Carry a spare...yes or no?
- Thread starter Eskimo
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you don't have to be "hard core" to visit the forum and vote. 86 votes and 43posts(not counting people posting more than once) i bet lots of ppl consider themselves "hard core" but aren't. what defines hard core? do you have to have a rock buggy like nolen? what about the guy with a stock truck that decided he didn't want to lift his truck he cut his body and he is running 37 iroks? is he hard core? am i hardcore because my truck is SOA with doubler, rear locker, and 8274? I still consider myself a beginner/intermiediete.
Oh and i don't "want" to carry a spare but sometimes like at Paragon the rules dictate that you DO carry one so what do you do then? I plan on carrying the least amount of stuff that i need(birf/inner, tools to do front end work, maybe some hand cleaner, some bailing wire, duct tape, epoxy....
Stew
Oh and i don't "want" to carry a spare but sometimes like at Paragon the rules dictate that you DO carry one so what do you do then? I plan on carrying the least amount of stuff that i need(birf/inner, tools to do front end work, maybe some hand cleaner, some bailing wire, duct tape, epoxy....
Stew
Eskimo
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My comment was only because as the rigs get more built, the spare is seen less and less, in my experience.
I'm just focusing so hard about getting weight off my junk during this project that it just kills me to re-add another 125lbs over the rear axle, ya know?
I *think*, at this stage, there's enough room to mount a spare behind the seats, but then there's no real room for tools... grr..
I'm just focusing so hard about getting weight off my junk during this project that it just kills me to re-add another 125lbs over the rear axle, ya know?
I *think*, at this stage, there's enough room to mount a spare behind the seats, but then there's no real room for tools... grr..
I'm not hardcore in any way whatsoever.
It strikes me that any sort of travel without a spare, all the more so in backwoods with wheels and tires that are far from common, as being very shortsighted.
Kalawang
It strikes me that any sort of travel without a spare, all the more so in backwoods with wheels and tires that are far from common, as being very shortsighted.
Kalawang
Mark W
Yep, I really don't really care that much I guess.
Why is carrying tubes and repair tools/gear instead of a mounted spare shortsighted?
IMO, you carry parts/repair items that you historically have needed to replace....that puts the spare bias ply tire very very low on my list...plus, a tire rated for 3200# each (12,800# combined) when used on a 3800# rig has a much smaller chance of damage than many other items, including birfs, axles, knuckles, lockouts, u-joints, and more....all of which I DO carry (since those have all, at one point or another, failed me)
It does also depend a lot on your type of wheeling....take off for a 3 day trip and leave base camp miles and miles away, and a spare is more important than knowing it's a 15-20 minute drive thru the park to retreive it.
I also agree that the weight, and the fact that it's higher weight, can create more problems with breakage and roll potential.
Mark, do you have a good suggestion for a tire repair/patch kit? I've carried plugs (lots of them!) for years, but nothing more....I've yet to use them, but I'm also sure there are other better options out there.
It does also depend a lot on your type of wheeling....take off for a 3 day trip and leave base camp miles and miles away, and a spare is more important than knowing it's a 15-20 minute drive thru the park to retreive it.
I also agree that the weight, and the fact that it's higher weight, can create more problems with breakage and roll potential.
Mark, do you have a good suggestion for a tire repair/patch kit? I've carried plugs (lots of them!) for years, but nothing more....I've yet to use them, but I'm also sure there are other better options out there.
cruzer said:
Why the hell do I always get dragged into these things?
cruzer said:
I don't consider myself anything other than someone looking for fun in an offroad vehicle.
Ed
Mark W
Yep, I really don't really care that much I guess.
woody said:
We usually do the long distance kinda thing. The last couple of years the runs that we get excited about and do any planning for (as opposed to quick weekend outings) have averaged about 125-150 from trailhead to trailhead. I'm planning one for thios summer, which if we can pull it off will be at or over 300 by the time we get in and then out again.
For us the amount of space that the tire takes up in any rig which does not have an external tire carrier is a big concern. Spares DO NOT belong under the back of a wagon or a pickup so far as we're concerned. Too much other stuff to go in there.Even when mounted on a tire carrier, that is space and weight that could also be used for gas cans. We do carry spares. But not one for each rig in most cases. This year we will have two rigs on 39.5x18 Boggers, and three on 39.5 15 TSLs. One 38x15 from the semiscrap tire pile behind the shop will suffice for all of those rigs. The rigs running 36s, 35, and even 33s can work out some combination of spare in that size range to share. A couple of seasons agao I had three minis that I and my family were driving on one outing. One spare between the three of them was plenty.
In order to cut down on spare tires, we carry tubes, tire patches, tire plugs and (just or even more importantly) a drill w/small diameter bit(s), and some heavy test fishing line (50 lb is good). Also some big screwdrivers and tire iron or two and some dish soap for mounting dismounting beads. (Of course there are always highlift jacks along too...). A CO2 tank helds for reseting beads, as do heavy ratchet straps.
