Topic: Flat Tire blues...Spare Tire mount experiences??? (Read 3044 times) previous topic - next topic

First time poster.
Bought a 2013 Unity 24MB last month and had a flat tire last week and lost a hubcap at the same time.

It was on the front passenger side, and I am wondering if the hubcap came loose and damaged the NEW rubber valve on my NEW tire.

In any case, not having a spare tire is no longer an acceptable solution, and I was hoping someone here had outfitted their Unity with a spare tire and could offer advice. I have been considering both mounting a spare tire mount on the roof or on the rear (I have a ladder on the back already).

Also, I really don't like the clip on hub caps, and would like to hear suggestions on alternatives others may have tried.

Thanks!!!

mr coffee

195125  Spare Tire Carrier for vans, SUVs and trucksWell, a new tire will be about 100 pounds with a rim.  I certainly wouldn't put that on the roof and if you did, how are you going install a mount for it?  The ladder is mounted on the fiberglass mast without any real extra support and won't support a spare tire.  The fiberglass mast won't support a tire mount either.

Look into a Roadmaster tire carrier.  195125  Spare Tire Carrier for vans, SUVs and trucks

In a emergency you could remove an outside dual & use it on the front.  Just don’t drive far or fast!

Contact these people and order all metal stems for your rims.  They are steel, one piece and are long enough and curved correctly to easily put air in your tires. 
Borg valve Stems

Thanks for the input, guys.

May I ask you for more input about why you think a 100 lb. tire on the roof would be a bad idea?

I have walked around on the roof of the Unity, and I weigh well more than 100 lbs. I looked at the spare tire carrier attached to the towing receiver you linked to, but it doesn't seem like a very elegant solution.

What about hanging a spare tire UNDER the RV from the frame? I've seen several RVs that do this by design.

Thanks for the link to the RV metal tire valves that are bent to make checking the pressure on the dually tires less cumbersome. I will look into this some more.

Again, Thanks for the input and any other thoughts folks may have about carrying a spare on a Unity.

The issue may not be the 100 lb weight but rather nothing to firmly attach the tire mount to.  All of the beams in the roof are aluminum.  A 100 lb tire will be a devastating projectile in an accident and there's no way a mount will hold.  There isn't enough room under an LTV for a tire either. 

You'll need a rear hitch mount carrier like in my link.

If you want to carry a spare tire and you don't want to give up the rear hitch to a tire rack, I suggest mounting it on the front.  There are mounting kits for that and it doesn't look too horrible.  Maybe get a nice mercedes cover for the tire

Hi Mr. Coffee.

Having not a spare always scares me.

I have an 2014 UMB and carry a spare for the RV in my toad vehicle (Jeep 2dr Wrangler).

Ideally, if I had the extra $'s, I would opt for the spare tire carrier and hitch from Amazon.
Link: Spare Tire Carrier

Etrailer.com also has it.

Carrying a tire on your roof doesn't sound safe to me(?)

Good Luck!