I can't believe moving the spare tire from the front to the rear would
make any noticeable difference, especially in a camper and  I'll keep my
full size spare, thank you.  What does the spare weigh, 25 or 30 lbs.?  Get
some new shocks.

                                                             Jay '85 Westy

Leon Korkin <korkwood@SURFREE.COM> on 03/13/2001 02:30:02 PM

Please respond to Leon Korkin <korkwood@SURFREE.COM>

To:   vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
cc:    (bcc: Jay L Snyder/AE/DuPont)
Subject:  Re: Another project?

Why not put much lighter spare and save a lot of work time and money?
Leon
85 Subwagen Westy
Arlen wrote:
> My Vanagon has always felt 'nose heavy' to me. What I recently did was
> move my spare tire to the right rear corner (inside) and I felt a
> dramatic improvement. Now, since I don't want to give up my bed or
> access to the engine cover I'm thinking I'd like to move it outside on a
> swing out carrier.
>
> My research has turned up two possibilities so far. It seems there is a
> Winkler (Ortec?) available but I haven't heard anything about the
> durability of this model. The other lead is the Syncro Multi-van, but I
> certainly can't afford the near $2500 USD that David Marshall is asking
> for the ones he's bringing back from Germany (that's $500 more than I
> originally paid for my vanagon). I'm sure they're durable
> but................
>
> A third option might be to build one locally but I haven't been able to
> turn up any good pictures of them. The more I think about it the more I
> like this third option. Maybe even aluminum. Or stainless. I have a
> friend with a lathe and a mill. For $2500 I could buy a real nice TIG
> welder. Hmmmmmmm............
>
> Any ideas or pictures floating around out there?
>
> Arlen