Towing a trailer to Kimberley from Vic - how many spares?

Hi Leroy,

The route that you are taking will have quite a bearing on how many speares you require. Also whether you are prepared to adjust tyre pressures to suit the conditions, and whether you will also be driving to suit road conditions.

Val.

Hi Leroy, I have a similar dilemma. For peace of mind I always carry 2 spare wheels for the campertrailer on long trips. Good side of this is you can always rotate two at a time. I bought 4 Federal Ecovan LT's for the trailer (deep tread) plus a secondhand rim for the extra one, and they will probably outlast me !.
cheers
T.R.

I have a similar problem with mine. When we travel I take 1 spare for the trailer and a second carcass for the car. As long as the trailer tyres are in good condition they should be fine. The car tyres cop more of a hiding. They usually carry more weight and have braking and acceleration forces to contend with. Also, I'd sooner be stuck with no serviceable spare for the trailer than the car.

Not ideal I know, but life's a compromise ;-))

G'day Leroy

How long is a pice of string?.....you state quote...."I have 2 spares for the Patrol but the trailer has a 5 stud cruiser pattern. I have 1 spare for the trailer. Is this adequate?"

well on a ratio of one spare rim per axle you are currently in balance of one spare rim for each axle be it vehicle or trailer

I like many others have travelled the Kimberley and not had tyre issues and others have had problems on the same stretch of roads..tyre patterns, types, pressure's, tread depth, load etc. all contribute to the outcome....and LUCK !

I reckon you are ok with the number of rims...maybe chuck in a spare casing extra for each if you are worried.........make sure you have a couple of spare tubes, tube patches and criss cross repairs and go for it....regardless of whether you are running tubed type or tubless....the tubes recover an otherwise wasted tubeless if you you get a bad stake or side wall damage

check with your local tyre dealer and see if he will refund the tubes on your return if you dont use them this trip...dont keep them in storage they will perish on the folds over time

go and enjoy it worry free

Leroy I'd suggest taking the 1 spare for the trailer & a set of tools to repair flats or swap the Patrol tyre onto the Toyota rim. (Tyre Plyers, levers, patches, glue, tubes sidewall & tubless repairs etc)
At 30 to 40kg+ per fitted wheel they are a heavy item to carry so should look at ways to minimise the number. With the improvement in both tyre construction & the roads in genereal it's extremely unlikely to destroy 3 or 4 tyres between towns to the point where I'd take 1 spare each for the car & trailer & 1 carcass saving another 15 kg by not taking the rim. This is asuming your tyres are 50% or greater tread, are not highway construction & aren't Coopers. (Just kidding ;-)
Other cosiderations are how remote you intend to go (Tamani has plenty of traffic), if you're in a group with similar tyres, are your tyres commonly available in the outback, how fast you drive & how overloaded the vehicle will be.
Cheers Craig............

Hi Leroy,
I have done over 15,000km on dirt roads (including the kimberley) this past 5 years & not had 1 puncture so with a little concentration & believing that you won't get a flat, you should have an incident free trip......It has worked for me for years. It's all about intention.
Cheers
Jason

Thanks everyone for you replies. It's probably the paranoia starting to set in...and I can't believe it's setting in so early!
It appears I'm probably prepared enough and only need to buy a couple of tubes just in case.

Leroy

Gday,
$hit no mate!
Dont risk it!
Id take at least 3 spare patrols over that distance!

LOL

Cheers

I believe we can choose to have an "easier" time with wheels if we really want to :-o) ............ was up there 2 years back out of Adelaide - 3 vehicles on the Gibb, Karunji and the Tanami tracks etc. - not a flat between us .......... don't overload your tyres, take it quite easy, watch for those nasty stones and adjust tyre pressures where necessary (a good compressor is a great assett) ....... you can have bad luck with tyres (we've had a bit too of course) but as they say in the classics......." the harder you plan and work, the more luck you seem to have".

Last year I did 14000 km trip through OZ, I had 4 spare but the trailer tyres were interchangeable with the car I didn't use one.

This year I did a 12300 km trip I had two for the car and 1 for the trailer this time trailer had different size tyres, I had a blow out on the C/T 100km out of Innaminka, so I had no spare until Marree, Unfortunately he only had new tyres so $220 later I had a new tyre I didn't use for the rest of the trip, so I wish I had taken 2 spares.

Driving tip for the Gibb River road no more than 80 kph front tyres 40psi and rear 42 psi and 36/8psi on the trailer.

Cheers Steve.

Leroy,

You have plenty of advise already, but just watch out for that bloody Murphy bloke!

I have a set of Tyre Plyers, Safety Seal kit, spare tube, compressor, etc., but when a tyre let go on the Borefield Track from a sidewall stake, nothing was going to fix it.

!MPG:16!

Hi Leroy, have just returned from a 7 mth trip around oz doing over 7,ooo ks of dirt, round the gulf and gibb river. Had 3 spares, 1 on car, 2on trailer, but all interchangable. I had a all up weight of about 3.5-4 tonnes. Not once did i have a puncture or any tyre problems, ran at 33psi on the black as well as the dirt. I run the australian made Bridgestone, which i highly recommend, for price, durability, and milage. Col