Motor Home Spare Tire

[adonh]

My 396 XL has a spare tire in the pass through storage unit, no rim just a tire. From what I am told this can to be used in the case of a flat/blowout and can be mounted on the rim by a road side tire service if need be. Takes up a lot of room do we need to carry this. Thanks

[randazj]

I can only wish my Cutter had a pass through basement with an unmounted spare. I store mine in the bedroom closet wraped in a tarp. The tores for RV are not easily avaialble like truck tires, one blow out and you will be happy you kept that spare. Especiallg since it can be mounted curb side by a mobile mechanic.

[masseyfarm]

You are probably 3 days max. for delivery of a new tire to any point in the continental USA and in most cases overnight. If you are in Northern Canada, or Alaska, this could be considerably longer to get what you need.
I do not carry my mounted spare as long as I am traveling the major routes but do carry it for northern routes in Canada. I also carry the tools to change it on the road.(it just takes me a bit longer than the tire man )

You can always call your local tire shop and ask how close the nearest stock is for the tire you want. That will give you some idea of the availability and lead time required.

The unmounted tire is good insurance if you have the room for it. You can store stuff inside the tire so it doesn't really short you of too much storage. But, when you have a tire blowout, chances are you are going to buy 2 new tires anyway. Where that happens does not matter much.

Dave

Originally Posted by adonh

My 396 XL has a spare tire in the pass through storage unit, no rim just a tire. From what I am told this can to be used in the case of a flat/blowout and can be mounted on the rim by a road side tire service if need be. Takes up a lot of room do we need to carry this. Thanks

[Tony Lee]

My unmounted spare (bought used for $50 before we went to Alaska) is pulled up between the chassis rails with three ratchet straps. There were enough predrilled holes in the rails and cross-members that I didn't need to drill anything for the strap hooks to hook in to.

I also carry tyre plugs and have an air hose and attachments to plug into the front air outlet. Came in handy in Mexico where I had a nail in the tyre and it went down overnight. Was able to get back on the road in minutes instead of having to try to get good sam off their backsides and actually provide the service I thought I had paid for.

[lewster]

I carried a 275/80-22.5 mounted spare the entire time I was full-timing. Kept it in the van that I used as a toad. Never needed it!

When I sold the '98 Monaco Dynasty, I asked the new owner if he wanted it and he declined. Guess what?

He had a blow-out on his second trip.....KARMA I guess.........

Carry one and you'll likely never need it.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by lewster

I carried a 275/80-22.5 mounted spare the entire time I was full-timing. Kept it in the van that I used as a toad. Never needed it!

If it's not above your weight limit (yours for handling it, the RV's for carrying it), carrying a mounted spare as lewster did would be preferable to an unmounted spare. Roadside assistance is easier to obtain when all they need to bring is a lug wrench and a jack, and not a full tire-service truck to mount the spare on the rim.

I'm a big believer in plug kits, too, as long as they're the "mushroom" type and not the "string" type. I worked in a service station in high school and college, back when service stations fixed flats. I used mushroom plugs on literally hundreds of tires, and they worked very well; not one single plug failed in five years. As long as the diameter of the plug's stem was a bit larger than the diameter of the hole, of course. String plugs tended to work themselves loose in short order, even when liberally coated with rubber cement before insertion.

[Tony Lee]

Problem is mushroom plugs (as I understand them) need to be inserted with the big end onthe inside and if that is the case you have to unmount the tyre to do it. String plugs are good for getting going quickly after a simple puncture and the "rules" say that you need to get it repaired properly asap. I've seen staked sidewalls with 20 plugs hanging out of a finger-sized hole and they held for long enough to get the cattle muster finished.

[Airstreamer67]

I've used regular tire plugs for years with great success.

The only ones I ever had to replace was on a couple of very cheap ST tires on a utility trailer. I knew those tires were cheap, because pushing the plugs in were twice as easy as on a regular tire. After a few years of slow leaks, I finally had the cheap tires fixed from the insides.

Other than those two tires, all the plugs I've used worked flawlessly and lasted until the tires timed-out due to age. I always have a half-dozen plugs with me as part of my RV traveling kit.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Tony Lee

Problem is mushroom plugs (as I understand them) need to be inserted with the big end on the inside and if that is the case you have to unmount the tyre to do it.

Not true. It's inserted from the outside using a special tool that compresses the head to fit it through the hole, then it expands on the inside, and the head is pulled tight against the tire to spread it as you remove the tool from the hole.

I've done hundreds of these in my dad's service station, and never once had to dismount the tire to insert the plug.

[CapriRacer]

Plugs?

Count me as one of those who has had just the opposite experience. My failure rate is 50% (2 out of 4) - and we're talking passenger car tires here. I can't imagine what the rate would be if I was using anything over 40 psi.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by CapriRacer

Plugs?

Count me as one of those who has had just the opposite experience. My failure rate is 50% (2 out of 4) - and we're talking passenger car tires here. I can't imagine what the rate would be if I was using anything over 40 psi.

Question - How long after the plugs were inserted did they fail? Plugs are not intended for permanent fixes; they're strictly temporary. I trust them, but if I used one on my own vehicle, it would only be in the tire until I got back to my hometown and could get the tire repaired properly without interrupting my trip. I've had plugs I installed in other people's tires still working after a year or more, but I'd never use one that long on my own vehicles.