spare wheel on landcruisers

what are you doing going froma grenade to something worse

lmao

steve

Laura. I don't own a cruiser but looking at that spare hanging down like they do,( they seem to tilt forward), i'd be concerned going anywhere like that!.

Hows Grenade? or shouldn't i ask.


Cheers Axle.

Hi Laura,

On my old 80 series I had a 31x15 tyre on a chrome steel rim underneath. The steel rim had minor damage from scraping over rocks, the lip was rolled back say 2-3mm and there was evidence of plenty of scraping for say 10cms along the leading edge of the rim. However, the tyre was completely undamaged, but you could see where it had contacted the rocks. The rim was still serviceable, only cosmetic damage. This occurred over a period of time and wasn't from a single trip.

It took a lot to get it damaged like this, I would be more worried about getting the tyre in/out from under the vehicle off-road than damaging it under "normal" use.

I ended up putting a split rim and skinny tyre underneath, never had problems after that (and put the "wide" tyre on a single rear wheel carrier).

Cheers

Captain

I doubt a flying rock would puncture a tyre but if the tyre is jammed on a sharp rock with the weight of the vehcile it may put a hole in it.
Its more likely to be nuiscance and get stuck on something.

I've pondered making and fitting a bash plate under the spare but havent been in the position to need one yet. Probably will now that I have said this!

AFAIK The under body arrangement protects the rear fuel tank. And you are quite correct Kev, getting it down when you need it can be quite a problem. Although I don't drive to damage anything, I've often had the mechanism filled with small rocks etc. These days I carry a tyre there and one on a rear wheel carrier.

I'm not sure about damage to the tyre, but I know a Landcruiser owner who lost the entire wheel on a rough road. Apparently the chain broke and the wheel was never seen again - dangerous in an isolated region.

It's a rotten spot for a spare.
Just when you need it... your flat makes it impossible to get to.
Down on your hands and knees, mucking around with a heavy tyre.... then try to get the thing back on when you need to! Always filthy.

Every time I have had to get one down.... sure enough, mud and dust have jammed up the works.

Meanwhile, I have never had damage. Another problem though, is that it's hard to check the pressure so can turn out to be down on air when you need to use it.

Having had 2 Cruisers with spares underneath I have never had any damage (not even a cut) despite travelling alot of extreme terrain. If one has a GXL with standard suspension then it would have an increased likelyhood of being hit & particually on sand can drag & get you stuck. Rough Rocky roads, never an issue.
Cheers Craig.........

Hi Kiwi & Granade,

Yes they can get damaged and yes the chains can stretch and break,also the winding mechanism get stuck,
Had this problem with an early troopy whilst i was living in Telfer at the time.

Regards
Ann

I've got a Kaymar single rear wheel carrier so it is the second spare that goes underneath, but only when we go bush. Rock crawling would present a clear danger to that under-spare of course, but stony roads just result in it getting covered in gravel and dust - it largely sits in the lee of the axle/diff assembly anyway.

Haven't seen a tyre damaged, but a fat spare underneath usually acts as a great sand anchor that will see you bog down. Most people I know get around the problem by replacing the sub tank with a 170L long range tank, or using a split rim as a spacesaver spare underneath.

Never had a damage problem ..... but the three reasons why I relocated my underneath spare and threw the stupid lowering mechanism away were:

1/.. Too much effort to get under and check air pressures ... hardly ever had the right clothes on to lay down on an oily servo driveway and crawl underneath.

2/.. In mud ... absolute bloody inconvenience ... clean the winch / wheel / clothes.

3/.. Bought a hi lift jack for the sole reason of getting the vehicle high enough out of a rut to be able to get the spare down and out.

For vehicles only using bitumen and good, formed gravel roads - probably not likely to be a problem - probably why toyota still puts them there.

Personally I love the underbody location of the spare on the 80 series and have never had any damage.

My reasons are: In the 70's my FJ 40 had the spare up near the rear window and once when I had hurt my back I found it almost impossible to get the spare down and impossible to get it back up. Finally I managed to get the spare into the back of the vehicle.

Best regards

This is our 2nd 80 model and no problems at all.

I see in the local paper today that you have to watch the rest of your wheels and tyres though.
Someone swapped there wheels and tyres {Worn-out} and took the good ones with them.

Hi Laura,

I have had my 80 series for donkeys years, never had any problem with tyre being slung underneath. No punctures, rim damage or whatever and we have travelled some serious country.

A mate of mine with a PC carried his spare on his roof rack. He reckoned a spare under the vehicle was asking for trouble. When he got a puncture, he pulled his spare off the roof to find it had been staked by a overhanging branch!!!

I guess punctures are a bit of the luck of or bad luck of the draw.

cheers

Phil

I have an 80 ser. My spare is under a fauls floor in the back. As I am a senior citizen I find that fiddling about underneath is a hassle and lifting a spare onto a spare wheel carrier is too much

I have never had the spare suffer any damage but it is always a possibility... I keep a 285/75/16 under there as it is the correct rolling diameter for my other tyres where the split rim was close but not correct... I couldn't even see the split rim but I can only just see the bigger tyre anyway.

I had a 305/70/16 under for a short time and it did bottom out from time to time on sand tracks but it never slowed me down or otherwise... just flattened the top of the sand out in the middle of the track...

I don't think it is the ideal place for it but I have only needed a spare once so far when out bush and as I only had the split rim a friend lent me his spare which was the correct diameter..

Laura,

Did an unused 33" spare in the high country heading up towards Mt Pinnabar. Rock smashed through the side wall most likely the rear of the vehicle dropped onto a sharp rock. Luckily I bought it second hand for a good price.

Laura -
3 x 80 series
3 x 105 series
all company cars over last years and not a single issue with tyres getting damaged on the wilds of west africa. But I have cursed that stupid winch thing lying in the mud more times than I would like! My own troopy got the wheel stuck on a carrier on the rear.
Gil

Laura,

I use to have LC60 and was SO sick of having spare underneath that my first mod for my LC80 was relocating it to back. It is sickest position for spare that one ever invented. Not only on rocky terrain vehicle continuously bottomed and drag tail, but also on sand it works like anchor. Plus if you really need it say in mud…. should I continue? Toyota has to be sued for placing spare underneath on OFF-ROAD vehicle. Get it out of there and put something useful instead. I have fitted 170L fuel tank, some people fit water tank or water/fuel combination. Also I seen somewhere that one block make a cut in floor where spare use to be and made very nice and neat storage instead.

Cheers
Serg