Club 80-90 Forums

Hi all,
I have a T25 Karmann Gipsy with a modest lift running 215/75 15 BFG all terrain tyres. My issue is that I’m looking to run a full size spare and having tried years ago to fit the same size in the standard location on my Syncro crewcab I choose to hide it under the rear seats instead. I have read somewhere that they can be either deflated or fitted with chassis mods to aid clearance but I’m curious to see if anyone has ever ran a spare on the front. As you can see from the picture it won’t sit right on the grille but on my bullbar. My main concern is obviously airflow. It’s running an AGG petrol engine and never currently gets hot.
Any input gratefully recived.
Cheers.
Bert.

There's been quite a bit of debate on here in the past about mounting bull bars, and other stuff like spare wheels on the front of your van, such as this thread.

My understanding of the regulations, which is admittedly limited, is that they don't specifically prohibit fitting stuff to the front of a vehicle, but the recommendations after 2007 are that you should generally avoid doing so, and in any case avoid fitting anything that cannot be shown to comply with safety standards:

It is not illegal for vehicles to be fitted with bull bars, although the department would not recommend their fitment unless it has been shown, through compliance with specified safety standards, that they do not pose an additional risk of injury to pedestrians or other vulnerable road users.

There are no plans for legislation to require bull bars that are already fitted to be removed. However, since 25 May 2007, it has been an offence for bull bars that have not been approved as compliant with those safety standards to be sold. Approved devices will carry an indelible ‘e’ mark (for example: e1 01 1471).

As far as I know there were no OEM options for mounting a spare wheel on the front of these vans, which means if you did fit one it wouldn't have been safety tested, and so would be contrary to these recommendations, which would be difficult to explain away in the event of an accident. The chances are you would also need to let your insurance company know that you were fitting it, and they would probably take a dim view of the idea.

Have you thought about using the luggage rack on the roof, or maybe fitting some kind of rear rack or carrier, such as a Bak-Rak?

Forden341 wrote: ↑22 Jan 2021, 11:34 Any input gratefully recived.
Cheers.
Bert.

I think the Herb summed it up:
viewtopic.php?p=8076764#p8076764

 

The wheels full of holes , it’s got to make some difference to cooling I expect

I realise that bullbars aren’t to everyone’s taste but I like it so intend to stick with it, I understand that insurance companies don’t like anything that is untested and non standard so to speak but I’m sure that if push came to shove there’s not many of us rolling round in standard vans with everything declared. I did think about the roof but as a Gipsy is quite a big wallowing pig anyway I’d rather keep any extra weight as low as I can, also the main structure of a Gipsy won’t allow a wheel to be rear mounted as in a swing away rear wheel carrier. The tow ball idea although practical isn’t an option as I already run a platform on that for my sons wheelchair.
Seems I may just leave it as it is and continue to run with a smaller spare or deflate an all terrain then.

Terry's old Syncro had the spare wheel on the bull bar, original 14" pepperpot alloy, he didn't have cooling problems; you would be adding a fair bit of weight forward of the front axle which will affect the handling a bit; if the shocks and dampers are good it might not make much difference, maybe try lashing it on with a couple or three ratchet straps and driving it to gauge the effect before committing to welding on to the bull bar. IIRC Terry's van had some metal straps from the body (top of grill) to the top of the bull bar which may have been added, there may be a thread showing his van on the archived Syncro forum or just pm terryvanman and ask him if he has any detail shots, he's retired to Malta, won't be that busy, I think they are in lockdown too

Forden341 wrote: ↑23 Jan 2021, 08:39 I realise that bullbars aren’t to everyone’s taste

Especially innocent pedestrians and cyclists.

Why someone would intentionally bolt anything dangerous and unnecessary on the front of a vehicle is beyond me....

If it makes you happy

It wasn’t intentionally bolted on.
I sleep walk and the bolts are very tight

Aidan wrote: ↑29 Jan 2021, 15:11 Terry's old Syncro had the spare wheel on the bull bar, original 14" pepperpot alloy, he didn't have cooling problems; you would be adding a fair bit of weight forward of the front axle which will affect the handling a bit; if the shocks and dampers are good it might not make much difference, maybe try lashing it on with a couple or three ratchet straps and driving it to gauge the effect before committing to welding on to the bull bar. IIRC Terry's van had some metal straps from the body (top of grill) to the top of the bull bar which may have been added, there may be a thread showing his van on the archived Syncro forum or just pm terryvanman and ask him if he has any detail shots, he's retired to Malta, won't be that busy, I think they are in lockdown too

Thank you for that, that’s more the sort of feed back I’d hoped to hear.

tobydog wrote: ↑29 Jan 2021, 20:28

Forden341 wrote: ↑23 Jan 2021, 08:39 I realise that bullbars aren’t to everyone’s taste

Especially innocent pedestrians and cyclists.

Why someone would you intentionally bolt anything dangerous and unnecessary on the front of a vehicle is beyond me....

If it makes you happy

Or drive a killing machine at all

davidoft1 wrote: ↑31 Jan 2021, 17:03

tobydog wrote: ↑29 Jan 2021, 20:28

Forden341 wrote: ↑23 Jan 2021, 08:39 I realise that bullbars aren’t to everyone’s taste

Especially innocent pedestrians and cyclists.

Why someone would you intentionally bolt anything dangerous and unnecessary on the front of a vehicle is beyond me....

If it makes you happy

Or drive a killing machine at all

I think we are all guilty of that, pedestrians, cyclists or the planet. Maybe we should all just walk everywhere and camp in tents?

davidoft1 wrote: ↑31 Jan 2021, 17:03

tobydog wrote: ↑29 Jan 2021, 20:28

Forden341 wrote: ↑23 Jan 2021, 08:39 I realise that bullbars aren’t to everyone’s taste

Especially innocent pedestrians and cyclists.

Why someone would you intentionally bolt anything dangerous and unnecessary on the front of a vehicle is beyond me....

If it makes you happy

Or drive a killing machine at all

Strawman

Looked on line out of curiosity
Am I mistaken or is that their spare ?
Peter

SurfT25 wrote: ↑01 Feb 2021, 09:14 Looked on line out of curiosity
Am I mistaken or is that their spare ?
Peter

It certainly looks like the spare. Not sure why they would need anything other than the standard location with stock wheels. Unless they chose to carry two?

But that is an LT not T25/3