Seized spare wheel carrier - safety concern
Currently refitting the wheels on our 6 year old caravan having changed the tyres due to their age. So I went to use the spare wheel to help make the job safer and easier.
Problem: the carrier was completely seized and just refused to pull out as it should, to access the spare wheel. So no spare wheel!
Solution: Used pliers to take out the split pins from the opposite end of the carrier, then dropped down the whole carrier unit with spare still attached. I then used the spare to facilitate removal of the wheels to enable tyre replacement.
BUT the carrier remains seized solid. I leaned it vertically against a wall and have sprayed WD40 down the mounting tubes over several days. But the tubes remain seized. Does anyone have a solution to this problem?
My safety concern is that if we'd had a puncture on the road then changing a wheel would have been impossible! I would have thought that as part of the annual service the spare wheel should be extracted for inspection. But apparently this is not the case - they merely check the pressure from underneath! So it would appear that the spare wheel carrier is designed to seize and the annual manufacturer-recommended chassis maintenance doesn't even include it.
Thought I'd raise this here to warn others as it's easy to overlook the spare. If I can free-up the tubes then I'll be greasing them liberally before refitting!
Steve
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The spare wheel carrier should be lowered at the annual service and the tubes greased,Whilst the carrier is lowered you can (unless the wheel has been mounted upside down) check the tyre pressure!So perhaps you should have a word with the person who does not do a proper annual service!!!!
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A 6 year old caravan should have the later carrier which has plastic "seals" at the joints between the tubes and heat will destroy them!
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With my last caravan, I ditched the carrier(weight saving) and stowed the wheel under the French bed. Its predecessor, an Avondale Dart, had a stowage tray in the floor of the van, away from the road crud.
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No French bed I'm afraid, it's a traditional compact 2 berth. We once had an Avondale Mayfly with the spare wheel stored in the same way as yours. Brilliant design, super caravan. I wish the Brits still made caravans with the same quality workmanship. They really don't these days! The seats were sprung and very comfortable in our Avondale, wish we'd kept it. 😌
Thanks to all for above replies. I will try some gentle heat, as I don't want to destroy the galvanising. I'll keep squirting in the oil and hope it shifts eventually as we'll need our spare wheel available for touring.
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We used to carry our caravan spare wheel in the back of the car because the Alko wheel carriers are the work of the devil.
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Why not simply shove the wheel inside the van when travelling, wrapped up of course? We did this for years with ours, knowing what an absolute pain it was to get out, check regularly, maintain the underneath cradle. It travelled over the axle, on the floor. On site we simply stored it under the van. It wasn’t a major obstacle when we stopped for a break enroute, and just seemed the simplest, least time consuming, and easiest solution to us. Only needed it once thankfully, but was no issue at all changing the flat for the spare🤷♀️
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Your comment reminds me of our first caravan, back in 1984. It was an ABI Piper 1400L, a very basic van with no room for a spare wheel. So we did just that, travelled with it inside on the floor then under the van when on site. Happy days!
But I would have thought the caravan industry should've moved on from that? But then again, maybe not..... 🙄
Meantime, still applying the WD40.......
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I am at a loss as to why people automatically go for WD40 in a case like this.Plus gas for one is far superior,a mixture of heating oil and paraffin also does a very good job.Wd is designed to displace water etc.
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there are various flavours of WD40 these days ... penetrant being one of them 😉
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indeed there are but try finding the selection in your local store!Most outlets only stock the original WD (water displacement) product! and that is what 99% of individuals will use!
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Our caravan was, and still is from 1984🤣 Actually, OH has just reminded me that there is a carrier in A frame box, so it’s in there. It was our second 1984 van (we had two) that we carried inside.
Sounds like things have moved on, but not efficiently🤣
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This weekend I unfortunately had to use the spare wheel carrier at the side of the M73. I have had it out occasionlly while sitting in my drive for maintainance but this was for real.
First huge design error is that using a trolly jack on the jacking point occupies the same bit of space as the carrier needs to slide out into. The caravan has to be raised to get the wheel to pass between the road surface and the chassis. Two obvious solutions - unhitch and drop front down; or if one has a twin axle, run good wheel up onto blocks. So I tried lowering the air suspension on the Land Rover first rather than unhitch and got just enough room to wiggle out the wheel.
Second design error was the reverse of the OP's situation. I could not get the carrier to slide back in! Glad I had a good sized hammer with me.
Then we come to securing the caravan on site - the Alco wheel lock cannot fit the steel wheel and insurance requires two wheels to be imobilised. So the chain usually used to secure bikes did manage to go through a hole on the spare wheel and around the chassis.
All that is left to do now is get and pay for a replacement tyre and ponder how I would have got on had the blow out been on the offside!
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We had a seized spare wheel carrier for 7:years . I had no idea or inclination or skill or equipment to deal with it but assumed that the man with the repair / recovery truck would know what to do about it . We never had a suitable caravan jack either but was firmly of the belief that the same chap would have one, He never came as we never needed him. After 7 years we sold that caravan. Do any of you have it? Is it sorted now.?
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Beginning to think that's the best way forward. Our carrier remains firmly seized, despite the liberal application of heat, light oil, plusgas, wd40 et al. It just will not budge.
Fed up with it now, it's just a dreadful design!
Minded to just refit it with new split pins and, as you say, let the recovery people sort it out if ever we have a puncture in our nice new tyres.
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This was great back in the day when you called for assistance and the man would arrive possibly within the hour offering a friendly salute and then got on with the job in hand, today you could wait many hours before this happens today
only had 1 puncture on my caravan, to get an easier access to the wheel cradle i drove the caravan onto one of my levelling ramps, just gives you that 2 or 3 inches you need to pull out the cradle
p.s. always make sure my service mechanic pulls out the cradle and give it a good coat of grease
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