Spare wheel

my caravan came with a spare mounted in an underslung carrier .... which are not the easiest of things to use. It also came with a scissor jack that is next to useless so in the event the spare needs fitting I'll use Green Flag to assist. 

Contact your breakdown service First and ask them ,I am sure in this day and age with the amount of vehicles without spare wheels they can advise

We have a spare wheel but our breakdown service would be my call if we needed to change a wheel

Our current AS has a spare wheel which was a key determinant in our purchase of it.Our previous RM based PVC did not have a spare.It was a pain in the proverbial, as we had to carry a spare mounted on the bike rack or in a bag inside.When I checked the fine print on our Mayday cover and the RP fine print both stated that a charge would be made for recovery if the vehicle lacked a serviceable spare wheel.

As it happens we never had a puncture with the RM but I recently had a nail in the front nearside tyre on the AS-the spare got us out of jail.Life is full of irony!

Luckily the puncture was easily repairable but if it had been a sidewalls damage job even a goo kit would have been no good.

 

The user and all related content has been Deleted User

Some  breakdown services will charge a fee if you do not have a spare of some type.

We have one in the AlKo carrier, not easy to use as already said, but at least it is there for an expert to use.     We also carry a 2 tonne trolley jack, about £20 from Lidl.

If you have a fixed bed, a spare could live under there, or if weight is an issue, put it in the car.

To keep weight down many vans come without a spare wheel ours came with one but no jack so we purchased a Kojack which came with bolt on jacking points that fit on the caravan chassis which is a bit flimsy and with a mover in the way its a struggle to get the jack under the axle and you have just remined me my unused spare tyre needs to be changed 

I think you'll find that the Mayday policy is worded along the lines of "if you cannot provide a serviceable spare wheel, Mayday will provide one at the policy holder's expense". My main concern is where does anyone get a spare wheel and tyre at 2pm on a Bank Holiday Sunday afternoon! As a consequence, since my car didn't have a spare, I now carry one on a roof rack - so I'm bullet-proof in that respect.  The van does have a spare - carried in an Alko rack, plus the van came with a 2 tonne trolley jack - but that's pretty useless since with AWD motor movers fitted, you can't get at the jacking points. Since I have now E&P levelling, I might attempt to change a wheel if it were safe to do so, but the slightest hint of problems and I would have no hesitation in using Mayday

You may be lucky and find your car spare [if you have one] will fit the van. If not then buy one for the peace of mind it will bring. If you need to carry it is the car or store it under the bed then IKEA do a vary good clear zip cover bag called the Dimpa for less than £4. I've previously used these to store winter tyres and a spare in a previous car.

As regards a jack, we have previously carried a Halfords trolley jack which was fairly cheap but easily up to the job. Weight be an issue for you so next best is a bottle jack. I use a Coram which is/was supplied with some Land Rovers. This is short and squat with a decent footprint, better still when you sit it on an offcut of thick plywood. This jack has the advantage of having a multiple ram so it is not very tall and will fit under the axle, along with having a slight U shaped cradle top.

 

Colin

Thanks folks, my van doesn't have a spare, which I think is common on European built models. It didn't even have a standard fit alarm, which I've had installed myself.

I think the tendency these days is not to include spare wheels, same thing with cars, as my previous one, a Renault Scenic didn't come with a spare. Annoying, as this would have been an optional extra at purchase, whereas after sale fit will cost you ££££ from the dealer. I mean why would you not buy that as an option on a new car? Aside from the fact that it should be standard anyway!

Oh well, time to purchase a spare wheel I think, then there's the hassle of where to stash it. Annoyingly this wasn't even a pre-purchase question I asked the dealer, and of course they're not going to volunteer such information :(

 

Wheels are heavy things, so unless you have gone for the very good weight upgrade when you purchased, you will be using a fair chunk of your payload if you carry the spare in/on the van.

Dimpa bag is a good call!

Plenty of vans come without alarms, so that is not unusual.