MMM – September 2019

168 Need technical advice?[email protected] 2019

TECHNICAL MMM recommends ApprovedWorkshops

Q

How can wefit a spare wheel

carrier to our motorhome?

Two years ago my wife and I purchaseda

Rapido 9094df on a 4,400kgchassis. It is

our first motorhomeand we have really

enjoyed ourfirst two years, especially

given thatwe have had MMMwith us the

whole way.

We chose the Rapido because the

layout is excellent for UKtouring as the

rear lounge is available at al l ti mes. The

storage andpayloa d areideal for us , as my

wife and I arekeen scuba divers. We enjoy

this in the UK,so sometimes we need t o

take lots (and I mean lots!) of kit with us.

The onething thatwas not ideal was

the provision of a spare wheel; there

wasn’t one suppli ed with the standard

van, only the much-maligned ‘Fix and Go’

kit, which I did not feel was sufficient.

We therefore purchaseda spare wheel

with the ’van when ordered. We were

rather surprised to find that the spare

wheel is a steel wheel andnot an alloy

to matchthe ot her wheels. It was also

suppli ed loose in the garage and not

attached to a carrier or underslung.

Given that the garage is criticalstorage

space for us,we really wanted the wheel

mounted or underslung.Rear- mounting is

not ideal for us because we carrybicycles

with us onmost trips.

There is a lot of free space under the

’van between the chassis legs where a

spare wheel could be mounted. I ha ve

found the Fiat spare wheel carrier and

purchased it f rom a genuine Fiat dealer

to avoid anyconcerns with the ‘pre -recall’

carriers found on eBay.

However, despite trying several

suppli ers, I ha ve not yet fo und anyone

able/willing to fabricate andattach the

necessary carryingframe tothe chassis.

Could the amazing techni cal c rew at

MMMcome to our rescueand suggest

a way of doing this or anypotentially

suitab le fabricators?

Paul & Susan Sanders, and Izzie the

motorhome!

A

I’m nofan of the aerosol repair

kitsuppliedbysomeconverters.

Carryinga steel spareis commonpractice

andless expensive, andthere is no weight

saving compared toanalloywheel. Asfor

mounting, asyou haveanAl-Kochassis

not aFiat, the only ix Ican suggest is to

contact Al-Koasit alsomanufactures

andsupplies a sparewheel carrier ( itted

byBailey) formotorhomes and tourers

which you maywishto takea lookat.

Alternatively, i nda localsteel fabricator

orcontact towbar/trailer manufacturers

on line. But becareful of the clearanceso

as not to damageyour double loor.

You mentionlots and lotsof kit and

this meansweight, docheck yourpayload

andrear axleweightremainswithinlegal

limits! Look online foryour local public

weighbridge andget the fully loaded’van

weighed before doing anything.

Terry Acreman

Clearance and not pu shing themotorhome

floor up if I do ground outwere the two

things I thought about. Yes, I have looked

at the Al-Ko spare wheel carrier forthe

caravan chassis, but Iwasn’t sure if it

would be strong enough. The spare wheel

for a4.5-metre chassis weighs30kg.What

does a caravan spare wheel weigh? I would

have assumed it would be less.

Paul Sanders

his could needcustom fabricationand

I’d Google ‘steel fabrication’andthen your

county. I’d suggest you use the original

Fiat chassis carrieryou already have–

that is designedto takethe weight of

the wheel – andget afabricatorto brace

across yourAl-Kochassis (whichwill

havelotsof existingholesin it thatyou

should beable to use) witha triangulated

steel frame.

Bear inmindthatsteel wheels use

diferentwheelbolts toalloys, soyou’ ll

need toget someof these (or swap it for a

matching alloy). Alloys tendto use thicker

spokesthansteel wheels sothereis rarely

muchof a weightdiference.he other

point to makeis that removingthe spare

wheel froman underslungcarrier is a

horrible job (youtry lifting 30kgupwhen

lying onyourbackat full stretch) andit’s

far more convenientto havea sparerear

orgarage-mounted if at all possible.

Peter Rosenthal

Q

What are the correct

tyre pressures for my

Auto-Sleeper motorhome?

We have a 2016Auto- Sleeper Winchcombe

motorhome based on aMercedes-Benz

Sprinterand we need toknow the correct

tyre pressures forit.

We are about totravel to and around

France with a full load, andthe weather at

present is hot.

Our tyres are 235/65R 16CContin ental

Vanco FourSeason 2.

Pauline Day

A

Firstyou need toweigh your

motorhomeona weighbridgewhen

it is fully loadedwithall adults, kitand

bikes, etc,onboard.

First,weighit withjust frontaxle

on the weighbridge, then weighthe

motorhomewithbothaxleson the

weighbridge to make sure you arelegal on

eachaxleloading.

See the underbonnetchassis plate

foryourvehicle’s axlelimits andthe

maximum overall weight.

hen sendtheseigures to Continental

withfulltyrespeciication/markingsto

[email protected]

If you donot havetime forthis,

thengowithMercedes’ recommended

pressure marked on the base vehicle (fully

laden), thenweigh it onreturnfor future

reference. It’s the driver’s responsibility to

staylegal onaxleweightandknow your

maximum allowed weights andthe weight

of your vehicle.

Terry Acreman

Manythanks for your help. We got in

touch with Continental and had an email

from TomaszWojciechowski. He was

very helpful and sent us a chart fora

motorhome, ourtyres andthe pressure

neededfor differentwei ght s, which

were not the same asthe manufacturer’s

plate. It was defi nitely worth getting our

motorhome, c alled Miss Daisy, weighed

and it cost us £9 forboth axles and a total

weight, including three certificates.

Pauline Day