How many spare tyres needed ?

Whoops - Forgot to add we will be doing the Gibb River Road and going to Cape York on our way round !

How new or how many k's on your current set of tyres? If close to new then 1 spare + the ability to fix a puncture should be adequate. A second carcass on the roof is cheap insurance as long as you know how to change over. A lot cheaper than a dual wheel carrier on the back. $1500 and the rest will buy a lot of food, fuel, camp fees etc. You just have to take a realistic approach in my opinion.
The disadvantage of having a wheel carrier on the back is having to swing away the wheel every time you need to get into the back and on a trip that is often.

The truely paronoid take two spares. Sadly that includes me, I have two spares and a tyre, spare tubes and repair gear. Why, because I have got two flats at the same time. Really it depends what you are doing. If you are staying mainly on the main roads it is less of an issue though help may be expensive. The real problems start if you really stuff the tyre and the plugs won't be able to fix it. It is very stressfull only having the 4 tyres you are using and no usable spare 500km from anywhere on a really bad track. If you decide on only one spare make sure they are all basically new and you know how to use whatever kit you have. I guess the answer depends on your own level of paranoia. I'd do the dual carrier, I'm sure others will have different views.

Steve

put a 235x85x16 underneath it wont significantly hinder clearence especially for touring and put on 1 rear carrier - job done

Birdy
Last time i was in the Kimberley, i shagged two tyres in one day....believe me, you dont want to be swapping tyres on rims during the day....however, a forced stay on the side of the road can be a highlight to a trip...you meet all sorts of people and see all sorts of things you wouldnt normally.....you need to strike a good balance between wants and needs..take a roof rack, with a tyre carcus on it only, with a tube half pumped up a bit inside it.....use the insides of the tyre to store other things like gas cylinders etc...take the means to remove tyre if you must change over, and a good quality puncture repair kit. Do this and one spare should be ample, even better, make sure you run proper pressures and take Dunlop Adventurer tyres...this is the brand that the cops use up there for good reasons....
At least thats what they used 10 years ago.....hey, better to travel lighter up there than loose things from overloading and corrigations...i would buy that rear wheel carrier, fit a 170 litre fuel tank underneath, and fill up where there is better fuel (less water in it) and usually cheaper...also, buying over 200 litres at a time from a truck stop can get you a trucky discount :)

Birdy,

From the sounds of things you are going to be away for some time. The places that you are intending to go are also remote enough to have to wait or travel a lot of kilometres to get another tyre.Having the spare under the vehicle can make it hard to remove if you do have a flat, and how often would you check the air pressure in the spare if it is under the vehicle.

Taking two spares is a very good idea. Mounting them on the rear wheel carrier is probably the best way to carrier them. As for opening the wheel carries before opening the tail gate, takes another 5 seconds if that.

There are a few dual wheel carries on the market. The only one that I would not recommend is Opposite Lock.I have seen them crack where the rim bolts onto the swing arm. ARB have a few problems but that has been with the 100 Series carrier.

The down side of the dual wheel carrier is the expense. $1000 +++ for a replacement bar. Kaymar have the dual wheel carrier for the Troopie, close to $3000. That is why I made my own dual wheel carrier. Cost $350 for parts plus a few weekends cutting and welding. See rig photo at the bottom of this post.

Wayne

The interesting part about this question is that you really hope to not have to use any – a bit like your recovery gear. For the most of us a long trip will usually mean that no spare was required and that comes back to going prepared in the first place, like having near new tyres to start the journey. My first 2 month trip not a flat but on my recent 3 month trip picked up 2 flats near the end of the trip between Birdsville and Windorah and let me tell you I was delighted to have had 2 spares at the time.

I carry a repair kit and have repaired tyres but this is much more comfortable at camp later in the day then doing that on the side of the road.

Kind regards

Did the Simpson with a friend in his Cruiser July last year, he had his standard spare under his truck and a 2nd spare on the roof rack. On my Patrol, I had my 2nd spare on the roof rack. We also carried tyre repair kits.

Always travel with a 2nd spare, it gives you peace of mind and if you do need it, it's much quicker/safer/easier to change.

About the Tyre Caddy , yes get one , then you get 2 chances over 1 . could give you a recomendation , K&N 4X4 here in Perth has them and a well made product too, Don't know what type of vehicle you have but with a 75 series LC if you have a Towbar it can remain , with Kaymar you loose it but it is incorporated into the Caddy, So if you were to be coming via Perth first you could get one fitted here , with LED lights , I got mine on a discount , you know the story , It's who you know that know's the owner . anyhow here is the website , you could book it in on the way , you'll like this part [Priced $100's below the competition]

www.kn4wd.com/wheelcarriers.php

Doug

Having had four punctures in 20kms on the Gibb River Road (near Ellenbrae) you can guess what my advice would be! The tyre plugs saved the day but having two complete wheels and tyres really took the drama out of things. One tyre totally lost its sidewall but the other tyres were pluggable (double plugged and still slowly leaking in one case).

