Spare Wheels

Ken, I am with you, never had to use two spares, carry the same gear as you and a compressor. Have removed one of the spares from the van, came with two, but have also changed the vans wheels to be the same as the tow tugs, so all up 2 spares, one on van, one on the tow tug. Weight savings is weight savings. Certainly looks "tough" with two spares though...........

Hi Ken, in all my extensive travels on all sorts of surfaces, I had only two punctures….. both on bitumen.
I carried two spares in the beginning but dropped to only one after a couple of years.
I did carry tyre plugs and also a comprehensive Rema Tip Top repair kit capable of repairing even staked tyres internally but never had reason to use either. I attended a tyre repair class conducted by Mick Hutton of Beadell Tours fame and it gave me confidence to survive. And of course I had a compressor and all the necessary tyre tools.
Part of the stratagem is careful placement of wheels when off-track to avoid sidewall damage.
I also had a TPMS system which would alert me before a tyre got so flat as to destroy the sidewalls.
So my recommendation is to carry a single spare plus tyre plugs, a TPMS and a good compressor.

I once staked 2 brand new tyres through the sidewalls in 20 minutes when I deviated around a major washout through a burnt out area.
Both were successfully plugged but both also failed early in their lives.
I have always carried 2 spares for the OKA. The main reasons for that are because a single nasty obstruction can destroy ALL tyres on one side of the vehicle in about a second and a half.
I once saw a friend tow a tandem glider trailer away behind his Porsche at the end of a gliding competition. He ran over a tent peg protruding from the ground and totally destroyed 4 tyres, 2 on the Porsche and 2 on the trailer, all at 5kph. That could happen at any time in the bush.

Despite that horrid sight, if I take my own trailer (with tinnny on top) I would not generally take a spare for it at all, but the tyres have about 10 times the capacity that they carry and are identical to those on the OKA (where there are 2 spares) and I reckon I can patch something to get by for the trailer, even fill one with rags and grass.

I did one trip (Brisbane due west to Marble Bar and then the GRR) with my son's boat and trailer with different wheels and tyres from the OKA and I carried 2 spares for that. I used one.

Same wheels and tyres on both tug and trailer provides more options when things go wrong.
Know how to change and repair tyres on the road provides another set of options.
I have not had a flat tyre on the OKA since 2009, despite many demanding kms, but you never, never know.... :lol:
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

Ken , With good quality modern tyres these days in most situation one tyre is generally okay , in later years I have carried one spare & a 2nd tyre case only . But this properly won't work with all driver as you may have observed...

Why would you do that if you are within the weight carrying limits of the van; you haven't said otherwise? +/- 40kg is bugger all in the context. J.

Hi Ken,

Like others have stated, whilst I only carry one spare on the caravan, I always carried two spares for my tow vehicle. I had been using Cooper Tires on my tow vehicle, but with the last set of 6, I had 4 side wall splits out of that set, and a total of 8 over two sets. Whilst all were replaced under warranty, I have not used Cooper Tires since. That was between 2008 and 2015.

Since changing from Cooper Tires to TOYO Open Country, I have not had to use my spares. I have replaced one of the spare rear wheel carriers on the back of my tow vehicle over to a twin Jerry Can holder, and now only take a single spare.

As for the caravan, I only had one spare for my old single axle van. With the new dual axle van, I still only have one spare. The wheels are not interchangeable with the tow vehicle, but like others, I carry a twin motor compressor and tyre puncture repair kit.

Macca.

You could go half way, carry a spare tyre without a rim to save weight. Some tyre sizes can be very hard to find away from major cities.

Wider tracked vehicles are likely to have more issues than those of 79 series width.
This was a Dodge Ram on the Canning.
The OKA and Canter had no issues.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

On our previous offroad caravan and our 200 series I carried 2 on the back of the 'van and 2 for the Landcruiser + 2 compressors plus associated repair gear.

On one trip I did 2 on the caravan on a sealed good road, but that was my stupidity in choosing to get "one last trip out of them". (In that case I did use the 2 I had with me) Lesson learnt.

Purchased 4 new ones in Kalgoorlie and then proceeded to do the side wall on one of these a few days later on a twisty bush track, no fault of the tyre, caravans don't track exactly behind the tug under these conditions, despite my awareness and taking every care, I still ripped the sidewall.

Our new offroad caravan came with 1 spare and we now have a 300 with one spare in its normal position.

In recent years of the 2 punctures I've had, one in a car park in the NT (a tiny piece of a box cutter snap off blade) and the other in the L300 in town 2 weeks after we purchased it (tek screw)

So, in summary now 1 for vehicle, 1 for caravan + 2 compressors (yes, they do fail, burn out, or factory crimp on the hose fails, or hose fails) + associated plugs, valves, mushroom patch, tyre levers etc.

