Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Here is my solution. A couple of carriage bolts through the floor along with big washers and nyloc nuts. Not as handy as some but at least I have it with me.

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I think this underside thing has some merit! I like the idea of the reclaimed truck cable lift.
All this spare tire talk has me thinkin! I might have to put some thought into mounting the spare
in front of the poop shoot. Might help protect some of the vitals I have hanging all over that side.
Concept Pic.

Iconfabul8 wrote:I think this underside thing has some merit! I like the idea of the reclaimed truck cable lift.
All this spare tire talk has me thinkin! I might have to put some thought into mounting the spare
in front of the poop shoot. Might help protect some of the vitals I have hanging all over that side.

Are you worried that you'll lose ground clearance on the approach angle?

Coming from a boating state, and having had several boat trailers, I've always carried my spare out of sight.
Just my two cents, but a trailer spare is a high temptation item for theft.
If you have it exposed, have a way to lock it up.

Andrew Herrick wrote:Are you worried that you'll lose ground clearance on the approach angle?

I suppose I would want to pull a line from the bottom of the collapsed front jack and the bottom of the waist valves. Then make sure the tire was mounted only slightly lower than the line. Better to scrub on the tire than to tear out the sewer system. Man would that be a mess if it was full. I guess if you wanted to get fancy you could mount the tire on a hub and let it roll!

P.S. If you ever get around Ahern rentals (400 N. 800 W.), stop and say hi. I am right next door to the east.

Iconfabul8 wrote:

Andrew Herrick wrote:Are you worried that you'll lose ground clearance on the approach angle?

I suppose I would want to pull a line from the bottom of the collapsed front jack and the bottom of the waist valves. Then make sure the tire was mounted only slightly lower than the line. Better to scrub on the tire than to tear out the sewer system. Man would that be a mess if it was full. I guess if you wanted to get fancy you could mount the tire on a hub and let it roll!

P.S. If you ever get around Ahern rentals (400 N. 800 W.), stop and say hi. I am right next door to the east.

Small world! You bet

Icon, Howdy;

Just something to consider.
I had an experience with a flat tire on an Interstate in Illinois once, There was a section of guard railing
where I came to a safe stop after a driver's side tire literally blew apart. Well, I ended up with about 12"
of space to work before parts of me were hangin' over the white line. That was the leading cause for me
to jack up the trailer with me under it as no one was giving me any room nor were any folks moving over
either.

All the above is why I'll never mount anything related to a tire change to the driver's side of a vehicle
including the door needed to access the tools.

hank

hankaye wrote:Icon, Howdy;

Just something to consider.
I had an experience with a flat tire on an Interstate in Illinois once, There was a section of guard railing
where I came to a safe stop after a driver's side tire literally blew apart. Well, I ended up with about 12"
of space to work before parts of me were hangin' over the white line. That was the leading cause for me
to jack up the trailer with me under it as no one was giving me any room nor were any folks moving over
either.

All the above is why I'll never mount anything related to a tire change to the driver's side of a vehicle
including the door needed to access the tools.

hank

there is some wisdom in that, that I had never given any thought to before. We have a lot to tight canyon roads up here and pulling off to the side most of the time I sent even an option.


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This is how I mounted mine. Right side to avoid traffic. I've only got about 4 months and 12,000 miles actual road time with my CT but I haven't had any issues with tampering.

hankaye wrote:Icon, Howdy;
I'll never mount anything related to a tire change to the driver's side of a vehicle
including the door needed to access the tools.

That is probably good advice. I will more than likely keep throwing the spare in the back of the truck bed.

I know some CT mfgrs do have an option for in floor spare tire storage. The tire is stored in a sealed compartment under but accessed through a hatch on the inside floor. I considered it as a good place to hide the stash, and just cover the lid with a rug. Certainly a mod one could build into their own CT.

i use a smaller wheel as a spare, like the donut tire that comes with your car. i keep it on the floor at the back of the trailer with the jack where it's easy to access and when at camp it's light enough to easily slide under the trailer.

friz wrote:Here is my solution. A couple of carriage bolts through the floor along with big washers and nyloc nuts. Not as handy as some but at least I have it with me.

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I am thinking about mounting my spare like yours. How is it performing? Any movement, problems, ideas you would change?

Thx!

John

I tucked mine horizontally between the tongue frame rails. I made a couple of straps that hinge to the frame at the back and are latched at the front. Basically unlock the latches and release them and the spare swings down to the ground. It all fits nicely under the utility/battery box that I added to the top of the tongue.

* There were four considerations I made before I mounted my spare tire:

• 1) ease of access,
• 2) ground clearance (on road or trail),
• 3) security ...not liable to come loose (from road contact or jarring), or being stolen, and
• 4) best location to help with trailer balance.

* 1) Ease of access: Since there was/is only 21" of clearance underneath the frame, and because I had previous difficulties getting the spare tire out from underneath my old S-10 pickup (low to the ground), in muddy conditions, I chose a top-of-frame mounting location. Now at 69 years (61 when building the TTT), I hate(d) crawling on the ground, since I have bad knees and back to consider.

* 2) Ground clearance: I was building the trailer for going semi-offroad eventually, or at least over rutted dirt roads at times, so mounting the spare underneath would reduce effective approach and departure angles (if under the tongue, or at the rear), and would even hang lower than my axle (the crossmembers of the frame are too close to each other to tuck the 27" diameter spare to tuck inside them).

* 3) Security: As stated in the two paragraphs above, an under-frame mount would subject the spare to possible ground contact, and resultant loss or damage could occur. Having now chosen a above-frame location, a secure mounting point/hardware would be needed. Since I had by now decided on a front-wall mounting spot, with the tire's weight being supported by the tongue, a simple 1/2" carriage bolt would be sufficient to hold the tire in place (with large washers on both sides of the wall, and with a nylock nut to tighten). I simply added a heavy chain thru the modular wheel holes be able to lock it in position. The later addition of a locked-in-place slide-mounted tongue box made access to the tire even more difficult for a possible thief.

* 4) Trailer balance: I was aware of the trailer being very heavy in the rear, due to 55/45 front/rear axle placement, and having a lot of equipment and gear placed behind the axle, so I always planned to counter that with added weight on the tongue. The spare tire on the tongue helped greatly with that, even before I had acquired the larger tongue box to pack with heavy gear (and battery), and prior to building weight-bearing over-the-box "roof racks" to compensate.

* Though I've not had to use the spare yet, I can get to it in less than five minutes (2 minutes to find the keys & 3/4" wrench for the nylock nut, 1 minute to remove the overhead storage box & swing the rack up out of the way, 1 minute to move the tongue box forward & to remove the chains, and 1 minute to unbolt the tire). I do so before every trip, for practice, and to check the tire pressure and status (though it's new, and never been on the road).