RE: Kiwi Owners - FYI

[campertime]

 
I am interested in adding another metal channel or bracket to the outside of our Kiwi so I can add an outdoor table just outside the door to the left. With an extension hose I could also use it for locating the stove closer to the door.
 
 I know you can buy the brackets at dealers and online but I have no idea whats inside the wall where I want to install the bracket so I wrote Jayco.
 
 I also have an Equal-i-zer Hitch and had to remove the spare tire from it s carrier under the tongue to install the weight distribution brackets and the tire will not fit back in the carrier. Talking with other Kiwi owners I found that there is no rear bumper mount for the spare tire because the lightweight frame can not hold the additional weight of a tire.
 
 I asked my dealer about the bumper mounted spare tire carrier and they told me the frame couldn t support the weight either.
 
 So I also inquired about this in my email. Below is the response I received, surprisingly within 48 hours []
 
 Dear Mr. Campertime,
 
 I will send you a wiring diagram in the mail. We do not option a rear spare tire on bumper of unit because the folddown rear bed may hit the spare tire and cause damage to rear door portion of bed. Also may obstruct the bed braces that hold the rear bed in the down position. Thank You and have a good day.
 
 Troy Niswonger
 Jayco Service
 
 Has anybody moved thier spare to the rear of the trailer?
 

[Camper Dan]

 campertime
Mike,
 
 I don t want to rain on your parade, but...[] these are MHO s.
 
 I ve got a Kiwi 23D with the spare tire/carrier option.  No, I haven t mounted it on the back bumper.   Like the guy said...bumper too weak, damage to rear bunk assembly, back of trailer, etc.  The walls on these rigs are only going to hold up as long as they maintain their intregrity.  They are glued & vacuumed bonded together over a 2"  x 2"  aluminium frame.  Indidivually, each part being weak, but together, rather strong.  I wouldn t want to start applying stress/strain in directions that weren t engineered into the design, possibly causing things to separate.  
 
 What are you going to anchor the table rail mount onto?  Just the exterior wall?  I d be very, very cautious.  I figure there is an aluminium cross piece underneath where my outside stove rail is mounted, but that s just a guess.  If there were only someway to find out what they have where under the skin of the trailer.
 
 Good luck.  You might just leave the carrier at home an haul the spare in the back of your TV.  I m thinking about that, myself.
 
 
 

[Y-Guy]

 campertime
Tire Mount:  I ran into the spare tire issue as well, but I just keep it in our Avalanche all the time.  I did see another camper that had a custom mount that held the tire flat above his propane tanks.  As long as it didn t interfere with the bed, or bed supports I think this would work.  Just getting to the propane takes looked to be a bit of a pain.  Another option might be to have a custom rack made for the back that didn t attach to the bumper nor the wall.  I have no idea if this is possible or not but you can crawl under the camper to see what you have to work with.
 
 Table Channel:  Be very cautious, as already stated the walls are not very strong.  See if you can run bolts though and use a large washer on the backside.  I was thinking of adding one below our kitchen window, running bolts inside the cabinets, and sealing with large amounts of silicone.  Might ask your dealer how much it would be to install one next time its in for service. I just opted to buy a folding table at Costco so I can move things around a bit when needed.
 

[campertime]

 campertime
I have written Jayco again about the bumper mounted spare tire carrier. They are going to have an engineer call or write me about moving the spare.
 
 The new stove/table brackets would be mounted to the aluminum studs just like the exsisting bracket. I just need to know where they are along with the wiring. That info (according to customer service rep) should be in the wiring diagram they are sending me.
 
 We ll see what happens........

[campertime]

 campertime
Well the response on the tire was pretty quick. Here it is.....
 
 Dear Mr. Campertime
 
 Your information request has been forwarded to my office for further information.  Our Engineering department has confirmed that the bumper on your KIWI camper is NOT sufficient to carry a spare tire.  
 
 We must advise you not to proceed with this action as to do so would compromise
 the integrity of your camper.  
 
 Richard Delaney
 Sr. Technical Service Representative

[Ab Diver]

 campertime
Ok, stupid, er, uninformed question time. I don t have a Hybrid, so I m not sure what your dealing with in terms of gross weight, tongue weight, and how much can be moved from front to back without a problem. That said: can you install a lightweight Class 1 trailer hitch on the rear *frame* of the trailer, and customize a drawbar to support the spare tire? Sorta like a hitch-mounted bike rack. I ve seen a lot more than a spare tire hanging off the back of larger trailers. (Yeah, I know, that don t make it " right" .)

[glavieri]

 campertime
Hello, I would stay FAR FAR away from mounting anything on the back of a Kiwi. We have a 23 B and I had a welder weld a receiver, install steel plate etc, so that I could put a 4 Bike hitch mount rack on the back of my kiwi. Low and behold the bouncing of the rack must have reached the righht frequency and SNAPPED the bike rack. We lost $3500.00 worth of mountain bikes. Fortunatly it snapped on a side road and not on 95 while doing 60 MPH.
 
 GAry