New to me Grandby

New owner, old lurker, older Grandby. Usual full Grandby gear, in addition to solar panel, roof access steps, roof rack, and jacks. I now have to figure out how everything works. I was leaning towards a new shell, but this popped up for sale (pun intended).



Many questions to ask and lots of learning starts now. 1st question, Spare tire mounting. I always carried the spares in the truck bed, now I do not.

Cheers.

Congrats on your new camper!

put a under truck bed tire carrier on

This was my solution... a Tiregate swing out. It mounts into the receiver hitch and has worked great over the last year or so. I have been on hundreds of miles of washboard roads, rock hopping and zero issues. It's has a receiver so you can still tow (7500 lbs. rated) and I towed a car hauler with a '65 Chevy panel truck without missing a beat. Definitely a nice setup.

Congrats on your new camper!


x2

Looks clean.I wanted to go with a used FWC, could never find one. They go fast. Ended up biteing the bullet and bought a new Hawk. you'll love your Grandby.

Congrats on your Grandby! You might also look into a front receiver and spare tire carrier, if it will work with your truck.

Nice find mghallen! Looks like you got the extended cabover with all the bells and whistles. It seems simplest to me to mount your spare tire in the factory location under the rear of the bed; maybe get any missing pieces at a junkyard.

Cummins_mike: I've thought I'd like a Tire-Gate from time to time (so I can haul more fuel under the truck, or take a second spare, or haul oversized tire) but can I ask you what it is like when using the camper.....does the tire gate swing around back there if it is windy out? There's no way to lock it closed or open it from the camper when you're inside. I don't like the idea of it swinging on its own back there when I'm in the camper, and as far as I know, there's no "lock-open". Also, is it in the way when you're pulling trailers?

New owner, old lurker, older Grandby. Usual full Grandby gear, in addition to solar panel, roof access steps, roof rack, and jacks. I now have to figure out how everything works. I was leaning towards a new shell, but this popped up for sale (pun intended).


Good luck and lots of adventures with your camper.Nice looking camper.When do we see some interior pictures?
Does your truck not have a under the bed spare mount?
AK nomad has some good points about the swing away mount.Sure wouldn't want to get locked in the camper.Would have to use the emergency window.
Frank

Thanks for the replies.

I am considering allthread and backing plates, nuts, and washers underbed for one spare. That meaning climbing under the truck to get the spare out, but there is a lot of clearance. I was hoping for a more elegant solution, but not expensive, as it is an old truck that will be replaced in the near future maybe.

Interior photo. Planning a spring shakedown of the truck followed by a shakedown of the camper and truck on the Denali Highway. Then a summer trip to Whitehorse, Yukon for a choo-choo ride on the Yukon White Pass RR. All while trying to squeeze in work and rebuild of an airplane.......might even squeeze in a bit of sleep too before winter.

Yep, the old style spare tire hardware used allthread of sorts, usually a LARGE sort of wingnut that you could access the spare without tools. Maybe carry some WD40 with you, because it will get rusted, and covered in road-grime. A real pain to get a spare tire out that is bolted up underneath a truck (but it works if that's all ya got). Note: when you need the spare, there will be less clearance (i.e. flat/stuck/etc. and crawling underneath a truck up on a jack is to be avoided. My old Dodge truck spare carrier has a hunk of metal that goes from one side to the other and sort of leverages the tire into place. The two mounting bolts are outside the tire, not through the center of the wheel. This makes it easier to get at, and easier to put back, I think. In fact, a 2x6 will get the job done just fine in a pinch.

I live in Fairbanks, and we like to take our Grandby on the Denali Hwy every summer for fishing, blueberries, or whatever.

I ended up going to MSI(junkyard) and finding an underbed mount and toolkit. I installed that, got the oil etc, serviced, layed the highlift in the back of the cab, and drove away.

Spent two nights in Denali and planned on a drive over the Denali Highway, but it was closed. Ended up driving the Parks highway and then over to Valdez, because it is there and not here(here being where I was when I was there). 1100 miles two kids(1and 6), a woman, and me. Camper shaken out. Fun times, except for Denali HW being closed.

Another season of traveling is about to begin. Same camper, different truck.