Having moved the spare tire to a door mount I was left with an empty tire rack under the bus. I decided to add a basement in that space. I could use it to carry the nice to have but hope I never need items like chains, tow rope, a 2-gallon can of diesel, etc.

I went out to see Tony at Livermore Ironworks and liking a challenge, he figured he could come up with something that would work – light as possible, self-draining and strong.

I went out last week and looked and we decided to also replace the original hinges where it attaches to the frame with more solid steel.

This came in weighing 27 pounds. I figure I can carry 100 pounds pretty easy. Of course, the more weight the harder it is to lift and lower. Tony left a place where I can use the jack handle as in the original tire rack for raising and lowering.

As some of you know, I tried an Aluminess swing away spare tire carrier and while it worked perfectly, I did not like the way it looked. I took it off and put the spare back underneath.

This time I used a door mounted carrier from The Sprinter Store. I talked to them a couple of times before ordering about how it worked and had they had any problems with it – they were glad to speak to me and the answers I received reassured me that this carrier would work. I do travel on dirt roads and other places some would not take a camper like the Sprinter.

The carrier came with all the necessary bolts, nuts, etc. and easy to follow instructions. One of the instructions was to level the carrier before drilling holes. I did that and it is not quite square with the door so if I were to do it again, I would make it square. It doesn’t really matter as once the tire is mounted you can’t see any of the rack.

Didn’t take long to do at all. I had to have my neighbor help me lift the tire to place it on the carrier – the spare weighs about 120 pounds.

I have never been bothered about drilling holes into my vehicles. If you do make a mistake or change your mind it is pretty easy to fix.

Now I have the entire tire storage area underneath the Sprinter available to use as a basement. My initial idea is to mount a large plate with raised sides ( \_______/) on the spare tire rack and store a pelican case with items like chains, tow rope, etc. I might even store a couple of 2 gallon diesel cans there. Total weight can’t be over about 120 pounds so I need to find someone to fabricate a light weight plate.