Spare tire rack how to’s?

[Deb Mac]

Just pulled the wheels to get new tires installed and spent almost as much time getting the spare off the rack as I did getting the trailer up on jack stands and the other two off!

Very hard to pull out. I laughed when I read in one other thread “sit on the ground with your legs on either side and lift and pull”. Mine was not budging. I had to stand and do a sharp pull up and back just to get it off of the bracket. I don’t think it had ever been moved before.

Not knowing how far this thing should pull out, I erred on the side of caution and ended up using my breaker bar to pry the tire off of the lugs and onto the ground. It was still completely under the trailer but I could get it out.

“Sliding” the rack back into place entailed using my rubber mallet on the curved grab bar and whacking it back into place. And that’s empty! The telescoping “slide” tubes are bowed down, but not too bad.

So 2 questions
1: how far out should I be able to pull that rack? I would think it should be a good 3’ - 4’, so that I can lift the tire off of the lugs on the rack.

2: any suggestions regarding lubricating the tubes so that I don’t need to use a mallet to get it back into place?

3: yeah.. just thought of #3…. Tricks on lifting and “sliding” the rack back into place once I get the spare back? I am a 70 yr old 150 lb woman and have managed to deal with everything else on my own. But unless there is something I’m missing, I will Not be getting that spare back onto the rack and stored.

Can I completely remove the rack and pull the tubes apart? Maybe clean, straighten and lubricate them? I’m not going anywhere for a while, so I have the time.

[Bill]

Deb -

1 You should be able to get it out far enough to lift the tire straight up. It's a little bouncy but I haven't bent anything.
2. Use a Teflon or silicone dry lube spray. I found out the hard way that grease is a bad idea.
3. You are probably trying to put a 15" tire onto a rack that was designed for a 14 incher. Very tough. For a long time, I used a WonderBar to lever it up from the ground. Then I discovered that if I lifted it by hand onto a 6x6 block of wood and then onto another block, the WonderBar final approach worked better. Then I finally reworked the hanger to lower the rack a bit, and it became a lot easier. Sketches here:
https://www.trailmanorowners.com/for...83&postcount=4

4. Yes, you can pull the rack out until it drops entirely out.

A hint. You will put the tire back on the rack with the valve on the underside. Eventually, you will want to get at the valve, to confirm that the air pressure is good, or to add air. At that moment, you will wish you had oriented the tire so that the valve is facing you, so you can minimize scootching under the TM to reach it. I used a Sharpie to the other side of the wheel - the side that will be up - to mark where the valve is.

[Deb Mac]

Originally Posted by Bill

Deb -

1 You should be able to get it out far enough to lift the tire straight up. It's a little bouncy but I haven't bent anything.
2. Use a Teflon or silicone dry lube spray. I found out the hard way that grease is a bad idea.
3. You are probably trying to put a 15" tire onto a rack that was designed for a 14 incher. Very tough. For a long time, I used a WonderBar to lever it up from the ground. Then I discovered that if I lifted it by hand onto a 6x6 block of wood and then onto another block, the WonderBar final approach worked better. Then I finally reworked the hanger to lower the rack a bit, and it became a lot easier. Sketches here:
https://www.trailmanorowners.com/for...83&postcount=4

4. Yes, you can pull the rack out until it drops entirely out.

A hint. You will put the tire back on the rack with the valve on the underside. Eventually, you will want to get at the valve, to confirm that the air pressure is good, or to add air. At that moment, you will wish you had oriented the tire so that the valve is facing you, so you can minimize scootching under the TM to reach it. I used a Sharpie to the other side of the wheel - the side that will be up - to mark where the valve is.

Hi Bill. Thanks for all of the info. I love your extender!! I will head into one of our local welding shops and get that going. Doesn’t matter to me that it might be a little more awkward to deal with the clevis pins. With luck, I will have to worry about that once a year when I rotate my tires 🤭. And I would never have thought about considering where the tire valve was.

Yes I am working with 15” tires and I wondered if that could be part of the problem.
I have a silicone lube for awning rails that should work, but nice to know that I can pull the whole thing apart, maybe straighten the bow a little and give everything a good clean out - probably has 15 years of dirt in there too!

Wheels are at the shop for new tire install and tomorrow I’ll pull the drums and bearings. Though there’s no movement and the hubs run cool, I think I’ll replace the bearings just to be safe - don’t know when they were serviced last. With luck the brakes and drums are in good shape. But if not, Wavery pointed me toward a good replacement option from etrailer.

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by Deb Mac

Just pulled the wheels to get new tires installed and spent almost as much time getting the spare off the rack as I did getting the trailer up on jack stands and the other two off!

Very hard to pull out. I laughed when I read in one other thread “sit on the ground with your legs on either side and lift and pull”. Mine was not budging. I had to stand and do a sharp pull up and back just to get it off of the bracket. I don’t think it had ever been moved before.

Not knowing how far this thing should pull out, I erred on the side of caution and ended up using my breaker bar to pry the tire off of the lugs and onto the ground. It was still completely under the trailer but I could get it out.

