Spare tire

[MILBY]

Anyone take thier spare tire off the back bumper and put in a underbelly spare tire winch

[TeamCyBo]

No I haven't, but if like you I want to move it also. It is in a bad place on the rear bumper. It makes opening and closing the compartment door a royal pain not to mention getting something out a pain also. I will watch this thread and hopefully both of us will find a solution. Thanks for the post.

Bo

[Charli]

We moved the spare tire to the front under the belly of the front storage compartment with a winch system. Its out of the way and no clearance problems and you really don't notice it there. Haven't had a flat tire yet so haven't had to use it but have tested it and it seems to work ok. We had problems with the rear bumper welds cracking and also wanted to put a bike rack on the back. The dealer welded a receiver to the frame for the bike rack but this didn't leave enough room for the spare tire. The dealers solution was the underbelly winch system and this seems to be a good option and they did it for free. (ok they made enough on the sale of the trailer and other mods we have done, so not exactly for free).

[f6bits]

What winch system did you use?

[cumminsdad08]

X3, i don't have a spare yet, but i need one, and someplace to go with it. i was digging around, and i could't find an actuall winch to use....... we mounted our spares at work under the trailer, but they kept them towards the front, and they do drag on the ground sometimes. i would think by keeping them closer to the axels, this would avoid this issue. but would never tell the boss where to put his spare tire at:rofl:

[hankaye]

Howdy All;

You might want to read this thread;

http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4722

hankaye

[mhs4771]

Don't know the cost, but Lippert offers an underbelly system for the spare with pull-out drawers on either side. As far as I know it bolts up to the frame. Our spare in under the belly just behind the axles.

[TeamCyBo]

I've seen the Lippert system and it is nice. I just don't have a spare $500 laying around to use :rofl: i am considering a winch system and mounting it under my battery up front. It seems like it would be easy to get to and has enough clearance I beleive.

Bo

[Charli]

What winch system did you use?

Not sure what system. The dealer took it off another trailer he had in his lot.

[cumminsdad08]

I've seen the Lippert system and it is nice. I just don't have a spare $500 laying around to use :rofl: i am considering a winch system and mounting it under my battery up front. It seems like it would be easy to get to and has enough clearance I beleive.

Bo

i checked into that system a little bit. very nice and very practical, i guess thats how they come up with a 500 buck price. i can spend 500 somewhere else these days. as far as mounting it under the batt. you would be suprised at how close your hitch comes to the ground. BUT it you use any kind of weight distribution system, i guess that would hit and drag first. i know i have drug ours on our utility trailers before, but i don't really think, or worry about a whole lot when draging them around. just so it gets there and gets home, i am happy. my trailer, well i tend to be little more careful with it. quite a few more things to damage there.

[craiglud]

I took mine off the spare tire bumper bracket and had a new bracket welded to the receiver hitch that I use for a bike rack. The bracket fits between the bumper and the back wall of the trailer and with the tire mounted I have a few inches between the tire and the bike rack. I also have quick release pins to remove the spare tire from the bracket and lift it off for tire replacement.

I also found this link to a winch for a spare tire. I could see how this could work. I wanted my tire in the back where i was sure i would not drag it up front by the hitch.


http://www.lci1.com/storecatalog/spare-tire-winch-with-offset-cable.htm

[f6bits]

Thanks for the link. I’d love to get that spare off my back bumper. I’ve seen many hanging under the battery. If it’s not lower than my tongue jack, then I’ll be fine.

[MILBY]

did some checking and lippert does have a winch for about 70.00. Think it will fit just fine under the front storage box. Think I will drill though and put support inside and bolt all the way though just to be safe.

[TeamCyBo]

* I just got back from the storage place, beleive it or not, where I was moving the spare off the bumper. I chose to move it under the battery mount in the front. Here's what I did. I wanted a winch system but wasn't sure how best to do this. While surfing the net I googled spare tire winch and ebay popped up. So I looked around and noticed that most of what I was seeing was replacement units for vehicles. This gave me the idea of trying the one on my Explorer. So I took it off and mounted it on my battery rack frame and moved the tire up front, cranked it up and presto it works. Snug up against the frame like it was made for it. Ground clearance was a concern so I measured prior to mounting the winch and found that I have about 14 in. of clearance. If it didn't work, I just put the winch back on the Explorer no prob. Now all I have to do is find a winch at a salvage yard to replace it. I figure about $25 for everything. And I can open the rear hatch as many times as I want to with NO obstructions *

Here's a few pics.

http://www.keystoneforums.com/attachments/photobucket/img_26978_0_21ec4cf7f1d8606ccf357db80ef3878e.jpght tp://www.keystoneforums.com/attachments/photobucket/img_26978_1_70bef3ea223038e23cfb9ac2188ceb8a.jpght tp://www.keystoneforums.com/attachments/photobucket/img_26978_2_118d27695e6092f61a2f5e2ce7c8af20.jpg
http://www.keystoneforums.com/attachments/photobucket/img_26978_3_d764f9ab5bb8d019c7df8330997e08f8.jpg

Bo