Only ever use Toyo Open Country, not negotiable, wouldn't leave home without them

Thank you to all those who responded to my post about spare wheels.

The reason I am considering carrying only one spare for my tandem axle van is that I am close to my ATM of 3500kg. I have already replaced my original 3x AGM batteries with lithium and replaced my 2x 9kg gas bottles with 2x 4.5kg. I have previously carried spare tyre carcasses

By reducing discretionary items and weight it gives me more headroom to carry other items and still remain below ATM. And as mentioned by one respondent losing 40kg off the back of the van is a good thing for stability.

I do carry tyre plugs, compressor, etc. The tyres are Toyo Open Country AT3

The wheels are the same size as my LC200 and the van wheels would fit the LC200 but LC 200 wheels would not fit the van because of offset. I am thinking that in an emergency I may be able to use a wheel spacer to enable the LC200 wheels to be used on the van temporarily. I will have to do a bit more research on this option. I know they are illegal !


Ken

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When it comes to the subject of tyres, and particularly off road, you can do no better than to read Mick Hutton's chapter in the Beadell Tours website which can be found here. .
Mick does advise carrying a second spare in remote bush travel but his activities are extreme.

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One particular location where tyres are at risk of sidewall penetration is on well-worn tracks with vegetation growing close to the track. The tree roots grow out to the wheel ruts then become broken off and project horizontally like spears into the ruts just waiting for an innocent passing tyre. Most will deflect but eventually there will be one pointing in just the right direction to penetrate your sidewall.
Not a lot you can do about it other than a keen eye for obvious dominant ones and steering to the opposite side but that may then place you into another peril.

I know of two instances of victims but fortunately I never fell foul of such peril and that may have been because the Troopy has a narrower wheel track dimension than many vehicles and so the tyres were further away from the rut sides.

We had wheels/tyres matched between our Patrol & Tvan . 2 spares on the Patrol & a 3rd on the Tvan. In 6 years of full time travel we only had one puncture, an unrepairable tyre wall gash 3" long on a 10 day old tyre. We only persisted with 3 spares because we were away long term. I always intended to reduce 3 to 2 next time we were home, but it turned out next time we were home we sold the car & Tvan & the 3 spares went with them. We always joked that having all those spares was great insurance against getting punctures . LOL.

With the OKA, which has bolt together wheel rims, we have just one mounted spare & an unmounted tyre carcass. That's how we bought it. Would prefer 2 mounted , but at 90kg per corner, we decided to let sleeping dogs lie.

Have heard stories of folk doing two tyres almost in a short space of time, & I don't think I would be satisfied with just one spare. I do carry tyre plugs & an 'emergency inner tube' but as yet (touch wood) have never yet had cause to use them.

Murphy has a lot to answer for.
Dave.

Glue Tread kit could provide a temporary solution to some side wall damage that cannot be plugged.
Have used it on a camper tyre with a 30mm sidewall cut during a Cape York trip with success.
https://www.gluetread.com.au/products/external-patch-kit

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You could consider, and then ignore, the whole of the Tyre Rules. Because they are extensive and in part stipulate that tyre repairs must stay within the central three-quarters of the tread, known as the minor repair area.
Moreover, if the size of the puncture is more than 6 mm in diameter, a repair isn’t permitted at all.
However, if you were to obey those Rules then you may be stuck forever on some remote location.
So we are not going to bother with those silly rules, are we?
But I would offer a caution that any repair to a sidewall should be followed by a speed limit of maybe 60kmh, off road or highway. A blowout at any higher speed could be difficult to handle with a heavily loaded vehicle and especially if towing.
I view that "Gluetread external patch kit" referred to above in alarm and pray that the user is not coming toward me on the road.

If it was me I wouldn't be worried about 40kg I'd be asking myself do I really nead a 3.5t van to do the same thing a lighter one can do. Then I can safely carry 2 spares because you can't patch a shredded tyre.
Some vehicles use to have a lower off road towing limit yrs ago because of the extra stress on the vehicle and drive line but it's all about sales these days and that magical 3.5t number that has become the focus for several yrs.
I've seen quite a few of the Kedron of road van trips yrs ago and boy do they sucker the unwary into it. But it lines their pockets with gold.

In all my years of remote and offroad travelling (I dont tow, just the 4x4) i've had one flat. On the Old Ghan track got a tiny piece of wood got in between the treads, quick repair.

I've always carried two spares, just in case. I always go back to my Army days when selecting things to take on a trip, and ask 'What if'. What if I get a flat, two flats, three flat etc.... you can go stupid and to far, but all comes down to what you're comfortable with and if it does go south on you, how do you resolve a problem stuck in the middle of nowhere.

Murphys also law applies here, if you dont, you'll need it. If you do, you wont use it.

I would ere on the side of caution, 40kgs is nothing on a van that's packed correctly.