Spare tire?

[tatanka48]

...
Word of advice check to see if you can get
Tire out of factory location with the camper on.
Seen a couple rigs that couldn’t

this advice is quite sound

i found out the hard way w/ my STOCK spare under a virtually stock F-350 w/ a custom bumper that i couldn't get my spare out when i had a flat

fortunately a good samaritan/wrecker driver stopped and took my flat to his shop where he mounted a used skin on the wheel to get me by

the custom bumper prevented lowering the stock spare and had to be re-customized when i got home

a "worst case scenario" test is always in order and should be done ( learned that lesson the hard way )

like letting the air out of both rear tires and removing the spare w/ ONLY the tools you regularly carry

T

 

[Regcabguy]

35's fit in the factory location on many trucks now days.

A 35" fits under my '07 Ram 2500.

 

[jream2008]

@locrwln

That is a slick looking rig. Is that the Bundutec Free? Modified for flatbed, I guess. Their website is awful - can't even get a sense of what the campers look like inside. But your pic makes it look really solid. May have to consider one of those instead of Hallmark or Alaskan!

 

[Buliwyf]

If I was west coast, I'd be interested in one. But I'm North East and looking at some winter travel soon.

 

[locrwln]

@locrwln

That is a slick looking rig. Is that the Bundutec Free? Modified for flatbed, I guess. Their website is awful - can't even get a sense of what the campers look like inside. But your pic makes it look really solid. May have to consider one of those instead of Hallmark or Alaskan!

Thank you and yes it is. We took the basic design and modified it to suit our needs. They have a horrible website and for those that ask me about it on the road; that is the first thing I warn them of...

We got everything we wanted as they will build it to suit for just over $26k to include the "artic pac." Is it perfect? No, but we could either waste a lot of time chasing perfection or accept some compromises and hit the road.

Jack

 

[highaltidude]

Sooooo... On just about any off-road vehicle, all the way from rock-crawlers to huge Unicat expedition vehicles, the spare tire(s) is a fairly prominent feature. Yet, I rarely, if ever, see them on truck campers, even those on this forum, which are probably off-road a fair amount.

The ideas I have heard are (a) stock spare, (b) custom tire carrier off the back, or (c) mounted in front of the grill.
(a) the stock spare doesn't seem like it would work very well if you had to mount a 32" spare on your truck with the rest being 35"s, much less 37"s. And I doubt you could fit a large off-road tire in the stock spare location.
(b) seems like it's doable, but you'd have to have a fairly short camper (no 8.5' campers hanging off the back), and it would probably be really expensive. And then you obstruct the camper entry. And you have no place to put bikes. Ugh.
(c) seems like a really dumb idea, especially if it's a large off-road tire.

Thoughts? Pictures?

Thanks!

F-350 with a flatbed and XP Camper here.....

I run 35's and the spare fits fine in the stock location.
I consider the spare to be for a "catastrophic" failure (sidewall).
For a "run of the mill" puncture flat, I have an ARB tire plug kit and on board air.
I also carry a Colby valve stem repair kit.

Chuck