Hanging spare wheel on rear door

[Anton2k3]

Hey guys,

Just coming towards the end of my camper conversion on a mercedes vario 814d. I have been musing over various alternatives for the spare, and have just seen what earthroamer do with theirs and the lift to get it down, i think its brilliant. So, do you think a rear door/hinges would be man enough (with appropriate frame and strengthening on the inside) to handle it? I guess the real question is the hinges, they are pretty chunky, and think they would probably be fine, but does anyone else have any experience of this?

Thanks in advance,

Anthony

 

[Iain_U1250]

I've got no experience with 814D's however I would doubt that the hinges would be designed for the extra load of a spare wheel, especially something so heavy you need a lift for it. On my Land Rover I got a spare wheel carrier independent from the door, as I don't want to stress the hinges with the cyclic loading from corrugated roads. Nothing worse than having the rear door fall off in the middle of nowhere.

 

[docka]

Hey guys,

Just coming towards the end of my camper conversion on a mercedes vario 814d. I have been musing over various alternatives for the spare, and have just seen what earthroamer do with theirs and the lift to get it down, i think its brilliant. So, do you think a rear door/hinges would be man enough (with appropriate frame and strengthening on the inside) to handle it? I guess the real question is the hinges, they are pretty chunky, and think they would probably be fine, but does anyone else have any experience of this?

Thanks in advance,

Anthony

Anthony, how did you resolve this in the end?
I had the same thought and have heard of plenty of people successfully hanging the spare on the rear door, on a steel frame built within the door. As Iain_U1250 says though if the vehicle was intended for off road use then I'd prefer a more secure mounting. Am i right in thinking yours is a 4x2? Another thought would be to modify the clunky original spare carrier under the rear unless you've got the space earmarked for tanks etc...
Any further thoughts?

 

[Anton2k3]

Hi,

I deceided not to try it in the end, the spare is pretty heavy, and i'd like to upgrade wheels sometime so its only going to get heavier! If you look in my thread, you'll see i have mounted a new bumper which takes the swing out generator. I'm going to add another post to the other side of the bumper and fabricate a swing out wheel carrier. At the moment, the spare is in the garage under the bed at the back of the van. I can't mount underneath as I have the waste tank mounted there now. All this weight going on at the rear though...going to have to get some airbags!

Ta,

Anthony, how did you resolve this in the end?
I had the same thought and have heard of plenty of people successfully hanging the spare on the rear door, on a steel frame built within the door. As Iain_U1250 says though if the vehicle was intended for off road use then I'd prefer a more secure mounting. Am i right in thinking yours is a 4x2? Another thought would be to modify the clunky original spare carrier under the rear unless you've got the space earmarked for tanks etc...
Any further thoughts?

 

[docka]

Hi Anton
Yes, I've been following the updates re the airbags, sounds like a really good solution to the harsh back end and not too expensive either...
I'm liking the swing out spare wheel carrier idea.
Cheers

 

[ianc]

With all that weight out the back - why not consider a front mount?. I'm not sureabout the 2x4 but the front of the 4x4 chassis is plenty meaty enough.

 

[Anton2k3]

Interesting idea, and something i may explore. However, when I built the new rear bumper, I always planned to mount a spare frame on it. I would also like to mount a winch on the front, which may make getting a spare on there pretty difficult.

Regarding the airbags, I am very interested in this intelliair system they do. Airbag on each corner and automatically adjusts pressures based on corner weight, road conditions etc. Also allows ride height to be adjusted (within the bounds of the spring performance). No idea how much is costs though!

Does anyone happen to know where to aquire a good condition sliding door and runners? Or the part numbers for OEM?

Thanks

With all that weight out the back - why not consider a front mount?. I'm not sureabout the 2x4 but the front of the 4x4 chassis is plenty meaty enough.

 

[docka]

With all that weight out the back - why not consider a front mount?. I'm not sureabout the 2x4 but the front of the 4x4 chassis is plenty meaty enough.

Great idea ianc, perhaps incorporating it within a bulbar...

 

[docka]

Does anyone happen to know where to aquire a good condition sliding door and runners? Or the part numbers for OEM?

Thanks

I bought a brand new side loading door from these guys a few years ago

http://www.cabmasters.com

They have a huge warehouse full of stuff incl unimog body shells/cabs!