Spare motor home wheel and tyre
Hi , we live in Bristol and have a 2017 Bailey 794 T motor home that does not come with a spare.
we have decided to try to get one but cannot find a company who will supply and fit the tyre with the steel vavles
Can anyone make any suggestions or have used someone who can do this
Thanks
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We bought a wheel on eBay, a budget tyre from our local depot and the steel wheel bolts from our local Merc vehicle dealership.
A carrying bracket was fabricated by a local workshop, a wheel cover was purchased from Amazon and a bike lock from The Range.
Watch your payload is my tip.
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Hi thank you for the info
who fitted the tyre to the wheel ?
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The tyre depot where we bought the tyre.
We went in with the bare wheel and came out with the tyre fitted to it.
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Al-Ko make an underslung frame which slots into each side of the chassis members, providing there is enough room....ie no water tanks etc.
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agree with TW, you have a very heavy van (MIRO 3392kg with no passenger or water in it.....) with a long overhang, which is running on the 'light chassis' which has a rear axle limit of 2000kg..
...you are probably getting pretty close to this limit already, adding a 25kg spare wheel (if behind the rear axle) will add about 40kg extra load to that axle.
a trip to the weighbridge (to get the axle weights) before doing anything else might be advisable.
good luck.
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Many MH owners take just the 'spare' tyre with them especially if weight is a problem.
If you are going to rely on the Breakdown service changing the wheel for you then that makes good sense.
It's sourcing a new tyre that usually defeats the breakdown people - MH tyres often have to be ordered and the delay in getting them means you could have a very long wait - especially when abroad.
We take a spare wheel, kept in the garage, and wouldn't be without one in the UK or abroad - the 'gunge' option is as good as a chocolate teapot if you have anything other than a minor puncture - any tyre damage is rarely repairable.
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Personally I hate being without a proper spare, I keep looking at getting one, there are several companies who will supply them just Google for it. My problem is simply where to put it when the MH isn't designed with one. I wish you could get a space-saver but quite understand the problem with weight,
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You can buy steel rims from places like this They will also fit a tyre. One thing I noticed is that the rim only has a rubber valve when it should really be a heavy duty one.
David
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Ah yes, that takes me back to the glories of a Bay Window VW !! Mine had the spare inside alongside the bed ! Took me all of 2 nights of my first holiday to work out where it belonged. One bracket, four bolts ( I think ) and a steady hand with a drill. And there it was A Front Mounted Secondary Bumper !
Oh for those simple days !!
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Luckily, our MH had a towbar and we were able to have a bracket made to fit the towbar, HBW, so the wheel was carried against the rear wall of the MH. Again, weight was a consideration.
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just out of interest but I never gave it a second thought and just assumed that all MHs had a spare so interested to find out this wasn't the case. How many do and how many don't? It appears from the replies that many want one? Also do people carry inflation kits? And if you had a spare I would imagine it's quite difficult to use a jack because of the weight? Some caravaners myself included, have ditched the screw up one and carry a hydraulic jack (in the car), do you do the same?
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The supply of a spare wheel varies, Corners. Our current Peugeot has one which winds down. It is the original Pug chassis with no bolt on Alko extension. A previous Fiat, 10 years ago and almost it’s brother, with the Alko extension chassis also had one in an underslung carrier which bottomed on a ramp.
Our Merc on the original Sprinter chassis had no spare but came with a compressor and can of goo. However, later models had a spare wheel.
Sometimes, it depends on the chassis as the Alko may not leave space for a spare and, similarly, the placement of underslung tanks may intrude into the required space. Also, it became fashionable some years back not to have spare wheels on anything. Fleet operators of panel vans may not want spares as they could find it more cost effective to send a rescue crew out to white van man if he gets a puncture. Therefore spare wheels may not be standard on the very same vans on which MHs are built.
I have had two compressors in MHs and neither proved capable of reaching a high enough pressure for the requirements of the MH.😤
Due to the weight of the wheel and difficulty of changing at the roadside, it will be RAC Arrival for us in the event of a puncture and hydraulic or trolley jacks are surely the way to go.
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thanks TW
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Similar to our Cornish Friend,*** my Ducato has the wind down spare which I will rely on Green Flag to reach & fit should one of my wheels need attention -- I'm regularly told "yer too old n K######ed to do such things yersen"
!!As for the inflation I use a Halfords 12v jobbie which does ok, only takes about two to three mins to inflate to 65p.s.i. but will stop automatically when it reaches that. It also stops if I try to inflate more than 2 to that pressure without giving it a rest !!
*** Have to be careful with TW, 'cos I did threaten him with my company (
) this year & I'll be darn sarf wes' twice this year and he might get the Border Patrol out 
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I've got one on a cable under the van. Wound it down to check tyre pressure and see how the system worked. OK in the sunshine on the drive. Not so sure about a cold wet night at the roadside. A Mayday job, methinks.
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Oddly enough I've just stumbled across a bracket which fits on a tow bar, could be a good solution when I'm not towing anything.
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I was able to have an Alko spare wheel carrier fitted to the Bailey Alko chassis. Fits at the rear. I need to feed the water boiler drain pipe through the holes in the rim so I can drain the boiler. I just don’t want to rely on the fix and go kit, which can only repair a very small puncture and one is not supposed to drive long distances after the inflation.
The other problem with a fix n go kit is (I am reliably told by a KwikFit guy) the tyre can’t then be repaired and needs replacing. So your back to all the sourcing problems, and you need to get another fix n go kit for the next puncture.
Other things to consider though, I bought a breaker bar with the correct nut size socket otherwise it’s difficult to get the wheel nuts off. I have a better jack and a cordless compressor as my tyre inflator using the 12v plug won’t reach the rear tyres! Or
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in 2009 I had a rapid tyre deflation (due to a valve failure) on a Hymer Van 522 at a particularly busy section of the M6. We had a spare and a green flag operative fitted it within about an hour.
Three lessons learned :-
Mark 5 transits have/had a valve/tyre issue.
It was a very dangerous procedure to change the tyre due to the heavy traffic even though we were well onto the hard shoulder and the rescue truck had beacons etc so.
We would never be without a spare tyre. The time to factor this in is a the time of purchase not afterwards !
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If you have a puncture in France the best way to get on your way again is to change it yourself.
A few years ago we were on an Aire in France and a fellow Brit pointed out that my front tyre looked 'a bit low'.
It had a slow puncture, a nail was in it, and between us we changed the wheel in a few minutes.
I took the tyre to a local garage and they repaired the tyre, charged €10, and we were on our way in no time.
If we hadn't had a spare wheel we could have been standing around for hours waiting for a recovery vehicle.
If you are going abroad then calling the recovery people should be your last thought not your first as they are very thin on the ground especially at weekends and the frequent public holidays.
My, and possible your, lack of foreign language skills to summon the recovery may also delay their response.
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