocated solution in the latest model but have yet to see any pictures to back it up. If so it may well be worth investigating.

 

[Capt. Gadget]

Hi @Smirke mine is an Outback model 16:49 with 16" tyres I moved the spare to underneath the rear I will measure on Friday when I have hooked up to the van and moved to level ground but from memory it sits at about the same height as the axle

 

[Smirke]

Thanks guys. @Capt. Gadget , I was looking at your one last night. The problem we have is that our front yard goes up, and as the van is now, we can nearly wipe out the bottom when coming off it. It's a tiny incline, but it's alot higher than the road. (I think we have the tallest kerb in Australia! Anyone reversing off our drive has to be on full lock otherwise they bottom out.)
The guys at Jayco here mentioned the spare is forward of the step.
Because the factory pranged our van and dented the bumper, right in the middle, we are tossing up getting the tyre put on the back to cover it, otherwise we want a new bumper and the spare underneath. But after measuring and seeing how low it is, makes for some uncertainty. Plus, the license plate will be moved to the bumper and we aren't sure if that then becomes a problem with the 'line of sight' ruling.
Hmmmmm..........

 

[Meanderthals]

Just went out to measure ours and realised that I had removed the spare a few weeks ago for some mods underneath so can't help there at the moment. Some back troubles lately so haven't been able to get under there anyway.

You must have a driveway like ours. Some delivery drivers have found out on reversing that one rear wheel in the air means they don't go anywhere and I've had to push them back. If you don't enter or leave at a good angle scrapes are likely. From the grooves in the kerb a lot of people for some reason choose the worst driveway in the street to do 3 point turns and they badly scrape their tow hooks on the concrete and have left their plate at times or damaged the front plastic bumper.

 

[Anja dunford]

Question on this there.. Our spare wheel on a 2011 expanda sits below the draw bar at the front. It sits very low. Seems to crash into the ground, has anyone moved it?

 

[Smirke]

Question on this there.. Our spare wheel on a 2011 expanda sits below the draw bar at the front. It sits very low. Seems to crash into the ground, has anyone moved it?

A lot of people have moved it to the rear bumper , or put it underneath. We have an outback, and bought a drop down thing to mount it underneath, but are now worried it may bottom out when going up and down our kerb at home, so are thinking of having a drop down rear holder on the back. But that means moving the license plate and makes the van that bit longer, so we need to see if that impacts our licensing of it.

 

[dagree]

@Anja dunford As @Smirke said some have done it a couple of different ways.
I fabricated and fitted a drop down holder to the rear bar as Smirke is thinking of doing. Pics can be seen here http://www.expandasdownunder.com/threads/dagrees-david-greer-2014-17-56-2ob.4749/page-8

If you do a search on the forum I am sure you will find plenty of other options.

 

[Crusty181]

This is the rear under mount wheel carrier on a new 20.63.xxOB at a Jayco dealer

 

[dagree]

Nice simple idea there @Crusty181 .... Do they look solid enough? Will have a look at the Caravan & Camping Show on Friday.

 

[Crusty181]

Personally it looked like it would be "ok" on a tourer ... but looked a little flimsy for the OB. Ive ditched the idea a trying to find a place to carry extra spare wheels for the tug and van, so im opting for a spare case for each. That new under mount setup might be ok to mount the spare cases ... one each side

 

[Meanderthals]

Jayco version looks OK but I still prefer the winch mount right underneath because getting the wheel back up means that the winch cable/chain pulls it back in underneath and centralises it automatically, if that makes sense.

 

[jacbaz]

We moved ours from under the front to on top ... fire drum fits nicely especially since we have cut it down and got extension legs for it ... we can still get into the front boot now without removing the drum

 

[Smirke]

Looks similar to what we had on the ford territory.

 

[pauljygrant]

This is the rear under mount wheel carrier on a new 20.63.xxOB at a Jayco dealer

View attachment 30790 View attachment 30791 View attachment 30792

To hijack a previous post, does anyone have photos of how they have mounted the spare under the floor either using a second hand 4x4 wind up or an eBay winch?
Thinking that having the weight of the spare closer to the ground would improve handling and give a few extra inches walking between the back of the camper and the rear wall of the shed.

 

[NoWorries]

Hi Paul, I have used a old Toyota windup and a quick fab bracket, it is great yes it is lower than the water tanks but if you look at the angle if your rear bumper does not hit the ground then the tyre never will.
Best place for it in my opinion.
I have gone through some really horrible tracks and it has not so much as a scrape on it.

 

[NoWorries]

 

[Drover]

Rule of Thumb for fitting stuff underneath, run a line (straight edge etc) from bottom of road tyre to bottom edge of bumper, anything lower than that line can get clobbered...................except when you drop off a ledge, then anything and everything including the floor can get taken out of course.................Mine was in about the same possie as @NoWorries and was sweet as, bumper still got the odd wallop though.

Added 2 rails between cross members and bolted a winder off a ute on and all was good......piccies here I think...........http://expandasdownunder.com/threads/drovers-14-44-3.4502/

 

[pauljygrant]

Think I'll hang the spare under using ratchet straps to see how it looks then work out the best way to mount it permanently.