Having watched four guys trying to remove a tyre from a rim then fit a new one a couple of days earlier at Drysdale I am glad I didn't have to do that in the heat bya dusty roadside! And yes, between them they had every tyre change gadget known to man, from memory the lump hammer was the most useful tool!

If you are confident & practiced at repairing tyres I'd just travel with the one fitted spare tyre, a comprehensive repair kit, tools & 2 tubes. A couple of spares on rims are only generally required for cross country driving where there is a high possibility of destroying (not just puncturing) 2 tyres or by people who are physically unable to do a repair in the bush.
Really it's difficult to justify the additional cost of twin tyre carriers soley for the slight chance of two flats when really it only takes 30 to 40 minutes to repair a tyre & you are on your way again. The additional weight too (80+ kg) has to be carried around for ever & won't help your handling or fuel economy one bit.
So what's the worst case if you only carry one?......Have to repair the tyre with some wire, fit a side wall patch, slip a tube in & drive slowly into town, then of course pay through the nose for another tyre ;-)

BUT!! If you drive too fast, overload your vehicle by heaps, run poor quality brands, don't run the correct preasures or insist on taking 1/2 worn or less tyres out back then the 2nd spare has a better than even chance of being required. Having said that I've done all of the above myself in the past 25 years & only ever on one day did I get 2 punctures in a row & only cos we were going cross country.

Cheers Craig..........

Birdy,
Take 2 spares because it will give you peace of mind, and you'll enjoy your trip.

If you like, buy a split rim/750tyre as your 6th wheel/tyre and slip it underneath as a "space saver" spare. That way your spare won't affect clearance, and splits make a good cheap spare. Put your good spare on the rear carrier where its easily accessible. Twin wheel carriers add a heap of unnecessary weight to the rear of your vehicle.

If you damage/puncture anything, get someone elese to fix it - after all you are the one on "holidays" :-))) But a plug kit is supplementary insurance.

We've always carried a second tyre case with a tube partially inflated inside on the roofrack, plenty of patches, plugs and the know how to do it all should see you right.

1 is the maximum and minimum number we take Birdy

It helps to start out with appropriate tyres first like 235/85/16 or similar 10 plies.

Robin Miller

Birdy if your going to put a tyre and rim on the roof can you safely lift it up and down. My second spare weighs 32kg and I can tell you it feels a damn sight heavier when trying to get it up and down. I did the GRR last year 2 spares, repair kits etc, never needed any of it - touch wood.

For ease the rear wheel carrier is the way to go. If you swap your wide tyres for light truck variety you may be able to get 2 tyres of the one carrier saw this done a couple of times. Otherwise go the tyre carcass they are much lighter and just practice with your tyre removal kit until you have it down pat.

Hi Birdy, I have travelled the Kimberly many times over the years & all I have carried is one good spare. a good repair kit & a couple of spare tubes.. It all comes down to what others have mentioned. If your existing rubber is in good condition & your vehicle is not overloaded, & you drive to the road conditions & don't go too far off the beaten track you should be fine with one spare.
But.........then again there's always that bloke Murphy sitting on the fence just waiting for an opportunity to mess things up. By all means, carry an extra spare but take into consideration to load on your vehicle.
Have a good trip.

Birdy

Last time I did the Kimberley I was towing a camper trailer. One spare on the vehicle and one on the camper. Wheels / tyres on Patrol and camper same. Did not need either. Murphy's law is that if I had only one spare I would have done two tyres.

Keep your tyre pressure down and it helps. Most trouble with tyres seems to be by rocks puncturing the tread on overinflated tyres. I run mine about 30 psi on dirt.

Tjilpi

Thanks for all the info.

Would like to take 2 complete spare tyres on rims however think the lesser of two evils for us having a pretty loaded vehicle would be th rear wheel carrier on the back, long range tank underneath and probably another carcass and tube on the roof rack.

Guess now all I will need to do is learn how to put the carcass on the rim !!!

I do also like the idea of 2 skinnier tyres fitting on the single rear wheel carrier - any one know what size the tyres would need to be to get to on the carrier to suit 16" rims ??

Cheers

Birdy

The first piece of advice I got about going the GRR or Kimberley is it is bad on tyres.

The only time I thought I would'e take a second spare we did two tyres in one day that were unrepairable on the road side (a previous plug repair that started to leak air and the other a rock through the centre of the tread!) . We travelled 60 km back to town having to pump up the best of the 2 every 10 km until the plug repair gave way.

I have now gone back to taking 2 spares for the car and two for tha caravan (which also did 2 tyres in one day). We thank god we always carry a Blue Tongue compressor.

I carry a Safety Seal and bead breaker kit but will be getting tyres levers and a patch repair kit as well as a tube for backup. Once you run out of tyres your stuffed!

These things never happen within convenient distance of a town!

So to those who insist on only carrying the ORE spare, good luck!