Spare Tire Orientation - Access to Valve Stem

[jw^2 family]

I lowered the spare tire on our F150 today so that I could inspect the Hellwig air springs (the driver's side air spring seemed to be leaking all of the sudden; turned out to be a loose valve core in the air chuck - big relief). I used the opportunity to check air pressure in the spare tire before cranking it back up into place. Is there a good reason to keep the spare time oriented with the valve stem facing up, making it inaccessible for checking pressure or adding air without lowering it down first? One thought I had was maybe it's mounted that way to protect the valve stem from rocks, etc. bouncing up and damaging it, but that doesn't seem like a big risk if all of our driving is on paved roads. Another thought was maybe it's mounted that way to make it more difficult to tamper with. But it seems like flipping the spare over so that I can access the valve stem would ensure that the air pressure gets checked more often, making us better-prepared travelers. Any compelling reasons not to flip the spare tire over?

[Cate&Rob]

Any compelling reasons not to flip the spare tire over?

Hi Joe,

This would make sense to me too . I have turned over the spare on the Reflection for just this reason.
Most folks are driving around with both truck and trailer spares that have not had their pressure checked in years!
The "logic" of loading valve up to protect the valve makes little sense to me. The road wheels have the valve stems far more "exposed" than this.

But . . . on the F150 there is not enough cable to lower the spare all the way to the ground with the wheel flipped so the valve is down. I decided to leave mine "valve up" to make sure that I could set it on the ground rather than wrestle it off the hanging cable, if I needed it.

BTW, I put TPMS sensors on both my spares . . . so I know when the spare tire pressure needs to be "topped up"

Rob

[Rapid1]

I keep mine, both trailer and truck, valve stem up. Having to crank the spare down a bit to check is good insurance that it will come down when I need it. That said, the two times in the last year that I have checked my spares, they were just fine anyway...and the valve stems are out of harms way and the wheel face and stems stay a bit cleaner when pointed up. I have spent a lot of time off road, not mud bogging but logging roads, driving over brush and stuff that pretty much doesn't apply to trailering but always figured that is why they come installed with the stem facing up. It is a personal preference obviously but that is how I like it.

[powerscol]

Mt solution is I am moving the spare to the back of the trailer. Im getting too old to crawl underneath. I need to find a grand design spare tire cover somewhere.

[Canyonlight]

Mt solution is I am moving the spare to the back of the trailer. Im getting too old to crawl underneath. I need to find a grand design spare tire cover somewhere.

Here ya go direct from the GDRV website......the new GDRV spare tire cover in 3 sizes !

https://store.granddesignrv.com/prod...re-cover-black

Dan

[Airrace]

Turn both of mine over (valve down) so I can check them before each trip.

[powerscol]

Here ya go direct from the GDRV website......the new GDRV spare tire cover in 3 sizes !

https://store.granddesignrv.com/prod...re-cover-black

Dan

Sweet - Thanks

[Steven@147]

I had the winch cable break on my 2002 truck and the tire fell out in the street. The cable had a rust spot where it broke and it would have been just on the outside of the winch box. I never fixed it just put the spare in the bed. now on our new 2018 Ram I'll keep some oil sprayed on the cable to keep it from rusting ad breaking.

The spare tire on our Solitude was installed valve stem down.