How I Carry a Spare When Off-road Adventuring -- Mounted to Underside of Bed Rack

[Cybergirl]

Carrying a spare when taking challenging off-road trips is important in case of a major tire failure and having to call for recovery assuming a recovery service is available. My solution for carrying a spare has evolved over the past year from carrying it in the vault to strapping it to a rack on the truck.

Both methods had disadvantages. The spare tire is heavy and huge. It takes up a lot of space in the vault. Strapping it to the top of the truck negatively impacts aerodynamics and driving range, and is vulnerable to being stolen.

When I chose to install the @Urander bed rack and Inspired Overland Carbonlite tent, how to carry the spare again presented itself.

The Urander rack expands the cargo carrying capacity of the Cybertruck along with improving the look of the vehicle (I've received more positive remarks about the look of the truck since I installed the rack).

After watching YouTube videos from Bearded Tesla Guy and Teslatino, adding the compact Carbonlite tent became an obvious enhancement for my overland vehicle.

Carrying the spare on top of the truck became impractical, and going back to putting it in the vault was a non-starter. My solution was to mount it inside the Urander rack leaving the vault available for carrying camping gear.

The tire is raised up tight to the underside of the rack using a Lippert winch mounted to two Urander crossbars.

I put the spare face down in the bed (or on top of the closed tonneau), and attach the hoist cable to the inside surface of the wheel.

I used a couple of leftover mounting brackets that came with the Carbonlite tent to capture the cable end piece instead of the usual practice of inserting it through the center hole in the wheel.

I use a Makita driver and 3/4" 6-point socket to raise and lower the tire either from the bed or from the closed tonneau. It's effortless (except for lifting the spare into and out of the bed).

Here's what it looks like with the tonneau closed.

Urander advised me to support the winch on two crossbars for a 100 lb tire. The winch capacity is 150 lbs.

I'm very pleased with how this worked out. Once I get the spare into the bed (with help if I can get it), raising and lowering the spare is super easy. There's no noticeable loss of range by carrying the spare this way.

Note: Putting the hoist cable end piece through the 2" diameter hole of the center of the wheel didn't work well. The tire was impossible to keep balanced horizontally, making the raising and lowering of the tire an awkward chore.

With the spare in place, loading and unloading the bed is somewhat more difficult, but not overly so.

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[tmeyer3]

Thanks for this detailed breakdown of your setup!! I think I'll do something like this in future

 

[dalton108]

Carrying a spare when taking challenging off-road trips is important in case of a major tire failure and having to call for recovery assuming a recovery service is available. My solution for carrying a spare has evolved over the past year from carrying it in the vault to strapping it to a rack on the truck.

Both methods had disadvantages. The spare tire is heavy and huge. It takes up a lot of space in the vault. Strapping it to the top of the truck negatively impacts aerodynamics and driving range, and is vulnerable to being stolen.

When I chose to install the Urander bed rack and Inspired Overland Carbonlite tent, how to carry the spare again presented itself.

The Urander rack expands the cargo carrying capacity of the Cybertruck along with improving the look of the vehicle (I've received more positive remarks about the look of the truck since I installed the rack).

After watching YouTube videos from Bearded Tesla Guy and Teslatino, adding the compact Carbonlite tent became an obvious enhancement for my overland vehicle.

Carrying the spare on top of the truck became impractical, and going back to putting it in the vault was a non-starter. My solution was to mount it inside the Urander rack leaving the vault available for carrying camping gear.

The tire is raised up tight to the underside of the rack using a Lippert winch mounted to two Urander crossbars.

I put the spare face down in the bed (or on top of the closed tonneau), and attach the hoist cable to the inside surface of the wheel.

I used a couple of leftover mounting brackets that came with the Carbonlite tent to capture the cable end piece instead of the usual practice of inserting it through the center hole in the wheel.

I use a Makita driver and 3/4" 6-point socket to raise and lower the tire either from the bed or from the closed tonneau. It's effortless (except for lifting the spare into and out of the bed).

Here's what it looks like with the tonneau closed.

Urander advised me to support the winch on two crossbars for a 100 lb tire. The winch capacity is 150 lbs.

I'm very pleased with how this worked out. Once I get the spare into the bed (with help if I can get it), raising and lowering the spare is super easy. There's no noticeable loss of range by carrying the spare this way.

