Mystery Tools (and a missing tool)

[Granny K]

I have a 2017 Forester 2391TS. First order of business is to find and fix deficiencies, and find out how everything works. This one has me stumped.
There are tools stowed under the passenger seat. The first one (two pictures) is 6 numbered tubular parts, which when put together make an odd looking bent shape. The second one (two pictures) looks like a crank for a scissors jack. Which would be fine except that the chassis (Ford Transit 350 HD) comes with a bottle jack with its own crank.
So, I have two mystery tools. What are they?
The second part of this post has to do with the spare tire, which is located under the chassis. There is a hole on the side of the motorhome which lines up with a hole in the spare tire mounting bay, but NO TOOL provided for raising and lowering the spare tire. The manual for the cutaway chassis says to use the pointy end of the lug wrench to lower the spare tire, but the lug wrench is nowhere near long enough to reach the mounting bay so I can't lower my spare tire. Should Forest River have supplied a tool for this?
(and yes, I could ask the dude from Forest River but he has not given me a warm feeling that he is competent to answer my questions...)
BTW, for perspective, the mat under the tools is 3 ft. by 4 ft.

[Old car]

Does the scissor jack looking rod fit the spare tire mechanism? Looks like rods that come with a lot of pickup trucks for lowering the spare tire. I think the other one might be flute! LOL

[RedLdr1]

The Jack Handle is the tool in the blue bag that requires assembly. The notch on the end of it is to open and close the valve on the jack to allow you to raise and lower it. On Page 272 of the 2016 Ford Transit Owners manual it state you have to assemble the handle so I'm pretty sure of this one...

The second tool is supposed to be for lowering and raising the spare tire. The end with the square notch is supposedly the rod for raising and lowering the spare. The tool can then be extended to drag the spare tire form under the chassis to where you can reach it. Since the Ford manual doesn't go in to any real detail this is an assumption on my part...

When our new Sunseeker 2390 arrives I'll take a closer look and see how the folding tool is supposed to work. It may not be the best design after FR built a "house" around the chassis...

[Granny K]

I think you're right RedLdr1. The floppy contraption made of six pieces of tubing is in fact the jack handle. I wonder if Ford thought anyone would ever use such a "tool".
As for the Folding gizmo, I had not considered the possibility that it might serve to lower the spare tire because it does not fit through the hole in the side of the body provided by FR. The end is square and fits 1/2 inch sockets. The instructions from Ford say to use the lug wrench to lower the spare tire. Is this a case of poor communications?
I will crawl under the unit today and see if I can take a picture of whatever is lurking behind the hole in the spare tire mounting bay. Stay tuned!

[RedLdr1]

Since Ford doesn't know what FR, or anyone else, is going to build on their chassis trying to make everything work can be interesting. I've used the lug wrench, the pointed end, to lower spare tires on other vehicles. But with the MH body sticking out to the side so far the Ford OEM lug wrench may be to short to reach the mechanism.

When we first saw a TS it took me awhile to figure out why there was a "hole" in the wall... It was only when I was looking around underneath I figured it out. Reading a download of the Transit Owners manual confirmed why there is a hole.

When our TS arrives I'll look at it and let you know what we do...

[Granny K]

Thanks RedLdr1. Here are (I hope) two pictures taken from underneath. The first shows the plastic pipe which connects to the hole on the outside. The inside diameter of the hole is 1".
The second picture shows part of the mechanism in the spare tire mounting bay, which looks like it would take a lug wrench. I also inserted a 1/2 " socket wrench extension and it locks in.
The distance from the mounting bay to the outside of the wall is slightly over 24". We ordered a 30" socket wrench extension, which will do the job.
The tool provided to lower the spare tire has a hook for pulling the spare tire out. The width of the hook is about 2", which prevents the tool from being inserted in the 1" hole.
DUH! I suppose you could saw off the hook but it was easier just to buy another tool.

[rockfordroo]

Your second tool looks very much like a foldable rod I had with a mechanical bottle jack. Instead of a "pump", the jack had a round connection with a pin across it's middle for the "hook" of the tool to go into. The opposite end of the tool was a flattened rectangle that inserted into a slot in the middle of the lug wrench.

