Spare Tire Mount Directly on FWC

[White Dog]

I'm with Gene on this one. Even though I"ve had this happen
I wouldnt carry two spares in most places. Maybe running the white rim trail. Dunno.


So I'm guessing this wasn't a pluggable puncture!

I have a couple of reasons for not putting the second spare in the camper or cab. The first is straight logistics. The thing is heavy. While I certainly could lift it out every time I needed too get in and out of the camper, its a nuisance. My wife could not lift it. Someone in this thread suggested that swinging a tire on a mount was inconvenient. Lifting a tire in and out of the camper would be really inconvenient, at least for me. The dog (and other stuff) lives in the back seat. The second reason is one of safety. Unless the tire is secured properly, it becomes lethal in an accident. My spare probably weight 60 or 70 lbs. Collisions can generate many many Gs. Multiply that by the weight of the tire and the speed of the truck at the time of impact. The concern becomes self evident. So for me at least, any second spare is going to be very firmly attached to some very strong part of the truck.

The other point here is: do I really need a second spare? Probably not (maybe 'hopefully not' is a better way of putting it). That is the first decision. Since we will be travelling with another truck, backup will always be close at hand. Unfortunately, his spare tire is not the same size. However, this is the start of my more remote travels and do I make the investment in a proper rig on the new truck now so I never have to worry about it in the future?

Questions on I can answer but I certainly appreciate the feedback from folks on the forum.

Has anyone had experience towing the 'outback' style trailers? That is another option but maybe I should start another thread on that topic.

 

[Mark W. Ingalls]

I, too, considered the two spare problem. On balance, I believe I have learned that for low speed driving you can plug all but the most horrific, e.g., Craig's, side wall tears. I have a *whole bunch* of those sticky plugs in my tool kit, like enough for twenty nail holes, that I believe can be used to temporarily patch large tears.

I have also read that airing down helps prevent sidewall tears, because the tire is more able to conform to the object that would have otherwise cut it. (Of course, slowing your rate of speed will help with 'conformity' also.)

Tutorial

 

[ntsqd]

In my days with the dune buggy carrying a single spare was too much weight. We carried motorcycle tire irons, a simple bead breaker, plugs, "tire boots", and a tube that had been vacuum sealed in a aluminized mylar electronics bag. Using those bags with the vacuum sealer made UV and ozone much less of an influence on shelf life. If we couldn't plug it we patched it as best we could (to keep junk out of the tire) and put the tube in.