Last weekend’s main project was fitting a spare wheel. The van came with a jack but not sure what use that was for as there was no spare wheel. Despite only having had 2 flat tyres in almost 30 years of driving, we decided that we felt more comfortable having a spare wheel with us.
Some research uncovered that the Fiat Ducato chassis has all the holes pre-drilled to fit a bracket for the spare wheel under the van. A bit more research found the bracket for a reasonable price. The spare wheel and tyre was easily sourced also.
Saturday was the 3rd attempt at fitting the wheel. The first attempt identified we needed some bolts we hadn’t purchased and a special winding device we thought we needed (and later realized was included in the jack toolkit that came with the van!). The second attempt realized that the bolts that we did buy with the bracket were the wrong size. After 2 trips to B&Q, the 3rd attempt was a successful fitting. Very pleased.
Doubt there will be a smile to remove on a dirty road though!
The second (more minor) enhancement for the weekend involved fitting some brighter headlight lamps. Who knew the whole headlight fitting was removable for access? Much more convenient than my car (Landrover take note!). The instruction manual was misleading though and I ended up changing the full beam bulb instead of the main beam by mistake ….. good thing we checked before we put the van back together again or someone would not have been happy :).
Wee Van Tour 