Leave the spare at home?

[Firetiger]

I'm seeing message threads indicating that they are leaving the RV spare tire at home. I could use the 100 lbs or so for something else to bring along.

Pros & Cons

All comments appreciated!

[joncraft]

Take the spare who likes sitting on the side of the road

[Whisky]

.
sure, go ahead, I'll honk as I go by ya

seriously, I think it's a bad idea to NOT carry a spare.....Bill

[Old car]

Keep your spare with you and make sure you can remove it. Had to use mine for the first time this past month and could not remove it from the holder because the factory cross threaded the lug nuts. Finally had to snap the bolts (thanks to roadside assistance) in order to use it.

[cardinal4fun]

If you or people are leaving the spare at home so they can carry (as you said) 100# of stuff there is some serious down sizing or reality checks that need done. So you blow your tire at 5pm sunday on way home, no spare I am just trying to figure out what you would do. Maybe someone of the non spare carrying people can answer that.

[Mark and Linda]

Two weeks ago I was traveling down I-16, blew the left rear tire on my tv. Glad I had a spare with me. Tires only had about 13k on them, age got them. I was expecting to have one of the TT, also carry a spare and tire pressure set.

[h20ski]

Never leave home without it.

[SaskCampers]

I'll echo the sentiment above. That is a very bad idea. Also if you are that close to the GVWR of your trailer, again you need to do some rethinking your load.

[TURBS]

I can only mirror what others have said.

Do no leave home without a spare !


Turbs

[lindy]

Carry mine ALL the time. Reason being I removed it from the Trlrs rear bumper and put it in the bed of my trk and use a ratchet strap to hold it in place up in the front of the bed.

[Rugged Brown]

I suppose I'll have to bolt that second axle back onto the frame now and buy the beer when I arrive at the campground.

[OldCoot]

Sure, leave it at home, who needs another tire/wheel when you have 2 or 4 good ones. It will also give you a chance to cuss yourself for being a dumb a-- for leaving it home while you're sitting on an interstate with a flat. It also helps elevate your blood pressure, which keeps the doctors employed.

[AquaMan]

While on the subject of spares, how many have a lug wrench that actually fits their trailer?

[SimchaSabre]

We are now on our 4th trailer. #3 was a Sunline 25'TT, that DID NOT come with a spare and did not (think to) add one! In 25 years of trailer camping, we've only needed a spare once and guess on which unit that was.

As it turned out, we were lucky as we were able to hobble into the CG and AAA RV were able to help us out with a replacement tire&wheel loosing little quality camping time.

We will not leave home with out one again!

[jimh]

Originally Posted by ttrost65

While on the subject of spares, how many have a lug wrench that actually fits their trailer?

i usually carry two spares.

i thought i had a lug wrench that fit until i had my first flat; turned out it was big enough to grab the decorative part of the lug nut and twist that part around the nut. the next smaller was too small. (chiseled off the stainless decorative cover of the nut and fit the smaller size socket onto it).
i would always pull up on the nuts before i left and had no problem. when i really had to get on the wrench, found out it would not fit. i would recommend actually unscrewing a nut and reinstalling it before ur first trip. that way u should have some assurance it will work.

[Yukon Don]

I tested out my four-way wrench and found it's too thick to fit between the nuts and the wheel hub. Will be adding an appropriate deep socket and breaker bar to my tool kit.

To the OP: I'd definitely recommend carrying the spare.

[jimh]

that first flat was in 2005. had forgotten that my wrench would not go all the way in. i was able to get to the nuts when i took chiseled off that decorative part. also experienced not being able to get down on the lug nut. that is probably why i was spinning the decorative part so that it looked like i had rounded off the nut. i have a thin walled deep socket and breaker bar that i use now. still use the 4 way to spin them on and off.

if ur not familiar with the decorative nuts, if u have the end covered, there is a stainless cover over the nut. they may appear to be solid but they aren't.

[lindy]

X2 on the 4 way star bar socket being too big to fit into the rim hole and over the lug nut, I have the stock F.R. aluminum rims, so there's a deep well socket and 18" breaker bar in the storage box.

[DDC]

If you leave the tv spare at home to you will gain even more than a hundred pounds, what the heck if you leave the whole family just think of the extra capacity. (sorry I just couldn't resist)

[caper]

Why not go one step farther and make the trailer into a hover craft. then you would not need a spare tire or even have to grease the bearings. With no resistance you could tow a large trailer with a small car.