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Greetings all
Did a couple of long trips with the aliner this year. In January went around Arizona & a couple of stops in New Mexico.? Arizona roads are pretty rough (I'm talking about the interstates) - the weld broke to the bumper in the middle, removed the spare put it in the back of the truck for the remainder of the trip - so no issues.
My question is has anyone mounted the spare underneath the tongue and what issues did you experience if any?
I have a 10' scout - no propane up front, a bike rack in it's place (45lbs bike rack & bike) and I have a lithium battery on the tongue only about 16lbs. So I don't think weight is an issue.
After looking at the way that bumper is put on, I recommend anyone with the spare on the back get your bumper reinforced.
Happy camping
Dan S
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I would be concerned about ground clearance especially when hitting steep driveway aprons. My driveway apron is steep enough that I couldn’t back in with the spare mounted on the original bumper bracket and my receiver just barely cleared the ground. I made an extension to raise the original mount up, which worked good for the first 3,000 miles of our trip last year. With my rear view camera I noticed that the way the tire is bolted to the original bracket, the tire wiggles?back and forth. I believe this caused my extension bracket failure (couldn’t have been my work?). Is this what caused your bumper failure? I modified the original tire mounting so the tire would be stable and made a heavy duty extension. I’m going to check the bumper welds.
JoeS
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If you have the regular model Aliner I doubt you could put a spare anywhere under the trailer.? If you have the off road model, some have bought one of the under trailer spare tire carriers, mounted it behind the axle, and carried the spare there.
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Hello Dan:
We have our
spare in back, but it is supported by a brace inside the back
wall. Only the vertical weight is on the bumper, no torque.
Carl.
On 2/13/2024 5:51 PM, dan smartt via
groups.io wrote:
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Greetings all
Did a couple of long trips with the aliner this year. In January
went around Arizona & a couple of stops in New Mexico.?
Arizona roads are pretty rough (I'm talking about the interstates)
- the weld broke to the bumper in the middle, removed the spare
put it in the back of the truck for the remainder of the trip - so
no issues.
My question is has anyone mounted the spare underneath the tongue
and what issues did you experience if any?
I have a 10' scout - no propane up front, a bike rack in it's
place (45lbs bike rack & bike) and I have a lithium battery on
the tongue only about 16lbs. So I don't think weight is an issue.
After looking at the way that bumper is put on, I recommend anyone
with the spare on the back get your bumper reinforced.
Happy camping
Dan S
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? Hi Dan: ? I had a spare mounted under the tongue for years on my 2005 LXE. The spare was located between the rails of the tongue, not under it, so there was little road interference.? In order to make the spare fit, I used what the automotive industry used to call a Crutch Tire, essentially a high-pressure smaller diameter speed-limited tire mounted on a 13” - 5 on 4.5 wheel. ?It worked great until an accident last year tore up the tongue, and the subsequent weldment repair took up some of the space needed for the spare.? ? The only impact with this set up was, of course, the tongue weight increase due to the spare. ? Dave ? ? ? ………………….. ? My question is has anyone mounted the spare underneath the tongue and what issues did you experience if any?
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Do to a partial failure of my rear bumper on my 2009 Classic, I reinforced it with welded collars, and installed an independent receiver welded to the frame with two cross members.? I moved my spare to the street side of the tongue, so I could carry my CLAM on cradle brackets attached to the rear bumper.? I moved the spare back to the rear, but I don't recall why.? It wasn't ground clearance, but may have been tongue weight since my battery and two propane tanks are there.?? -- Don DeRyke Sunrise, Florida 2009 Classic, 2020 Ford Escape, 2.0 liter EcoBoost, AWD.? Previous TV 2015 Ford Escape 1.6 ltr EcoBoost engine.
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Thanks everyone for your input and solutions,?
I went ahead and mounted the spare under the tongue using 3 - 1/2"x8" bolts (2 through the stud holes and the last one centered with a metal plate larger than the hole in the center of the tire). Seems very secure and still gives 15" of ground clearance (the axle on my aliner has 12" of clearance -? off road model) it extends about 2" on either sides de of the frame so no clearance issues when turning
Only thing different I would do is use 6" bolts
Again I don't have propane and my lipo4 battery is only 16lbs - so I think I'm good to go -fingers crossed ?.
Happy camping all Dan S
On Thu, Feb 15, 2024 at 4:30 PM, Don DeRyke via groups.io <DERYKED@...> wrote: Do to a partial failure of my rear bumper on my 2009 Classic, I reinforced it with welded collars, and installed an independent receiver welded to the frame with two cross members.? I moved my spare to the street side of the tongue, so I could carry my CLAM on cradle brackets attached to the rear bumper.? I moved the spare back to the rear, but I don't recall why.? It wasn't ground clearance, but may have been tongue weight since my battery and two propane tanks are there.?? -- Don DeRyke Sunrise, Florida 2009 Classic, 2020 Ford Escape, 2.0 liter EcoBoost, AWD.? Previous TV 2015 Ford Escape 1.6 ltr EcoBoost engine.
