My spare tire fell down!

[Artemus Gordon]

My wife and I pulled into a Campground last weekend. I parked about 100 feet from the check in office. On my way back, I noticed my spare on the Montana, was almost touching the ground. it appears the motion of the road, or some other force, on recent trips, made the brackets come loose. The bar that goes accross, that you turn to lower tire is bent! Has anyone else ever encountered this problem? Inspection eliminated any "dragging" of rear of trailer, nor "over the curb" accident. It appears the weight of the tire is to blame! Your comments please.

[Mudchief]

Can't say I have heard about that. I have the heavy G614 and over 30K miles on the unit. Sometimes the cable assembly strips and allows the tire to drop. Many of us put a couple of straps over the tire to prevent that.

[Phil P]

Hi

I talked to a fellow in an RV park in South Dakota that had a SOB with the spare mounted between the front legs and the trailer axels.

He was telling me that his came off the trailer and did a lot of damage to plumbing. He didn’t tell me why it came off that makes me think it wasn’t mounted in the carrier correctly.

Phil P

[racerjoe]

if you have not checked it for quite a while, it probably was just a touch loose and not up against the frame. from there,vibrations from traveling will make it continue to drop. (you know that gravity stuff) :-) I would not be happy either. I check ours in the spring after storage and usually once thru the summer,and have found it a little loose a couple times.

[Captain Joe]

Michael,
Happened to me in my former 3750FL. Just put it on the molding, screw, nut, and bolt every 6 months checklist.

[K0LCB]

Yes, I have had to crank mine back up. I check it regularly now

[1retired06]

Glad you discovered it safely while stopped. Could have been ugly.

[jlb27537]

Mine came loose on the trip home from Elkhart after picking it up. I turned the cable thing tighter and put a chain and lock on it. It may come loose but it will not fall off.

Jim

[DQDick]

Thanks for the heads up. Another thing to put on my check list.

[Glenn the fifth]

I have to check mine every trip because I noticed it loose once. I am going to find a more permanent solution to it loosening itself in the near future.

[JandC]

That was on my "to do" list I am currently working through prior to heading south for the winter. When I put it on the list I thought maybe I was going a little too far, but after reading these posts I guess not.

[richfaa]

that has been reported before on this Forum We strapped our 2006 3400 because of reports years ago. We strapped our 2013 before we left on our first trip.

[steelpony5555]

On long trips I check mine too now after I found it a little loose. But it has never been really really loose...

[Jolu]

As Richfaa stated, this was reported a few years back and it became the norm to add a ratchet type strap to the spare as a safety to assist holding up the tire. It appears to work. I hit a bad frost heave in the Yukon and had to replace my axles because they went bad. The tire hung in there and is still there today without any attention.
Joe

[mtheo]

Mine has come loose and so has a friends of mine. I put a chain and lock on mine so if it does come loose it won't drop completely.

[TLightning]

I keep mine in the bed of the truck.

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

Yep, they loosen up.

CountryGuy frequently gives ours the "kick" check. If he can push on it with his foot and there is movement, time to tighten stuff up.

Happens, vibrations, etc. The joys of running down the "hard" roads.

[Overlord]

quote:Originally posted by TLightning

I keep mine in the bed of the truck.

Ditto!

Mostly because I don't want to crawl around under the 5er on the side of the road if I ever need it. Secondly, I like knowing that it is going to be where I put it, not stolen, or off in a ditch somewhere in rural Iowa 1,000 miles from where I am stopped with a flat, ...or worse, through the windshield of a following car.

Also, there is the added benefit of it being clean & dry, in an easy place to check the air pressure and add air if needed. I prefer to avoid crawling around under the Montana if it can be helped.

It's bad enough that I have to get under there for maintenance items in the safety of my driveway, ....it's not a pleasant idea of doing so on the side of a busy highway in an emergency.

[CORattler]

I ratchet strapped mine but I do like the idea of keeping it in the TV bed for security, EZ pressure check EZ access if I need it and out of the elements.
I'll check to see if I have room in the TV bed without interfering with the hitch.

[K0LCB]

I put a chain and lock on my old MH, when I needed it the lock was so full of gunk that I couldn't open it. Had to cut the chain to get spare tire down