“Sliding” the rack back into place entailed using my rubber mallet on the curved grab bar and whacking it back into place. And that’s empty! The telescoping “slide” tubes are bowed down, but not too bad.

So 2 questions
1: how far out should I be able to pull that rack? I would think it should be a good 3’ - 4’, so that I can lift the tire off of the lugs on the rack.

2: any suggestions regarding lubricating the tubes so that I don’t need to use a mallet to get it back into place?

3: yeah.. just thought of #3…. Tricks on lifting and “sliding” the rack back into place once I get the spare back? I am a 70 yr old 150 lb woman and have managed to deal with everything else on my own. But unless there is something I’m missing, I will Not be getting that spare back onto the rack and stored.

Can I completely remove the rack and pull the tubes apart? Maybe clean, straighten and lubricate them? I’m not going anywhere for a while, so I have the time.

You can remove the entire rack. Clean it with a Scotch Bright pad and use dry-lube graphite to lubricate.

Mine pulls out about 3'. I think the rack is attached with cotter pins. I may be wrong. Thais is a pic. I can't get to the trailer right now.

[Deb Mac]

Originally Posted by Wavery

You can remove the entire rack. Clean it with a Scotch Bright pad and use dry-lube graphite to lubricate.

Mine pulls out about 3'. I think the rack is attached with cotter pins. I may be wrong. Thais is a pic. I can't get to the trailer right now.

Thanks Wavery. I’ll be heading over tomorrow morning and I’ll take a good look. It looked like cotter pins, but I didn’t really go over to the other side to check. I was just happy to get the spare out and off to the shop.

Checking brakes and bearings tomorrow. I’ll have a few days before any parts I need get to me, so I’ll have lots of time to futz around with that rack. I’ll remember to bring a scotchbrite pad. 😉

[Deb Mac]

Got it moving. It is really only the first few inches that are "jammy". And without the tire on there, I can get it moving fairly easily. Once it's out about 3-4 inches, it slides perfectly. Same when sliding it back into place. Great until I get to the last 3 inches or thereabouts and then it binds. And the bow is gone as well.

So I attacked it with a ScotchBrite and some dry silicone lubricant, but I might actually try to go a little farther and do a bit of a metal polish on the exposed end on the street side - I have lots here at home - I also collect Swiss Army Knives and have done some restoration here and there - Mother's works great on the handles. The years of exposure to the elements have made that surface very rough and oxidized. Working up to a 2000 grit polishing pad, followed with some mag/aluminum polish might help a lot.

Calling a welding shop tomorrow to see about getting that extender bracket you worked up Bill.

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by Deb Mac

Got it moving. It is really only the first few inches that are "jammy". And without the tire on there, I can get it moving fairly easily. Once it's out about 3-4 inches, it slides perfectly. Same when sliding it back into place. Great until I get to the last 3 inches or thereabouts and then it binds. And the bow is gone as well.

So I attacked it with a ScotchBrite and some dry silicone lubricant, but I might actually try to go a little farther and do a bit of a metal polish on the exposed end on the street side - I have lots here at home - I also collect Swiss Army Knives and have done some restoration here and there - Mother's works great on the handles. The years of exposure to the elements have made that surface very rough and oxidized. Working up to a 2000 grit polishing pad, followed with some mag/aluminum polish might help a lot.

Calling a welding shop tomorrow to see about getting that extender bracket you worked up Bill.

If I remember correctly ()........ I replaced the long, inner tubes with longer (metal) electrical conduit. That was years ago on my 2004 TM.

[Deb Mac]

Thanks for that. If I can't get the current tubes to slide smoothly at that endpoint, I'll have to consider that option. But, as long as I can get the tire on the rack, and get it closed, in the short term, I'll take it as a win and hope I don't need to pull the spare out while on my trip.

Can't do much today or tomorrow - Dr's appointment, vaccine appointment and a couple of errands to run while I'm in town (45 minute drive from home) and then long dentist appointment tomorrow - starting the crown portion of a root canal/crown job. Won't feel much like crawling around under the trailer tomorrow. I might go back today after my appointments (storage yard is here in town) and give that rack another try, see if it's working any better after yesterday's efforts. And take some measurements of the inner and outer tubes.

Waiting on tires and brake parts, so not a lot to do besides tidying up until they arrive. Lots of time to putter around with the rack. Or I could close her up, drag out the half sheet of plywood, climb up on top and install the soft starter... that's also on the to-do list. But that list is getting shorter. Turning into a Ta-done list.

[Deb Mac]

Got the rack into a local welding & spring shop who had done some work on my old motorhome. Welded on an extension, that adds about 3/4” of height to the original bracket. It will be a little more awkward to get the clevis pins secured with their lock pins, but that will hopefully be a once yearly job, when I check the brakes and rotate the tires.
Done in one day. Cost $80 CAD - 1/2 hr of labour and a piece of 1/4” iron. Probably a section of leaf spring . They have lots of that around!
Pleased with the result. I’m going to clean the surface on the whole thing and give it a new coat of black, especially around the original weld points that are showing a touch of surface rust.