When I acquired the Vanagon it still had the original 14 inch alloy wheels that were typical on the Vanagon GL. I was not crazy about how they looked and given the difficulty of finding the right all terrain tires for 14 inch wheels, I decided to go with 15 inch wheels and 205/70R15 tires.
With these wheels and tires I was able to continue to use the stock “clam shell” spare tire holder. However, I did notice that the spare tire did press against the steering shaft. Turns out Van Cafe (vancafe.com) sells a 4wd spare tire steering shaft protector…which was out of stock when I did the wheel and tire upgrade.
Well, the part was finally restocked and I ordered one. Once the spare tire was out of the clam shell, it was a simple matter to install the protector using one of the existing bolts.
Not one of the “flashiest” projects, but still good therapy to do a little wrenching on the Vanagon.
