Sleepin Around, New Zealand. The Build

[Sheddie]

We have been towing this thing all over the country for the last couple of years without a spare wheel. We have just had a bottle of goop and a 12v pump in the tool box. I have always been worried about not having a wheel and getting stuck out the back of nowhere with a shredded tyre.
I didn't want to mount a wheel on the tongue, preferring to mount it behind the axle. The ideal position I am looking at is under the floor, just behind the left wheel. (That is the curb side here in NZ). A full size spare was going to hang too low so we have been looking for a space saver. Stupid thing was that even thought no one seems to like these things the $10 - $20 ones were the wrong stud pattern and the ones with the correct pattern, people were wanting silly money for. We finally managed to acquire one for nothing. It is only about half the width of a standard wheel so will only hang about 50mm below the frame, plus 22mm for the carrier that I am making.

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[Vedette]

Hi Frank
You probably have already read somewhere "My" stand on carrying a spare tire??? I have not carried one in any of my Street Rods in over 35 years! NO PROBLEMS!
Nor do we have one for Miss Piggy....but last Fall we picked up a nail on a Saturday night on our way to the most remote campground we have stayed in in two years and over 21,000 miles. By morning the slow leak had left us with a flat.......no problem?
We will just hook up the 12v onboard compressor and pump it up right? Well not so right! I had taken it out during a cleanup and forgot to put it back in??? Apparently so did the other two TD campers we were with. We all have one, but they were all at home!
Thus, I had to drive about 50 miles to a Costco (remember it was Sunday) three towns away to get the tire fixed while Sandi and our TD friends waited patiently back at camp.
BUT.....I still have no intention of carrying a spare (might not live another 35 years until it happens again?? ) in the future!
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

[Sheddie]

Hi Brian,
I do agree that the number of times I have had a flat tyre in all the travelling I have done over the years, percentage wise, is very low. It is still nice to know that the little insurance policy is in the boot (or maybe even in the trunk).
We were in the South Island a few years ago with our previous caravan and while travelling from Cromwell to Dunedin, (miles from anywhere), suddenly we heard the rumbling noise of a flat tyre. I stopped and went for a walk around, but couldn't see a flat. On closer inspection I found the right hand tyre on the caravan was delaminating and chunks of tread were coming off. A pump wasn't going to fix that.
I had my own tyre shop a few years ago and it was amazing all the different things I used to take out of tyres when doing puncture repairs.
Our roads, especially when you get away from the main centres, where all the tax dollars get spent, are not of the best quality.

[dales133]

I never carry a spare on my land cruiser on road trips or around town.
It's differnt going off road or across the nullabor plains or something but that's why I've made my wheels match.
I carry a compressor and tyre repair plugs out of town (when I remember) but I've never had a flat in 6 years

[Sheddie]

Progress so far on spare wheel carrier. Had a hunt around the shed to see what I had to make it from.

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[dales133]

So its just going to be a hinged a frame kinda setup?

[Sheddie]

So its just going to be a hinged a frame kinda setup?

Just like under a lot of jap vans, with an over centre latch on the outside frame.

I never carry a spare on my land cruiser on road trips or around town.
It's differnt going off road or across the nullabor plains or something but that's why I've made my wheels match.
I carry a compressor and tyre repair plugs out of town (when I remember) but I've never had a flat in 6 years

The plugs are ok for tread punctures, but not for side wall damage.
We would have a problem matching to our tow vehicles. The stud pattern on the two Capris that we tow it with match each other, but when we built it we had an Outback, we replaced that last Xmas with an X-Trail. Then there is the Super Snipe, and possibly the Land Rover and the old Subaru Leone SW.

[dales133]

Those subaru Leone Wagon were far ahead of thier time.as was the ute in the same model.
Light Wiest and tough they ate alot of jeeps and land rovers for breakfast in thier time due to taking a new approach to dependable and off road

[felixx]

Good idea on the spare,
the stock anglia rims (4.5J) are not a hell of a lot fatter than the space savers.
I went 4x108 stud pattern so I have 5 spares for the trailer, in or on my anglia

[Ned]

I matched mine to the starlet. Hubs are cheap so can replace them when I get a different car :-)

Plus, for $120 a year or whatever it is, you can get AA plus, which covers any car you're in, plus the trailer and will come help me out if I'm in dire need

[Sheddie]

I matched mine to the starlet. Hubs are cheap so can replace them when I get a different car :-)

Plus, for $120 a year or whatever it is, you can get AA plus, which covers any car you're in, plus the trailer and will come help me out if I'm in dire need

In that case I would need about six sets of hubs and wheels depending on which vehicle we wanted to use.
Last time we called the AA we were on the Auckland motorway, and it was going to take them about an hour to get to us. Luckily a towie driving past on his way home stopped and picked us up. We were broken down on a small strip of grass by the median strip in the middle of the motorway.

[Sheddie]

I got the carrier frame for the spare mostly finished this afternoon. Just need to finish a bit of welding in the morning and slap a bit of paint on, then bolt it all up under the frame.

[dales133]

Wtg mate

[Sheddie]

Just stopped for Coffee.

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Carrier frame drilled, welded and primed.

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Drilling and tapping to bolt mounting under trailer.

[dales133]

Looks good brian