You hooked the "hook" over the pin on the jacks connector, put the lug wrench on the rectangular end, then used the lug wrench as a crank handle to rotate the tool, which rotated the connection on the jack, which raised the jack.

[C36hull268]

Originally Posted by Granny K

Thanks RedLdr1. Here are (I hope) two pictures taken from underneath. The first shows the plastic pipe which connects to the hole on the outside. The inside diameter of the hole is 1".
The second picture shows part of the mechanism in the spare tire mounting bay, which looks like it would take a lug wrench. I also inserted a 1/2 " socket wrench extension and it locks in.
The distance from the mounting bay to the outside of the wall is slightly over 24". We ordered a 30" socket wrench extension, which will do the job.
The tool provided to lower the spare tire has a hook for pulling the spare tire out. The width of the hook is about 2", which prevents the tool from being inserted in the 1" hole.
DUH! I suppose you could saw off the hook but it was easier just to buy another tool.

Thank you for raising the subject and these pictures. On delivery when I found no spare, nor jack, and not even lug wrench in the unit I raised the question. I was told that user is not suppose to replace the tire, but call a road service. This did not seem to be right. I was going to British Columbia, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Alaska. There are stretches of road for 500 miles where you have no cellphone signal and no any services nor people live there. So I bough rim and tire to have a spare. Rock punch is very common on those roads. I had no time to figure out about spare carrier, so I had that 70+ LB spare in my storage compartment ("basement") for 12000 miles. And on those roads it was not fun to carry it there. So when I got home I was trying to figure out better way to carry that spare. I visited 4 dealerships to find out what spare carrier configuration I need and how and where to install it. I've got 5 different answers and nobody would agree to do the installation. Mostly they were trying to kick me to some place that do custom work on trailers. I visited 2 of those and sure they do not have any idea how and where that carrier to be installed. During all this process I crawled under my Coachmen Micro 20CB at least couple dozen times trying to fit information I was getting from all those "professionals". Finally last night I got the assumption where and how that carrier to be installed. Later the same night I came across your posting with these pictures here that confirms my assumptions. So by now I've ordered the carrier and will install it myself. I completely understand your second picture and that what confirmed my thoughts on the spare carrier installation. But I'm confused by your first picture. What is that? What is that "plastic pipe"?

I'm very much angry on all these people at Forest River and its dealership on the first place. Or maybe in Canada you are getting a spare but not in USA and the RV rules of standard equipment supplied with RV at delivery in USA are different than in Canada? It does not cost me too much of $$ after all, somewhere near $1000 (tire, rim, to assemble those, and spare carrier), but it cost me a lot of headache and running around.

[C36hull268]

Sorry, I'm new here and forgot to mention that it's my first RV Coachmen Freelander Micro 20CB. In the past I used to have 1991 Westfalia Vanagon full camper and after that 1997 Eurovan full camper. From 2001 through 2017 I was traveling on water under canvases in Catalina 36 sailboat. I still cannot see how to sign my posting here. I guess it goes somewhere in my profile, I'll learn.

[RedLdr1]

Welcome to the forum. To set up your Signature go to the User Control Panel, then go to Settings and Options and you will see Edit Signature.

The installation of a spare tire carrier assembly may be a real pain on your Coachman. On the Sunseeker and Forester TS series coach there is a Ford installed spare tire behind the passenger side rear duals. It has a winch mounted on the frame rails to raise and lower the spare. Their is a one inch "hole" in our outer RV wall, behind the passenger rear wheel well, that connects to the plastic tube. That tube guides your tool to the winch to lower the spare...in theory anyway. You can then lower, or raise the spare. Before trying to add one to your unit there are a couple things you might want to check

First, I would check with your local Ford dealer and have them pull the ETIS report, a chassis "build sheet", to see if one was even installed on your chassis. Ford will build a chassis without a spare if the purchaser, as in Forest River, spec'ed out the order that way.

Second, I would confirm Coachmen didn't install something in the space where the spare tire would normally be located. The Transit chassis is fairly small and FR really packs a lot of "stuff" between the frame rails. Your chassis may well have a water tank where the spare would have went...

