Repair of the Continental Tire Carrier on a 2012 Roadtrek 210P

Bruce Roberts has a 210P and discovered that the steel cable on his rear tire carrier was frayed. He had read my blog and had some questions about my February 27, 2017 blog post about repainting my tire carrier. So he contacted me via email.

Bruce had contacted Roadtrek about the possibility of repair. Bruce says that Roadtrek offered to sell a complete unit, but did not offer a repair. So Bruce decided to explore repairing it on his own. We corresponded about potential issues if a repair was undertaken. Bruce had a local firm that could fabricate the necessary cable, so the real issues were about disassembly and re-assembly.

The local firm could give him a replacement cable "made to order" to match the existing. Not too difficult if one can remove the old and give it to someone to match so the length and cable diameter is proper.

So Bruce proceeded with the repair and he had success. I asked Bruce if he would be willing to share his experience and he said "yes". Here is what he said about this "This is our first RV. We had never camped. Most of what I know about the RT is from reading blogs. I think it is important to give back something, so I am glad that you suggested writing a blog about repairing the carrier."

Thanks, Bruce for sharing your knowledge and experience with us in the RT community.

Here are Bruce's notes and some photos he put together about the repair. He agreed to let me share them here:

"Below are miscellaneous thoughts/comments concerning disassembly and reassembly of
the tire carrier.  They are in no particular order. My cable was frayed and needed to be replaced.

1. One end of the cable is attached to the tension spring and is not designed to be separated.
2. All of the tension can be removed from the spring by backing down the spring tension bolt.
3. The cable can’t be removed from the assembly without removing the pulleys first.
4. The spring is under the least tension when the tire is upright in its normal position.
5. Two of the three pulleys have spacers on either side.
6. The pulley without spacers is smaller than the other two pulleys.
7. The carrier is designed to have the pulleys rotate freely.
8. The cable can fray if the pulleys don’t rotate.
9. The bolts associated with the cable and pulleys are grade 5 and the nuts have nylon inserts.
10. The smaller pulley is located at the hinge point for the two tubular pieces.  There are 4 flat washers on the bolt that holds this pulley.
11. The cable on my unit was 26 ½ inches long and was 3/32 inches in diameter.
12. The carrier was removed from the RT prior to disassembly.

Disassembly sequence after removal from RT

1. Make notes concerning the distance between the top of each nut and the end of the bolt. 
2. Lay the carrier on a flat surface and remove all tension from the spring by backing down the tension adjustment bolt at the top end of the carrier.  A 19 mm socket was used on all bolts and nuts including removing the carrier from the RT. 
3. Remove the bolt that holds the free end of the cable. Remove the pulleys starting with the one closest to the free end of the cable. Keep associated bolt, pulley, nut, and spacers/washers together. (On my unit, the smaller pulley was stuck on the bolt. I first tried tapping the end of the bolt with a hammer and piece of wood. That didn’t work. I sprayed lubricant on the bolt beside the pulley and tapped it again.  That still didn’t work. I slid the handle of a socket wrench down beside the pulley and tapped it again. This time it worked. Prior to using the socket handle, only the top edge of the pulley was touching the notched portion of the square tubing and perhaps cocking the pulley as I tapped on the end of the bolt.) 
4. Remove the nut on the tension adjustment bolt and remove the cable, spring, and tension adjustment bolt assembly. 
5. Clean bolts, pulleys, nuts, and spacers and inspect for wear. 
6. Clean the cable, spring, and tension adjustment bolt assembly and inspect for wear. Clean and repaint the two square tubing pieces as needed.

Reassembly sequence

The carrier was laid flat on a piece of cardboard with the three studs that hold the spare tire facing upward.  Garage door spring lubricant was used to coat the spring.

1. Insert spring and cable assembly into the long section of square tubing and install the nut used to adjust the spring tension. Three turns on the nut were sufficient to keep the spring in place. To aid in the installation of the spring and cable assembly, a plastic garden stake was inserted into the square tubing. The spring tension adjustment bolt was butted up against the end of the garden stake and a small piece of duct tape was used to hold the pieces together. The other end of the garden stake was pulled while the spring and cable assembly was pushed into the square tubing.
2. Install the smaller pulley.  The short section of square tubing was properly aligned and the cable was held in place with a clothespin. Lithium grease was sprayed on the bolt and pulley before and after installation. A cable tie strap was wrapped around the pulley to help hold the pulley while the bolt was inserted through the tubing.  The tie strap wasn’t clamped to the pulley; it was just wrapped around it. Note there are four flat washers associated with this bolt. The nut was tightened enough to allow the short section of tubing to still pivot freely.
3. Install the next pulley in line.  Lithium grease was sprayed on the bolt and pulley before and after installation.  A cable tie strap was wrapped around the pulley and second spacer to help hold them while the bolt was inserted through the tubing.  The cable was held in place with a clothespin. Insert the bolt part way and slide on the first spacer. Hold the pulley in place with the cable tie and insert the bolt so that it is flush with the other side of the pulley.  Hold the second spacer in place with the cable tie strap and push the bolt through the other side. Install nut and tighten. Check for free rotation of the pulley. Tighten the nut until the pulley binds and loosen the nut about 1/8 turn.
4. Install the last pulley. Follow the same procedure used for the previous pulley.
5. Inspect the cable to ensure it is in the pulleys. Adjust the cable if has come off of a pulley. 
6. Lift the short section of tubing upward so it is upright.
7. Secure the free end of the cable and the catch plate to the carrier.  Tighten the nut until the catch plate binds and then loosen the nut about ¼ turn.  Spray bolt with lithium grease. 

