Trailer spare tire mount

J

Jack in Alaska

New member
My CD came on a Florida made aluminum trailer. The spare tire was mounted on an axle stub with bearings, seal and hub so that the wheel turns freely. The stub axle was mounted at an angle so that the wheel was parallel to the starboard side of the tongue. If by chance the trailer came unhooked it would want to veer off into oncoming traffic if not constrained by the chains.
I remounted the axle on the port side of the tongue with the wheel straight in line with the direction of travel. Now if it should become unhooked it would roll on the spare behind the tow vehicle until all could be stopped.
Just a thought to consider for safety.
 
It is not unusual for the spare tire to have an extra hub and spindle. However these are not designed to allow the trailer to run on. If for some reason the trailer were to become unhitched, you would want the trailer to stop--rather than continue to roll down the road--in what ever direction it might go.

The rule is on many trailers if the hitch brakes there should be a safety which applies the brakes. My surge brake trailers have this feature,--the SUV I tow behind the motorhome, has a disconnect switch which applies the vehicle brakes (and alerts the driver of the tow vehicle).

Many states have a law similar to the following:
"and the brakes should automatically apply in the event of an accidental break-away."
 
I have surge brakes and they have a thin wire rope that comes from a lever on the actuator and gets hooked on to the tow vehicle with a small S-hook -- looks sort of like a tiny third safety chain. This is the break-away that will trigger the trailer brakes if the trailer and vehicle are separated (just typing that makes me nervous - gaaah!).

But what is it with the way spares are originally mounted? Mine came mounted to one of those offset flat mounting plates that usually hold the tire vertical, only mine was lying flat on the fore triangle of the trailer and made it impossible to reach the welded on loop on the trailer frame that was directly below the bow eye on the boat. I moved the bracket to the lower section of the bow stand, and now I can use the loop (I've seen photos of a few other 22's on the same model of trailer and they had the spare in the loop blocking position too).
 
I'm with Sunbeam. When we purchased our C-Dory in Fall 2011 there was no spare tire-no mount no nothing. There was no way I was going to trailer the boat the 500 miles to Rochester NY from Virginia without a spare tire. It was hard to believe this 2003 C-Dory went 8 years with no spare tire. We have since found and purchased a mount on the Defender Website to carry the spare-vs carrying it our tow vehicle as we did to drive the boat from Virginia.
Regards,
Jack & Pat Howell
 
Do you carry spare bearings? A jack capable of picking up the trailer to change a tire or bearing? How about spare hub? Spare grease, Do you check the tire, bearing and brake temperature every 2 hours? Do you have the tools to change the tire, to change the bearing to possibly clean up a bearing race until you can get a new one? Spare lights as well as spare bulbs? (often we find that a complete bracket has corroded to the extent it is not repairable).

Lots of things to consider when trailering!
 
Bob,

Yes I do carry all of those things and also chains for my truck and drag chains for the trailer, shovel, tow rope, extra fuel(45 gals), extra tire besides a mounted spare, extra tie-down straps and extra lubricant fluids. All that "stuff" is what makes my 1 ton weigh in at 10k lbs.
72 Alaska Hyw. trips including towing 5 boats (4 C-Dorys) from the PNW to Alaska has taught me a thing or two. Not everthing for sure but a thing or two.
My 1st trip in 1963 in a Corvair (dumb choice) taught me 75% of what I know. 1800 miles of gravel road then.

Good boating this summer.

Looking for another boat tow in mid April 2014.

Jack
 
My trailer came with the spare mounted vertically along side of the tongue. On a recent trip the trailer separated from the TV. The safety chain did it's job, not allowing the trailer into another lane. However, the brand new, never been on the pavement, $150.00 spare tire still looks great from every direction, save from the bottom, where 6" of flattened, exposed steel chord would now make the new tire hop down the road.

Spare tire mount for sale cheap!
 
How did the trailer become separated from the tow vehicle?

You can always mount the spare across the tongue, rather than up and down, or move it to another place where there is no risk.

Wonder what would have happened if the tire had not been there to take the front end of the trailer's load? Cheap--tire loss vs what could have happened. Maybe this is a reminder to replace the tires every 5 years!
 
My boat didn't come with a spare. When I bought one I decided to keep it in the back of my truck. It keeps it out of sight and out of the sun. I have seen too many brand new tires weather checked beyond the point of safe use.

Regards, Rob
 
Thataway: Good question. 2" ball, 2" hitch. Checked adjustment and it was tight enough. Hitch had a lock through the lever. Hit big bump in road and up it came. Hitch weight was about 6%. I will move boat 1 ft forward on trailer to increase and replace the hitch. This has never happened to me before.

Second question, I feel the tongue would have settled onto the crossed chains and there would have been no smoke, no ruined tire, and less chance of the dragging tire pushing the tongue into the left lane.
 
Wow...I would use a hydraulic jack under the tongue to put an upward pressure and examine the coupler from below, with upward stress on it. The 6% tongue weight is fine--even going to 10% would not help if for some reason, the channel tongue coupler or the clamp has failed, it is possible that this could come loose again. (this the the metal piece which comes under the ball from behind, and pushes on the lower back stem in the ball. There may be an adjusting nut on the underside of the latch pin which holds the coupler in place. Some trailers have a screw cap, instead of the cam action latch.
 
Every time I couple the trailer to the car I crank the trailer jack up till I see the back of the car start going up.

Bill Kelleher
 
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