Shhhhh.....you never say that. The fact they are Beadlocks would make that possible as long as your load out has the tools, air etc..
What are you really saving (weight and $$) not worth the headache.
Personally I'd rather save up the $$ and carry 5 but.....
What if its raining, muddy, dark, your dead dog tired - when one of your 4 go?
You are going to be the best answer to your question about a day after they arrive
You want everyone waiting on the trail for you to try and dismount the failed tire then mount/seat/air up the new tire? Not cool in my book, we try to be prepared for trail breaks, that includes a proper functioning spare.
I get the appeal of saving money, just not my idea of the "best" thing to do. Seen too many shredded sidewalls on the trail. (3 this summer)
:beerdrinking:
EDIT: if a 30 pound wheel was a weight issue I'd go on a diet before I shed the spare
Well if you are wheeling by yourself you can do want you want. But with a group you may not even be allowed to participate. For example if you want to do a Jeep Jamboree a full size spare is required.
Why would they be any easier to mount then any other wheel? They don't make them in a beadlock do they?
I tote spare tires on my trailer with me and even being on beadlocks it is a pain in the ass to chang tires in the field. Hell it's hard enough doing it back at camp when you are not in a hurry. It can be done but there are way better ways to spend your time.
My buddy actually had a hand in designing the birddogs. He said they have a deeper wider center section so makes it easy getting the tire on the rim. One issue I have is keeping a tire bead up on the bottom side while trying to pop the top side on. I have not tried to mount a tire on a birddog but it makes sense to me.
here is what I have found mounting tires. It is very difficult to break the beads unless you have a decent bead breaker and I don't mean a hammer and wedge. So a decent bead breaker takes up space and adds weight. Mounting under ideal conditions using long levers is a tough but doable but trust me I ran a jack hammer for 8 hours a day for 10 years so even tho I am old I have pretty good hand and arm strength for an old guy (I can easily pickup my 35 toyo R/T 103 lb spare and place on the spare tire carrier) in the field it would be a bearcat to get one mounted. Once mounted unless you have a tank that puts a lot of air out you can have a bitch of a time getting the beads seated. I have had some seat easy and others I had to take in because I just could not get them seated. You can try a ratchet strap around the center of the tire but on a tough tire that really does not cut it. Bottom line carry the extra 25-35 lbs that the rim weighs. For the record I have hand mounted Toyo AT2's and KO2's but neither were that fun and would not want to do it in 100* heat or the pouring rain etc.
It's an intriguing question. I first considered it while Jeeping in Moab this past spring. Met a guy at the entrance to Fins & Things on Day 1 (of a 3-week trip). He asked if I wanted to travel with him and I said sure.
Turns out we swapped phone numbers and actually did three days together so I got to know him fairly well. He was driving this TJ on 40s, with no spare. This guy was a serious trail hand -- been doing it for decades, travels around the country in an RV with wife and dog, trailering the TJ. Half the time I would text him he'd be underneath the Jeep swapping an axle or bearings or any number of other parts that he just kept in the RV and did PM on the road. So he knew his stuff.
I asked about the lack of spare, given the terrain we were travelling and the fact nobody could loan him a spare if he needed it. Said he just plugs any holes. I said, "But we're in the serious rocks, man. What if you rip out a sidewall?"
"I once put 14 plugs in a sidewall and drove home."
So I began assembling the means to go spareless. Began reading up on guys in Australia who travel through the kind of thorny bush country that they tend to get a flat every hour or so; no way to worry about a spare; most of them say it's much faster to patch a simple hole than to swap in the spare. (Of course, it's not faster to put in 14 plugs in a sidewall gash, but you get my drift.)
I am going to pick up a used wheel/tire reject of some sort this winter and practice the crap out of plugging -- I've done it but not with the sort of frequency to where I'd want to be relying on my skills to get home if I didnt' have a spare. In other words, I don't have confidence in my mad sidewall repairz skillz at this point.
But on long off-road trails I've had to turn back before (as recently as 2014) when my rental JK tire blew and I didn't want to press on for five more hours with no spare. I'd like to be able to just plug the tire that's on, even if I have a spare, and keep going. Especially if I can do it while the wheel's still mounted.
And as for the "why"; for me it's not a matter of cost -- I already have the 5th wheel and I do 5-tire rotations so there's zero extra cost. I just like the idea of getting rid of the weight and inconvenience of that spare hanging off the tailgate everytime I open it.
I asked about the lack of spare, given the terrain we were travelling and the fact nobody could loan him a spare if he needed it. Said he just plugs any holes. I said, "But we're in the serious rocks, man. What if you rip out a sidewall?"
In all honesty Moab is far from serious rocks for well built vehicles and experienced drivers. It is very forgive terrain compared to some of the other wheeling spots in the nation. That being said I don't always wheel with a spare but I do in Moab just because some of the trails take you so far away from town.
@NoGaBiker I'm really glad that you posted up what you did. I'm in the minority--I run a set of 4 with no spare. The trails I do here in Virginia are not so intensive that I feel a spare is necessary. I also chose tires that would be easy to replace should I need to. I have an ARB Twin Air ready to install, and I'll be carrying an ARB Tire Plug Kit when I get back home. Eventually, I'll get around to getting a 5th, and carrying it on demanding trails.
But anyway, I'm glad you spoke out about this. Makes me feel less dirty about what I'm doing.
Looks to be a pain in pictures without the actual machine at the tire shop, so i can only imagine doing this while on the trail, my spare stays on, plus im only sporting 35's that are not real 35's, so if i need to change one, it'll prob take me more time to get the damn hi lift out of the mount inside my Jeep, than changing the damn tire
Yeah, but would likely want to before the drive home.
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