[adrock82]

Hey guys,
I'm in an '89 Sierra soft-top that had 31" tyres on 15" rims put on by the previous owner, but the spare on the back remains stock.
Not much point carrying that around so I'm on the hunt for a spare, but wondering about a couple of things;

1. The mount - Obviously see a lot around with bigger wheels that are carried on the back but does that require a bit of work to the mount or just some longer bolts?

2. The weight - Have searched through and found only a few comments in other threads, especially this one (http://www.auszookers.com/forum/viewtop ... 14&t=18566).
But would like to hear thoughts on the reliability of that tailgate hanging onto a bigger wheel? I don't store anything tucked inside the tailgate and nothing else attached so it would just be the bigger wheel

Cheers guys,
Adam

[Gwagensteve]

Leave the stock spare in place. You won't ever need it so carrying a heavy tyre that's going to wreck the hinges/tailgate/tub isn't necessary.

Carry a plug kit, tyre levers and spare valve stems.

[alien]

^^this

I haven't carried a spare for almost 10 years.

That said, i don't carry tyre levers or a plug kit, just spare valves...

[adrock82]

Wow. Ok.
What about for larger cuts/holes that can't be plugged or sidewall damage? Just make do and limp out to get it fixed?

[Gwagensteve]

In 20+ years of playing with Sierras, I've never personally seen an unrepairable LT tyre failure. I have asked if anyone else has failed a tyre unrepairably every time I mention not running a spare and I've seen a photo of one. One. Once.

I've seen loads of tyres fall off rims and I've seen some trashed valve stems.

[shep]

I have seen heaps fail and not be repairable. Need to take into account where you drive and how bad driving on 3 tyres would be.

50km from town and prob not bad. Middle of nowhere and it could be very bad.

[Kor3y101]

If the worst came about though, just throw the smaller spare wheel on. Sure it's not the best idea, but it would be better then driving on a bare rim.

[bumstein]

I'd keep the smaller spare.. two of my zooks have larger tyres but standard Spare.

If it were unrepairable (and I agree with Steve, it's exceedingly unlikely), then I'd be putting the small Spare on the front and keeping the rear wheels the same (presuming your in 2wd for the return trip to somewhere to get it sorted)

[Gwagensteve]

shep wrote:

I have seen heaps fail and not be repairable. Need to take into account where you drive and how bad driving on 3 tyres would be.

50km from town and prob not bad. Middle of nowhere and it could be very bad.

Heaps of LT tyres on sierras fail unrepairably?
Not even a multi plug, or fencing wire stitched and multi plug repair?

[shep]

Nope. Have a photo of a tyre in my Sierra build thread that failed and Jamed in the guard. Still held air.

[MrRocky]

I run a skinny 30" on an lj rim as a spare, saves a bit of weight

[shep]

I have never used a recovery point on a jimny, is that a good enough reason to advocate not having recovery points. Australia
is a big place and I think it is dangerous for someone that pitches them self as a Suzuki guru to say that a spare is unnecessary.

[Gwagensteve]

I don't pitch myself as anything. I do have quite a lot of experience though and my comments reflect that. That's all. I put my money where mouth is by not carrying a spare. As do plenty of others.

Steve.

[shep]

I prob didn't make my self clear. I meant that many look up to you and I don't think it's a good idea to say it's not necessary to have a spare.

[Gwagensteve]

That's fine, we can disagree. In any case, I didn't actually recommend the op run with no spare, I told him to keep the standard size because he'll never use it.

However, I choose to run with no spare for the reasons I've outlined. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion and if someone gets on here and says they've had multiple LT tyre failures then hats great.

That's not what tends to happen though and it's not my fault if very few people have unrepairable flats.

[adrock82]

Thanks guys,
I was actually out with a few people today who came up with similar ideas to above.
a) Get something with a similar rolling diameter that is the same width as current spare and mount on the tailgate, or
b) run the standard tyre on the front in 2wd to get out/home to repair.
Obviously, those are worst-case after all attempts at repairing fail, but when the next option is to have a full spare taking up so much space in the cab (if it isnt mounted), then it becomes a bit more viable.
I'm not going out to crazy remote places anyway so this might be the go.

[shep]

Plugs are pretty good. Took 17 to fix this one, was a bit scetchy but it got me the 350km back to town.

[Gwagensteve]

adrock82 wrote:

Thanks guys,
I was actually out with a few people today who came up with similar ideas to above.
a) Get something with a similar rolling diameter that is the same width as current spare and mount on the tailgate, or
b) run the standard tyre on the front in 2wd to get out/home to repair.
Obviously, those are worst-case after all attempts at repairing fail, but when the next option is to have a full spare taking up so much space in the cab (if it isnt mounted), then it becomes a bit more viable.
I'm not going out to crazy remote places anyway so this might be the go.

Sounds like a plan. Bear in mind that running a very narrow wheel and tyre combination helps a lot (its leverage as much as weight) but if you go with a 16X4.5 LJ80 or 16" sierra rim you'll generally end up with a very heavy light truck tyre if you're heading towards that 29-30" diameter, which sort of defeats the purpose. a 6.00 or 6.50 bar tread is pretty light and has the advantage of a tube for more repair options if you (somehow) hole that.

Two of my Krawlers were full of multi-plug repairs to the sidewalls from previous comp use on a V8 GQ. Whilst they leaked slowly, they never gave me any trouble for years. I never had a subsequent failure.

I've never needed to get the plug kit out for a Sierra, only road cars and trailers.

[alien]

[adrock82]

Haha. Problem solved @alien!

[vet 180]

I had 2 flats on the weekend 350kms from home. Was glad to have the same sized spare, but nothing that wouldn't have been fixed with a plug kit, tyre levers and spare valve stems.

I also would have made it home with a different sized spare.

[Gwagensteve]

What was the cause of the flats?

[vet 180]

Gwagensteve wrote:

What was the cause of the flats?

The usual, valve stem and bead. Not sure the second is a bead as it wasn't my flat, gave the car to a mate to grab some ice and coke as we where all on the beach at street pressure, the lightweight jim is better in this situation as his heavier car bogged. Morning time the tyre had no air and the bead didn't looked seated. Was a strange one as I am not sure why it would go as it was at street pressure. I will have to keep an eye on it over the next few days as it might be a puncture (it's on the back now with air in it).

So yeah as I said, 2 flats 1 weekend, both would have been fixed easily with the equipment mentioned earlier.