Coachmen and Forester / Sunseeker are two different product lines with different standard equipment and options. I can't get the nice aluminum wheels or trailer hitch that Coachmen offers on their equivalent coach to my TS. You may not be able to mount an under chassis spare tire... But at least there are some other options.

Not having a spare seems dumb to me but I know folks who do it with no issues. My Mustang doesn't have a spare tire but at least it included a fancy inflation kit...and I don't go off road with it!

[C36hull268]

Thank you Wayne! I've tried to edit my signature, but it does not look as it's working. I'll mess with that more. As about spare carrier and a space for that - it's hard and nearly impossible to get any technical information from any of those - Ford or Forest River. Most of the people who are answering those question completely ignorant on technical side, well, at least that's my experience for the 6 months I have this unit. It looks like the best they can do is to read you what they see written somewhere, but to find right thing to read also requires some knowledge. So I gave up. As about space for spare under the frame - it's not taking by anything, I looked at that and measured it. It looks as it's a close fit, but it should fit. I'm not positive (measured with a measuring tape so quite rough), but as you can see up front frame has recess in the middle (first picture), I assume that's to fit the spare. And on the rear side (second picture) holding tank is over 14" from the center of that mounting bracket. If it won't fit I have to come up with something to make it work. To have spare mounted on a bumper is not a good idea because: 1. Bumper made out of welded 4" square tube, 1/16" wall and holding brackets are welded to that tube. I've seen those welds cracked and when I did stress analysis that weld is sure a weak/overloaded point. 2. If I mount spare on the bumper it has to be swing mount to get to the storage compartment ("basement") rear door, that is also quite complicated and needs to be custom built. So as I said I ordered the carrier and will be able to say something for sure only when I'll get it and try. At this point I see no better way about it. There is no hole on the unit's outside wall to access carrier to lower the spare, but I can get to it (hole in the frame) from the passenger side behind rear dual wheel next to the muffler mount. See third picture attached. It won't be very convenient, but can be done, possibly special driver will be necessary. (Also to drill a 1" hole in outside unit's wall is not so complicated task.) We'll see. Thanks again.

[RedLdr1]

Your Signature is working...

Sounds like you have a good plan. The space you posted does look pretty good. I'd test fit the spare using a floor jack to lift, hold, and fit it before drilling any holes.

I have a spare but no jack or other tools were included with our TS. Based on Granny K's research I went to a local parts store and bought a 36 inch long 1/2 inch extension to use with the tools I already carry. I'm fairly sure whoever CoachNet dispatches won't have one in their vehicle! I already carried a Viair 450P-RV Compressor, and a Craftsman impact wrench with impact sockets so all the CoachNet guy will need is a jack...and a strong back!

[C36hull268]

The spare is 67 LB, I have no way to try fit it there at home. I'm thinking to go to the nearest garage with it, they have better jacks than mine. I do not see it possible to put it on the jack and bounce this big heavy spare on a 1" or so diameter jack support surface laying down under the vehicle. It'll smash my head or at least break my arms. My hydraulic jack is too tall, so I have to put tire on it under the vehicle where is more vertical space. But I'll try to go find who could do it for me.

[C36hull268]

Trying to upload a picture for my profile, but getting message that upload fails, 6 times with different picture size even it's in the spec they say here. Any idea?

[C36hull268]

When the spare is mounted on the carrier should it be nipple up or down?

[RedLdr1]

Originally Posted by C36hull268

Trying to upload a picture for my profile, but getting message that upload fails, 6 times with different picture size even it's in the spec they say here. Any idea?

I can only do 5 Lines of text and still insert the floor plan picture. Try taking out one, or two, lines of your Signature as a test...

[RedLdr1]

Originally Posted by C36hull268

When the spare is mounted on the carrier should it be nipple up or down?

Up according to Ford. But that is dumb as dirt as you can't easily check the tires air pressure.... You might want to add a flexible valve extender.

[C36hull268]

Thanks! That's how they designed the carrier and anchor plate, you cannot do much about it now.

[C36hull268]

I think instead of trying to fit the entire 70 LB spare in that space I'll cut a circular shape out of cardboard and will try to mess with it tomorrow.

[C36hull268]

Thanks again. Signature picture works now, but profile picture does not.