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Dan, what's your clearance to the ground when connected to the tow vehicle?? I clipped my jack once going into a gas station.? It was all the way up, and the wheel removed.
I think Carl had a great idea for those with questionable bumpers.? Just setting it on the bumper and thru anchoring to the rear wall. -- Don DeRyke Sunrise, Florida 2009 Classic, 2020 Ford Escape, 2.0 liter EcoBoost, AWD.? Previous TV 2015 Ford Escape 1.6 ltr EcoBoost engine.
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15" of clearance when connected, the trailer axle is only 12" & I don't off road so I think I'll be ok
On Thu, Feb 15, 2024 at 6:37 PM, Don DeRyke via groups.io <DERYKED@...> wrote: Dan, what's your clearance to the ground when connected to the tow vehicle?? I clipped my jack once going into a gas station.? It was all the way up, and the wheel removed.
I think Carl had a great idea for those with questionable bumpers.? Just setting it on the bumper and thru anchoring to the rear wall. -- Don DeRyke Sunrise, Florida 2009 Classic, 2020 Ford Escape, 2.0 liter EcoBoost, AWD.? Previous TV 2015 Ford Escape 1.6 ltr EcoBoost engine.
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The clearance issues on a trailer tongue come into play because of the distance between the trailer wheels and the TV wheels. Like when you are pulling into a driveway with a short steep apron. (I remember a Moab Utah gas station that took out an under mounted camper step.) ?Areas of the country that are susceptible to sudden heavy rains often have large gutters at the edges of the road to handle the runoff. A horizontal tire could completely ‘high center’ your rig or be heavily damage in such an encounter.?
JoeS
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Thanks for the warning, I have a sloped driveway (pretty steep angle) - I will definitely run some checks & see if clearance is an issue.??
If so I it's only 3 bolts, I am out & I will probably get the bumper reinforced and welded
On Wed, Feb 21, 2024 at 7:33 AM, JoeS via groups.io <joesears74@...> wrote: The clearance issues on a trailer tongue come into play because of the distance between the trailer wheels and the TV wheels. Like when you are pulling into a driveway with a short steep apron. (I remember a Moab Utah gas station that took out an under mounted camper step.) ?Areas of the country that are susceptible to sudden heavy rains often have large gutters at the edges of the road to handle the runoff. A horizontal tire could completely ‘high center’ your rig or be heavily damage in such an encounter.?
JoeS
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The spare on my 2022 Classic was mounted so low on the bumper I couldn’t back in to my driveway with it in place. I had to make a 12” extension to raise the bracket up.
JoeS
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Joe,? I've seen several campers that Aliner used a boat trailer mount.? They locate the tire below the bumper, unlike the other style. -- Don DeRyke Sunrise, Florida 2009 Classic, 2020 Ford Escape, 2.0 liter EcoBoost, AWD.? Previous TV 2015 Ford Escape 1.6 ltr EcoBoost engine.
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This is how Aliner had the spare mounted originally. ?The first extension I made cracked on our trip so I had to go back to this till we got home.
Joes
This
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This is what I have.? Mine is the folding model, but I really have no need for that function.??
-- Don DeRyke Sunrise, Florida 2009 Classic, 2020 Ford Escape, 2.0 liter EcoBoost, AWD.? Previous TV 2015 Ford Escape 1.6 ltr EcoBoost engine.
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I found a photo of my first attempt at raising up the spare before it failed. Note how Aliner reinforced the bumper by welding a piece of 4” square tubing to the bumper.
JoeS
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After a partial bumper failure a few years back, I reinforced it.? I made "collars" and welded them to the bumper and frame.? Then I built a solid receiver with two cross members welded to the frame. -- Don DeRyke Sunrise, Florida 2009 Classic, 2020 Ford Escape, 2.0 liter EcoBoost, AWD.? Previous TV 2015 Ford Escape 1.6 ltr EcoBoost engine.
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Where do the bumpers seem to fail? Do they fail from vertical load or horizontal? It would be nice to know what to look out for.
JoeS
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Mine failed at the point where the bumper is welded onto the center support of the frame.? Not only do you you get load vertically & horizontally, but also front to back.
The front to back load seems to be the issue - with the tire mounted on a vertical post hooked to the bumper - that's a lot of torque and flex for such a flimsy thin bumper and tack welds from the frame to the bumper.
The suggestion in a previous post with flanges welded in seems like the best solution.thats probably the route I'm going to take. More surface area to hold
Just my 2 cents and observations Happy camping Dan s
On Sat, Feb 24, 2024 at 6:19 PM, JoeS via groups.io <joesears74@...> wrote: Where do the bumpers seem to fail? Do they fail from vertical load or horizontal? It would be nice to know what to look out for.
JoeS
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Hi Joe:
They fail due
to Torque loading with the addition of shock from road bumps.
From an engineer's point of view a sure way to fail.
If they would
just secure the top of the spare mount from shaking the shock
load wouldn't be a factor.
Our spare is
only resting on the bumper and an angle iron of aluminum inside
the back wall keeps the tire from falling off.
We all should
have a spare, why hasn't Aliner found a standard place to store
one, with a jack!
Carl.
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Carl
Don DeRyke