A punctured tire can be repaired with plugs in the time it take to tell about it. A slashed tire takes longer, but it can be done too. Just pop the tire off the bead, drill some holes along each side of the slash/tear and stitch it with the fishing line. Then put a patch on the inside. So far we have always tubed the tire afterward, but I am starting to think that in most cases the tube could be forgone. But so far no one has wanted to do dismount the tire twice if it doesn't hold air, so we have not tried.
We haven't had to repair many tires on the trail. Mainly BGFs and cheaper knock offs. Maybe two Swamper (radials) but only one that I can definitely recall. So far no TSL bias or Boggers have needed trail repairs. Our trail hazards are primarily due to brush, brush piles or pieces of brush in muck holes. We do see some sharp shattered rock in some of the morraines and slide zones, and that has claimed a couple of tires too over the last few years. Generally tires are not our primarly concern in terms of failures. (except for one person who can't seem to understand that they need to avoid scrubbing the sides of their Mudkings up against the edges of brushpiles...)
But the above mentioned collection of odds and ends is the closest thing to a "kit" that we have. Just stuff we have found works to do the job.
Mark...
Ah.....Mark is on the web 
I run 36" TSL'a on the 40 and carry a BFG 33x9.50 on the swing out carrier. Left a street pressure it sits about as high as my aired down TSL. Light too.
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I spend a lot of time going on cross-country expeditions in the desert, so 'base-camping' provisions is not an option. I can think of two desert runs, one of which was a GGG, where 7 rigs out of 30 went down with flats in one day. This made me so nervous that I mounted a second tire carrier on the 40 and went for almost 10 years with TWO spare tires on the rig!
I actually ended up needing both of them after Rubicon in 2001, and was glad I didn't have to go hunting for spares. Nobody else in my group was running 32" but me.
I actually ended up needing both of them after Rubicon in 2001, and was glad I didn't have to go hunting for spares. Nobody else in my group was running 32" but me.
just got some usa 6 x6 dbl beadlocks finally(had to have em redirected to moab ,lost a day of wheelin' to put em' together) but dude they are heavy. I don't think I'll carry ia spare at an event like that but here in canada with the water and shale roads ripped up sidewalls do happen and it is needed.
i usually do...i've been without before and fortunately, the one time i needed one, i had it.
coiled40gary
76 FJ40; TLCA#6227
This is a question I've been wrestling with lately.
When I ran 33s I carried two spares in the cage on the rear fender wells. Had two flats once when I cartwheeled and the landing flattened both tires on one side. Had two flats once in my '67 mustang, bam, bam, both tires in the same unseen pot hole, a little further down the road I was joining a whole line of cars on the shoulder, cut the side walls of both tires. Tore one side wall wheeling in some deep water in the desert, did not see or feel nothin, just suddenly heard the rushing air and bubbles. And used a spare once when a car came out of a side street, and left a chunck of his front bumper (plastic) between my rim and tire.
When I ran 35s I carried one spare on the outside rack, but the only activity it ever saw was when it got stolen.
Now I have these military 37s on dual beadlocks that weigh 160 pounds, and I just can not figure out a good place to keep all that extra weight. They are radials, but the rubber alone is 80 pounds, and I have a hard time imagining doing damage to these. I know, especially if I don't have a spare...
What do you guys carry for tire repair kits?
Sewing up side wall? Have not seen or heard that one before. What do you use for that? And the dual internal bead lock will prevent the use of and inner tube, unless I take the inner piece out, which is certainly do-able if the alternative is to stay where you are at for a long time.
I have a scuba tank mounted to the roll cage for air.
gary
When I ran 33s I carried two spares in the cage on the rear fender wells. Had two flats once when I cartwheeled and the landing flattened both tires on one side. Had two flats once in my '67 mustang, bam, bam, both tires in the same unseen pot hole, a little further down the road I was joining a whole line of cars on the shoulder, cut the side walls of both tires. Tore one side wall wheeling in some deep water in the desert, did not see or feel nothin, just suddenly heard the rushing air and bubbles. And used a spare once when a car came out of a side street, and left a chunck of his front bumper (plastic) between my rim and tire.
When I ran 35s I carried one spare on the outside rack, but the only activity it ever saw was when it got stolen.
Now I have these military 37s on dual beadlocks that weigh 160 pounds, and I just can not figure out a good place to keep all that extra weight. They are radials, but the rubber alone is 80 pounds, and I have a hard time imagining doing damage to these. I know, especially if I don't have a spare...
What do you guys carry for tire repair kits?
Sewing up side wall? Have not seen or heard that one before. What do you use for that? And the dual internal bead lock will prevent the use of and inner tube, unless I take the inner piece out, which is certainly do-able if the alternative is to stay where you are at for a long time.
I have a scuba tank mounted to the roll cage for air.
gary
coiled40gary
76 FJ40; TLCA#6227
Oh, yah, when I got the military tires and beadlocks, I did get five tires. Ive been thinking about carrying the fifth tire, rubber only as the spare. The wheels come apart, so they are field serviceable, just a royal pain. But it is still half the weight. But where and how to carry an empty tire...
gary
gary
i carry one on the trailer. weight issue with a 42" tsl and steel wheel and space issue also. i have only ever cut one once and a few plugs and i was back going again. i usueally wheel with friends and i'd have not problem running back to camp for them and vice versa.