Note: Putting the hoist cable end piece through the 2" diameter hole of the center of the wheel didn't work well. The tire was impossible to keep balanced horizontally, making the raising and lowering of the tire an awkward chore.

With the spare in place, loading and unloading the bed is somewhat more difficult, but not overly so.

Two questions:

1. My system from Mars is somewhat similar to yours (or at least it will be when they ship their tent sometime this spring) and I’m curious with this set up what type of range hit your experiencing?

2. Didn’t you have a massive power failure recently with your truck? I might be mistaking you with someone else, but if I’m not I don’t think I ever saw the resolution.

 

[mbrockus]

Nice setup and I like your solution for the spare. What is that box next to your tire?

 

[Cybergirl]

The power hit was someone else. I recently drove a 577 mile round trip and measured an overall 523 Wh/mi. On another 430 mile round trip I got an overall efficiency of 532 Wh/mi with very strong cross winds which will negatively affect range. These numbers compare to 432 Wh/mi overall prior to install the bed rack and tent, so, about 17% loss of efficiency at highway speeds (75 mph).

 

[Cybergirl]

Nice setup and I like your solution for the spare. What is that box next to your tire?

The box is a solar power station containing a 2.5 kWh LFP battery, 20A Renogy Rover charge controller, and a 1000W inverter. I have a 420W REC Alpha Pure 2 solar panel attached to the tent roof. I use the solar power station to power my camping accessories (refrigerator, BougeRV A/C for the tent, Starlink, electric blanket, camp lights, cooking appliances, air mattress inflator/deflator).

 

[dalton108]

Thank you so much! I don’t see numbers like that ever (but I have a lead foot and a CB).

Did you have any whistling or wind noise problems with your tent like they did with the Mars install (I don’t know if you saw that video)?

Really seems like an epic set up! How happy with it are you (1-10)?

 

[Cybergirl]

Thank you so much! I don’t see numbers like that ever (but I have a lead foot and a CB).

Did you have any whistling or wind noise problems with your tent like they did with the Mars install (I don’t know if you saw that video)?

I didn't know about the Mars wind noise. I have not experienced any wind noise. I found, though, that it's very important to make sure the front fairing is installed tightly to the glass roof to prevent wind noise.

 

[WheresMyCybertruck]

Great job and nice write-up! Looks like everything is coming together well

 

[dalton108]

I didn't know about the Mars wind noise. I have not experienced any wind noise. I found, though, that it's very important to make sure the front fairing is installed tightly to the glass roof to prevent wind noise.

If you’re interested. Scrub to 19:32.

 

[Gigahorse]

The Urander rack looks awesome, really wish there was magically no range hit and 15-20% is significant, or if the CT had the 500 mile range it would not be an issue. But with 300ish and a 15-20% hit when doing highway driving it is a tough pill to swallow.

GREAT looking setup, especially for the spare.

 

[Cybergirl]

If you’re interested. Scrub to 19:32.

Thanks. Interesting. I think the fairing on the Urander rack does a lot to maintain aerodynamics and avoid wind noise. Just my guess, though.

 

[Cybergirl]

The Urander rack looks awesome, really wish there was magically no range hit and 15-20% is significant, or if the CT had the 500 mile range it would not be an issue. But with 300ish and a 15-20% hit when doing highway driving it is a tough pill to swallow.

GREAT looking setup, especially for the spare.

Yeah, there's no question about it. It's a compromise that I was willing to make. On the highway I like to stop every 150 - 160 miles anyway, so adding a little extra charge makes up for the loss of range. Once off road, the range loss due to the rack and tent is minimal due to slower speeds. I also removed my side mirrors to help lessen the efficiency loss.

 

[Gigahorse]

Yeah, there's no question about it. It's a compromise that I was willing to make. On the highway I like to stop every 150 - 160 miles anyway, so adding a little extra charge makes up for the loss of range. Once off road, the range loss due to the rack and tent is minimal due to slower speeds. I also removed my side mirrors to help lessen the efficiency loss.

For someone going off the pavement often it is a no brainier, tough for me as I use it for a work vehicle, commute vehicle, and sometimes an off-road vehicle so the range hit is a real concern. Your setup is nice enough that I might take the range hit though, very nice work.

 

[CT_AZ_4x4]

Carrying a spare when taking challenging off-road trips is important in case of a major tire failure and having to call for recovery assuming a recovery service is available. My solution...

Here's what it looks like with the tonneau closed.

Thanks for the detailed post! You've given me another solution!!

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