ALI is supported by its readers. When you purchase via links contained here, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Adding Spare Tire To Tiffin Wayfarer Or Other Small Motorhome
When we started shopping for a small class “C” motorhome, we were kind of shocked that they did not come with a spare tire. Doing our research we found that many of the Mercedes Sprinter (including our Tiffin Wayfarer) or Ford Transit / Cargo Connect motorhomes do not come with spare tires or a way to carry a spare on your motorhome. First, and most importantly, let us state that we are not engineers and you should verify the structural soundness of any device you use to carry a spare tire with a mechanic or other qualified person!
Before we go any further I just wanted to mention that we have many informative articles here at ActiveLifestyleInfo.com. CLICK HERE to see other camping related articles.
The first think that we tried to do was add the spare tire under the Tiffin motorhome. After looking under the RV and speaking with the technician at Tiffin in Winfield, we determined that adding a spare tire under our 2023 Tiffin Wayfarer 25RW was not possible without some major modifications and relocation of other items under the RV. We were not willing to go to all that trouble and expense so we switched gears and started researching a hitch mounted spare tire carrier for our motorhome. We found two main options via internet searches. The first was a Roadmaster Spare Tire Carrier and the second were various brands of carriers that all carry the spare tire with the top of the spare tire leaning in toward the back of the RV. We felt that the Roadmaster option was a very nice option but was heavier and more expensive than we were comfortable with. After reading reviews we found that the less expensive spare tire carriers that carry the spare at an angle would not work for us as the spare would hit the back of the RV.
So… what did we do? After reading various forum we purchase items from various sources and put an RV Spare Tire Carrier together that has been perfect for our needs. It is lighter than others on the market and cost a fraction of the money that others do. Here we will discuss the components we used to construct the spare tire carrier for our Tiffin Wayfarer motorhome. This should also work on many other motorhomes or campers to carry your spare tire. We obtained the proper sized steel wheel from the Tiffin Warranty Center in Winfield. We bought the tire and had it mounted and balanced at a local tire shop. This wheel / tire assembly will fit on the front or the rear (inside or out) on the Tiffin Wayfarer and many other Mercedes Sprinter based motorhomes.
The first item that we purchased to build the spare tire carrier for our motorhome was the Reese Towpower Adjustable Ball Mount. We only used the portion of this that goes into the reese hitch of our Tiffin Wayfarer. This piece will accept the vertical square tubing that will carry the RV spare tire.
The second item we will discuss is the vertical component that goes up from the Reese portion and that the spare RV wheel and tire mount to. This is 2″ X 2″ square tubing that will fit the vertical component of the Reese adjustable ball mount. I used a 36″ piece but the exact length is not critical. CLICK HERE to see this size tubing for sale online. I drilled three holes in this piece. This first it for the pin or bolt that connects the adjustable ball mount to this vertical component. I place the square tubing in and marked where the pin will go through. I drilled all holes the size of the included pin. Next, I laid the wheel / tire on top of the square tubing just as it eventually gets mounted. I marked two holes through the rim. I drilled these the same size. Once all holes were drilled and cleaned I painted the 36″ piece of square tubing black.
The next item that I used was a hitch tightener. This component served two purposes. First, it tightens the connection between the adjustable ball mount and the vertical tubing. Second, I used it to secure a license plate bracket. As seen in the picture of the assembled spare tire carrier, the license plate bracket is tightly pinched in place by the hitch anti-rattle tightener.
As mentioned in the previous section, I installed a license plate bracket on our RV Spare Tire Carrier by pinching it behind the hitch tightener. I had a piece of aluminum flat bar laying around that I used but if you do not have something similar, CLICK HERE to view another option that should work as well. You can pinch this bracket behind the hitch tightener just as I did.
The last item we purchased was a spare tire cover. We went with a vinyl spare tire cover. CLICK HERE to see the one that we went with. The 16″ version fits the Tiffin Wayfarer size tire. It is inexpensive, easy to install, and looks great. It may not last forever but then that give us the option to purchase a different design in a couple years!