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Subject Topic: Spare Wheel when towing abroad Post Reply Post New Topic
27/3/2018 at 2:17pm
 Location: West Yorkshire
 Outfit: Caravan
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Please could anyone advise me? Our wheel is on the nearside for UK driving.
Do you take your spare wheel out when towing abroad as if you needed it access would be difficult as on the carriage side?
Thanks in anticipation of replies!


27/3/2018 at 4:09pm
 Location: Hatfield Peverel Essex
 Outfit: Ace Supreme Twinstar Disco 3
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Personally I have never bothered but, assuming you are referring to the Al-Ko carrier, it is an easy task.
Several people I know simply remove the wheel and carry it in the boot when travelling abroad.
DaveS1


27/3/2018 at 4:33pm
 Location: 
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Have never taken it out.

-------------
XVI yes?

As well is two words!
How does a sage know everything about everything? or does he? or does he just think he does?
Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.


27/3/2018 at 5:01pm
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I have never given it a thought, but I cannot see why you would bother.

If the punctured wheel is on the left side of the van you would still have a problem anyway changing the wheel even if you moved the carrier over to the right hand side.



27/3/2018 at 6:15pm
 Location: Gloucestershie
 Outfit:  Fiat Ducato campervan
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In 40 years caravaning I had one puncture I would leave it in its current holder


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27/3/2018 at 6:44pm
 Location: West Yorkshire
 Outfit: Caravan
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Thanks for all the posts, sounds like i could be over reacting!
Thanks again folks


27/3/2018 at 11:52pm
 Location: Scotland
 Outfit: None Entered
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By carrying your spare wheel inside your van, home or abroad, it would save you crawling/lying in the wet if you were unfortunate enough to get a puncture in the rain.

-------------
mm48j


28/3/2018 at 9:07am
 Location: Liverpool
 Outfit: Swift Challenger 560
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On our previous caravan we had the underslung spare wheel carrier on the UK entrance door side of the caravan. We had a caravan puncture on the D613 between Bayeux and Caen and as we had breakdown cover we phoned them up. They sent a local garage out to us who arrived within 10 minutes and there wasn't any problem changing the wheel. The only problem was that the underslung carrier was designed for the spare steel wheel and not the standard alloy wheel so once the wheel had been changed there was no way to put the punctured alloy wheel into the carrier so we had to put a really dirty wheel on top of all our gear in the car. I know the guys who changed the wheel were professionals and changed wheels all the time but it took them literally no longer than 5 minutes from start to finish so I don't think the location of the spare really mattered.

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Pixie


28/3/2018 at 4:16pm
 Location: Near Alton Towers
 Outfit: Bailey Burgundy S7 H
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There is a mod where the split pins on the off-side that the cradle pivots on, are replaced with R-clips, this allows you to quickly drop the Alko wheel and carrier to the deck completely, you can then drive a couple of meters forward to gain access to the spare.

Dave.

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Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day,
Teach a man to fish and you can get rid of him for a whole weekend.


29/3/2018 at 3:46pm
 Location: Wigan
 Outfit: VWSharan. Sport 442.
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Quote: Originally posted by Pickled Onion on 28/3/2018
There is a mod where the split pins on the off-side that the cradle pivots on, are replaced with R-clips, this allows you to quickly drop the Alko wheel and carrier to the deck completely, you can then drive a couple of meters forward to gain access to the spare.
Dave.


I have just done this modification.
There are black plastic plugs inside the off side tubes, with holes, which line up with the cotter pins. I reused the washers already on.

The plugs have a shoulder on them, so best to saw them off to allow the tubes to pull through.

As Dave wrote, replace the outside pin with an R clip.
I also cleaned the old grease off the tubes and applied copper slip. Easier to do then write about.



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29/3/2018 at 7:33pm
 Location: Walsall
 Outfit: Unicorn Barcelona 2 & Kia Sorento
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Probably easier to remove the carrier on the carriage way side, with a kerb and a flat on the door side its almost impossible to remove with out dropping the split pins out.
As you can probably tell I'm speaking from experience!!!

-------------
Regards

Steve




29/3/2018 at 10:13pm
 Location: Wigan
 Outfit: VWSharan. Sport 442.
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Run the flat side up a ramp, to give more room underneath to work.

The carrier can be moved to the "other" side when travelling abroad.



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