How to carry an unmounted spare tire

[dieck]

Hey Guys,

I'm going to be hauling around a spare tire not mounted on a wheel (big tires and wheels = heavy) What is the best way to securely mount a spare unmounted tire where it won't collect water and become a mosquito breeding playground? This is going to be a 46 inch military michelin so I was thinking about mounting a 20 inch pipe section that the tire could slide onto with a retaining ring to hold it in place. Any better suggestions?

 

[Herbie]

Make a HD nylon bag or cover that you can use to lash it down, and use the interior for storage?

 

[Lynn]

You might want to peruse Rob Gray's wothahellizat Mk2 build diary.. He did something much like what you are considering, I think.

He built a carrier for one unmounted spare and one mounted spare, but the interesting thing in my mind is the storage space inside the wheel carrier.

I would think that you would want to mount the tire in some fashion (not necesarily on a rim, but maybe like Rob did) so that the sidewalls will stay spread. It's much more difficult to mount a spare that has had the sidewalls come in. Know what I mean?

 

[The Adam Blaster]

Lynn makes a good point about the tire collapsing on itself somewhat, and how much harder it is to mount on a rim when this happens.
My concern would be keeping the tire covered to prevent any UV damage.
This is a big tire, and you would definitely have a lot of space inside there for various "stuff" but I would strongly recommend NOT to store any chemicals/fluids inside. Most petroleum products are going to emit some sort of vapour that could cause the rubber to deteriorate, not to mention the possibility that a container or bottle could leak and leave a pool of corrosive fluid in your tire. Definitely not what you want to have...

I guess I haven't been too helpful with HOW to mount it, but HOT NOT to mount it. lol

 

[Lynn]

'Course, my post above assumes a hard mount. If it's going on a roof rack or something, you could probably put a partially-inflated tube in it to keep it from colapsing, put a canvas/nylon cover over it, and call it good. Using the space in the middle for storage, of course.

 

[grizzlyj]

My spare tyre is vertical on the back of my camper and sits on two horizontal bars poking out from a body mounted frame. There is also two threaded bars that poke from the frame centrally through the middle of the tyre. Then there is a plate about 24" long (for a 20" wheel size) and maybe 2" wide with holes that slide over the threaded bars. This bar is on the inside of the tyre, and done up until it pushes "enough" onto the tyre to hold it. A pair of locknutted nuts are done up on both sides of this position to keep the bar in place. There are also two tabs perpendicular to this plate, pointing at the camper rear, that locate onto the inside edges of the tyre. If the tyre sidewall deflected enough it could come a bit loose, but if it was a really rough road I could ratchet strap it down to the two bars that actually take the weight.
Then there is a tyre cover made from UV resistant ripstop boat cover material which keeps most water out (some seems to still be sucked in between the tyre and the camper), and didn't attract mossies last summer.

I know a pic would really help but I don't have one of the fixing or frame, and a tyre in a cover is much like any other!

Jason

 

[AxeAngel]

In the backseat lashed down with a seatbelt.

 

[Ray Hyland]

if you put a tube into in without a rim as suggested above you would lose the storage space, but it would keep the tire from squeezing in, keep the water out, and be a safe place to keep your spare inner tube. Having a tube along as a bush fix for severe tire damage is helpful, even for tubeless tires. I usually carry one mounted spare, a tire repair kit, and an inner tube. If you carry a second unmounted spare and a tube, you are pretty much covered I think.
You could lash it down to your roof and forget about it.

Ray