Spare tire storage

[VicW]

I am beginning a conversion on a 1997 E350 Handy Dart bus. anyone have any nifty solutions on where to hide a spare tire besides the obvious front bumper or rear door? Thanks in advance.....VicW

[CHEESE_WAGON]

Originally Posted by VicW

I am beginning a conversion on a 1997 E350 Handy Dart bus. anyone have any nifty solutions on where to hide a spare tire besides the obvious front bumper or rear door? Thanks in advance.....VicW

Could put it on a swinging rack, Bronco-style... You might want a means of releasing the rack latch in emergencies so the emergency exit door is still usable... Electric latches would work best.

[Slickster]

Look underneath in the rear....pain getting it in and out of there, but a large threaded rod would hold it up there....

[magnakansas]

Imagine a ramp. the front of the ramp has a hinge point, as in closer to the front. The back of the ramp is just a little longer than the bus and sticks out past the rear bumper about four inches. The spare rides on the ramp. To remove the spare, you lower the rear of the ramp to the ground, slide the tire to the rear and out from under the bus. You never have to lift the tire.


The ramp is right down the middle of the bus. The ramp "sandwiches" the tire between the ramp and floor. That is one way of doing it.......


willliam

[Rivetboy]

Triple AAA with 200 mile tow otherwise learn how to change a tire or get creative with ratchet boat strap winch.

[ABBus]

Is a spare tire really needed?
With duals on the back, you'll be able to limp to the closest repair shop.

[VicW]

Originally Posted by ABBus

Is a spare tire really needed?
With duals on the back, you'll be able to limp to the closest repair shop.

Single wheels on this one.

[VicW]

Originally Posted by Slickster

Look underneath in the rear....pain getting it in and out of there, but a large threaded rod would hold it up there....

There is room there & I may end up using that spot, but if I do I think I will get a pickup spare tire winch to mount on the frame.

[jazty]

Be careful about mounting a tire underneath the vehicle if you live in a rust belt area. I've had to aggressively cut more than one of those spare tires free when the winch mechanism seized! Not fun when you actually _need_ that spare tire.

[crowcreekcabin]

Probably not a solution if you don't have a deck up there... but I put mine on the roof rack.

I built a little swinging crane that uses an ATV winch and a 12v battery to hoist it up and down. The crane gets stashed out of sight in a box special built on the roof when not in use. Also allows other items to be hoisted up if needed.

Best experience so far was having the tire shop guys ask me "how the hell did you get that spare up there?" .. 255/70/22.5 on a steel wheel (heavy!)...

Told them "I am just tough and threw it up there"....

"OH, BULL$#1t!!"... Was the immediate response....
They wouldn't believe my story about the wife catching it when I threw it up there to her either... lol..

[RoadsideJourney]

Originally Posted by crowcreekcabin

Best experience so far was having the tire shop guys ask me "how the hell did you get that spare up there?" .. 255/70/22.5 on a steel wheel (heavy!)...

Told them "I am just tough and threw it up there"....

"OH, BULL$#1t!!"... Was the immediate response....
They wouldn't believe my story about the wife catching it when I threw it up there to her either... lol..

That's hilarious! I just had all my tires replaced, and those suckers are so heavy! Had to have two guys install them.

Originally Posted by crowcreekcabin

I built a little swinging crane that uses an ATV winch and a 12v battery to hoist it up and down. The crane gets stashed out of sight in a box special built on the roof when not in use. Also allows other items to be hoisted up if needed.

Can you post a pic of the crane and winch? My dad had suggested doing something like that for a spare tire on the roof deck.

[Pinelander2020]

Hello! This is Pinelander2020 I read all the suggestions and faced the same questions and dilemma and came to the conclusion of this before I purchased my Skoolie. Tires are heavy, jack has to be for 5 Ton of weight, handling the tires and replacing is hell....so I purchased an school bus with a lift for handicap and the most expensive AAA Road and Motor home insurance. AAA requires you to have the spare tire with your bus and they will do the labor..that simple. I keep the spare tire on the back of my bus were the wheelchairs used to be secure and Voila! Problem solved. Is a Peace of mind �� good luck!

[o1marc]

No room for a spare. If I have rear blow out, I'll remove it and continue to a tire shop. If it's a front, I'll just replace it with a rear wheel and continue on to a tire shop.

[crowcreekcabin]

I don't take pictures... But my dad caught me in the early planning stage of the roof rack/crane scenerio.

Basically I ended up scrapping an old engine hoist. Ditched the hydraulic cylinder and replaced with a solid strut. Strut length makes the top bar hortizontal.

Picture is not exactly the pieces/parts I ended up using in the crane, but you get the idea. Key also was round heavy wall pipe upright and slightly larger round sockets welded into the railing of the rack. This allows the crane to swing and it can be moved to several areas on the rack. I ended up with 4 sockets (4 potential crane locations) on the rack. Rack is bolted clear through the roof ribs and has plywood decking. Crane in picture is in one of the sockets, and other sockets can be seen on the back of the rack... and lying around on the shop floor.

Outside of tire lifting.. also can hang one of those hammock chairs from the crane when chilling in camp.

All assembled with bolts so that it can be broken down and stored in three parts. Vertical piece, hortizontal piece, strut piece. Electric winch was then mounted on the top hortizontal part. All parts can be stashed in a storage box that also has my stovepipe stored in there. Box works as a good bench for beer drinkin on the roof...

[Slickster]

A boat winch with a cable on it, to a pulley mounted under rear of bus, pretty simple overall, secure with chain and turnbuckle for insurance....sort of the way most spares are mounted on trucks these days....