Here's my "spare". My Jeep didn't have a spare when I bought it and recently bought this bumper that had the tire carrier included. So I pulled a wheel off a Barbie Jeep sitting by a dumpster.
Spare tire or not?
- Thread starter Jharr_02
- Start date
Good thing you got that hilift; otherwise, you wouldn't be able to change that monster out.
The way assholes drive these days I feel much better with a little extra rubber behind me when these gargantuan pickups start tailgating you on a slick road. But aside from that I always want to be prepared and i've used my full size spare before so I like having it.
Is there a way to have a lightweight dummy tire with a jeep cover as to keep that jeep wrangler look .I don't want the weight on my tailgate nor the spare tire.
I do always carry a full size spare and a plug kit. I'll try to plug it first to save time, but I'm not going to try many times and keep stopping because I'm too lazy to change it out.
If someone is wheeling with me, they better have a spare. That or have someone else with them that is willing to loan them one or make the trip to get one and take them back. I don't care what they run on the road. That's their problem.
Though I was on a trail once and someone cut up a tire pretty good and needed a spare. They had just bought the Jeep. It had a spare, but they discovered the hard way that they don't have the lug nut key. Someone had to loan him a spare. Now I might do that. Though if I don't know you, you're not driving home with my spare. I would loan it to them until we got back to the road and then take it back. Only exception is if they could give me the money to hold in case they don't return it.
Also why I no longer use locking lugs. I had a key get lost by a tire shop, of course they denied it.
If someone is wheeling with me, they better have a spare. That or have someone else with them that is willing to loan them one or make the trip to get one and take them back. I don't care what they run on the road. That's their problem.
Though I was on a trail once and someone cut up a tire pretty good and needed a spare. They had just bought the Jeep. It had a spare, but they discovered the hard way that they don't have the lug nut key. Someone had to loan him a spare. Now I might do that. Though if I don't know you, you're not driving home with my spare. I would loan it to them until we got back to the road and then take it back. Only exception is if they could give me the money to hold in case they don't return it.
Also why I no longer use locking lugs. I had a key get lost by a tire shop, of course they denied it.
LONGJP2
TJ Expert
If you are wheeling without a spare discuss it before hand with the other drivers. They will probably put up with your program that day but Ill bet you don't get invited back. Personally I'd be tempted to leave you out there to finally figure things out.
X2. Twice I had problems on the trail related to sliced open tire sidewalls and a lack of a usable spare tire.
First I left my spare tire at camp in 2007 after being advised it stuck out too far on my jerry-can holding OR-Fab tire carrier for the particularly tough trail we were about to go on. I ended up slicing a 3-corner hole in my 1st generation GY MT/R and had to plug it with 20-30 tire plugs so it'd hold enough air to make it back to camp.
This isn't mine but it's like I fixed mine above with about double the number of plugs used here...
Second time my spare tire was old enough that it had become too stiff to stay seated and it had lost all its air in the two days since I had topped it off at home. Yep I sliced a tire open again, this time the 2nd generation kevlar reinforced GY MT/R, on the rocky trail. It took a good hour of work to get my spare sealed well enough to get back to camp. A few offered to loan my their spare tire but my bolt pattern is a 5x5 so their 5x4.5 wheels wouldn't fit.
The moral to the above two stories.... if you're going to go offroad, especially if the trails are tough, make sure you have a good spare tire that will make short work of a damaged tire. Plus carry a tire plug kit with an extra box of tire plugs. They're handy to have, just have a compressor too.
Yeah, just find someone to make you a plastic dummy tire and put the Jeep cover on it.
I tried to have a DUMMY spare tire cover printed. They said they wouldn't put Joe's picture on a tire cover.
I wouldn't drive down to the corner 711 without a spare tire, although its been decades since I actually had to use one in anger. "Got into it" on a motorhome forum a number of years ago. Many motorhomes are now omitting the spare - and the motorhome effetes just call roadside assistance. Yea - I'm going to call for roadside assistance (and wait for them) in the middle of fucking death valley, assuming I can hit a cell tower or a ham radio repeater. I don't think so!
True imo there is better money spent elsewhere axles etc but at the same time when you already have 25k into a 22 year old TJ just by buying it and parts what’s another $1500 lmao I have so much money in this thing but there’s a reason it drives well (for an old 2 door Jeep) lifted 4” and I don’t break things