Bruce's Notes :

1. The carrier should be inspected and lubricated periodically, but I don’t know how often.  It will depend on usage and weather conditions.
2. The pulleys need to rotate freely.
3. There is a few thousands play between the pulley and spacers so additional lubricant can be added at a future time without having to disassemble the carrier.
4. This is our first RV. We had never camped. Most of what I know about the RT is from reading blogs. I think it is important to give back something, so I am glad that you suggested writing a blog about repairing the carrier.
5. The new cable cost $20.20."

Original material:  https://roadtrek210.blogspot.com/

Tire Carrier Surface Finish Issues - Rust!

Yakima Bike Carrier - No Rust after 10 years

The photo above is not directly related to the issue with the tire carrier finish. But this is the best place to put it on the blog. I added this photo of the bike rack on the rear of the Roadtrek. It is a Yakima "KingPin 4" which can accommodate up to four bicycles.  We normally travel with two.

The Yakima shows no rust, after 10 years. It has a powdered finish and Yakima obviously does a great job. No rust of any kind on this bike carrier after about 11 years!

I purchased this adapter in 2006 for our Malibu Maxx and use it on both vehicles. I added a hitch adapter to match the hitch on the 210P to the 1-1/4" hitch on the bike rack. This moved the rack out.

As shown in the photo, I can open the right rear door of the Roadtrek with the rack on the Roadtrek. Very convenient.

Comments March 1, 2017:

1. A reader suggested I consider using "Corroseal" which is a rust inhibitor.  Thanks for the tip, Wanda!  "Corroseal® is a water based rust converter combined with a non pigmented high quality latex metal primer. The converter segments turn rust into a barrier layer of black non rusting magnetite. The metal primer acts as a bonding agent for oil-based intermediate and finish coatings of epoxy, enamel, acrylic, polyurethane and moisture-cured urethane...."  http://www.corroseal.com/technical/technicaldata.aspx
2. I used Rust-Oleum® Stops Rust® Rusty Metal Primer. According to the manufacturer this "stops rust and prevents corrosion. Apply to heavily rusted metal (use Rust-Oleum® Stops Rust® Clean Metal Primer on clean or lightly rusted metal). Bonds tightly to rust to form a surface top coats can adhere to."

Original Post February 27, 2017
The surface of the metal tire carrier on my 210P began to show some distress about two years after purchase. Paint flaked off to show rust underneath. This became quite extensive by the third year.

I really don't know what grade of steel, or surface finishing was used. It appears that there was no metal primer, but that is difficult to determine. Let's just say that the black paint and the primer were identical, because the paint flakes were black throughout, with rusty metal beneath.

I prepared the surface by cleaning with mineral spirits. I then used a stiff wire brush and a wire wheel to remove as much loose or flaking paint as possible, and also removed as much surface rust as I could. However, it would take a lot of grinding to get to polished metal. I also did not want to disassemble the unit.

Here's what it looked like after the first pass of cleaning. The first was by hand with a stiff wire brush, to remove as much loose paint as possible:

Here is how it looked after using the wire wheel with a 3/8 drill and before cleaning. Soon I'll be applying a primer:

After doing this I cleaned the surface again with mineral spirits, allowed to dry and then with a tack cloth. I did have to open it and flip it several times, and I used a wooden shim to keep it from closing (going to a 90 degree position).

I wanted to assure that all loose rust and paint had been removed. I decided against using a spray primer, choosing a brush-on "Rusty metal primer". I painted it partially on a table, let that dry overnight and then completed by sliding it partially into the center hitch of the Roadtrek:

I let it dry in the horizontal position, then closed it partially and that allowed me to paint other areas. I used a wooden shim to hold the hitch in position (shim removed for this photo):

I used brush-on black enamel as the final coat of paint. I used a shim to hold the rack in the partially dropped position. The arrow in the photo points to the shim, which is a piece of scrap with partially black surface:

Here's the finished tire rack. I didn't put a finish coat on the section that slides into the receiver; it will simply be scraped off when inserting it:

While I was at it, I painted the hitch parts on the Roadtrek that were showing some rust. Same procedure as the rack; clean, wire brush, prime and then finish coat.

We'll see how well this does. I hope it slows the rust down.