Spare wheel thoughts?

[johnnydal]

Hello all,

Long time lurker first time poster. I'm currently looking for a full sized spare for my lr3. I have the 10 spoke 18 inch wheels with the grove in them. My original thought process was to find 1 exact match and keep all five wheels in rotation. It's been damn near impossible for me to find just one matching wheel and I'm getting a little frustrated. My new thought process is maybe just get a random wheel and keep it solely for a spare. Is anyone else doing this? Amy down side to doing this? If so, which wheel did you go with? The only wheels I ever see mentioned are the stock lr wheels and compomotives.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Ray_G]

When I went through your process I just grabbed a used one off ebay: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=lr3+wheel,+18&=&rt=nc&LH_ItemCondition=4

There are several styles of 18 for the LR3, yours are p/n RRC505360MNH. Those can be hard to find and, argueably, are the nicest of the breed in terms of OE 18" wheels.
Far easier to find the 10 spokes that are flat, p/n RRC500251MNH, like this one (Ebay 10 spoke) for $102 + $25 shipping-if it just going under your truck then it gets the job done.
r-
Ray

 

[Factoid]

Hey, look at it this way. If you get a flat and have to use the spare, the mismatched wheel will drive you crazy motivating a rapid replacement. It's all in your perspective my man.

 

[StreetsofCompton]

OP, I had the same exact issue. I went the Ebay route like Ray mentioned and have been happy with the product.

 

[johnnydal]

Guess that's the best call. Thanks for the help

 

[NatersXJ6]

Buy a set of 4, sell 2, have your spare and one extra in case of future wheel damage. Lots of things, both on and off road can damage a wheel to the point of requiring replacement.

 

[krick3tt]

I have 19's and found a spare on CL. I have friends with 18's and they are really not easy to find just one.
Where are you going to put this 6th wheel for your spare spare?

 

[Victory_Overland]

Buy a set of 4, sell 2, have your spare and one extra in case of future wheel damage. Lots of things, both on and off road can damage a wheel to the point of requiring replacement.

Concur, buy two spares while you are at it. Add them into the rotation of your normal tire duties if you plan to run the same tires on the spares.

 

[NatersXJ6]

Where are you going to put this 6th wheel for your spare spare?

For my Jeep, I have 5 spare factory take off wheels, in boxes, on a shelf in the garage. All 5 of my original wheels have rock rash to the point where a potential buyer would turn their nose up. I figure the spare wheels, if not mechanically needed, could be a big selling point someday. They store easily with the tires removed, and are non-perishable!

 

[Victory_Overland]

Where are you going to put this 6th wheel for your spare spare?

Some have dual rear carriers or throw it on the roof rack for extended trips if you think dual spare is a must for that trip.

When I was rolling around North and East Africa in our Land Cruiser, we had single spare on the back and tire and tubes on the roof. LC there had steel split rims which are totally aweseome because we could change a tire/tube in about 10-20 minutes onto a wheel. Wish we had split rim here in the states for Landies.....such a great overland design! Tubes were $2usd exchange rate I think and tires were about $25usd for brand new Jamar ATs. the roof mount spare was a tire only with multiple spare tubes stuffed inside. Many times a puncture only required a new tube which was about a 10-20 min process on the side of the road and only a tire iron required to do it.

Advantages and disadvantage of tubes of course but many times I've had punctures that would not hold a plug due to the damage but if I had an innertube, then the tire would have been fine with a patch inside and new tube.

 

[krick3tt]

Do they make bead lock wheels for LR? Easy to change tires then.
I have used tubes in tubeless tires before but sometimes they stick to the tire, needs powder.

 

[Ray_G]

For the sake of the discussion:
-Yes, they make beadlocks for Land Rovers (or rather there are wheels that you can fit) but typically the serious version of these are in 15 & 16" sizes from what I've seen, typically going on Defenders or built D1/RRC & sometimes Dii's.
-The LR3 weighs a lot. Be mindful of that when making it too 'extreme' since weight is the enemy and that battle is already lost.
-Land Rover alloy wheels, by and large, are extremely good wheels by OE standards. They keep a bead well, have deep lips, etc (hence why some tire shops frown when they show up b/c they can be a PITA.
-While at times I have carried two spares on my D1 (one on the rear door, one on the roof) in reality what I needed was better tires on the truck to begin with.
-Where I have seen multiple failures on a single truck was VOT, where going onto rainforest mountain many folks had the piss taken out of their trucks in many dimensions and in particular the stumps played hell on tires. (See pics)

-The worst of these was a vehicle that had 3 tire failures...it was an Expedition; i.e. heavy (and large). While I wouldn't say that correlation indicates the cause, the reality is that was a large, heavy, vehicle in a small, light, vehicle world. There is a lesson here for us.

My point is for an LR3 a single full size spare is probably adequate.
Plus a tire kit to plug/patch.
& onboard air.

I'd make sure I had a like sized spare first, then get a good tire kit and have air before I ever started worrying about a 2nd full size spare. Unless I was going off the grid for a couple of weeks, i.e. the aforementioned Africa or perhaps portions of South America, Siberia, or what have you.

r-
Ray

 

[krick3tt]

When I bought my Tactical 4X bumper it was just a bit more for the swing away tire carrier. I found a spare rim on CL very inexpensive so I put a spare on the swing away. I had intended to install a spare fuel tank in the vehicle spare under-carriage position but found out that the one I wanted could not be used/imported to the US.
I may have to have a custom one made eventually. It would be so much better than carrying my Nato cans on the roof rack.

 

[DiscoDavis]

Where are you going to put this 6th wheel for your spare spare?

Either dual swingout, on roof, or hood

I did one swingout, one on roof. Now I just have one hood mounted (not a disco)

 

[morrisdl]

I was blowing a tire almost every time to Rausch Creek, PA. Once I was on the spare Ill call it quits for the weekend. SO, two spares was cheaper than flatbed trailer for weekend adventures. One spare under the LR3 and one on the roof. Then I stopped airing down to 28psi. I have been doing 35psi (or even 40psi sometimes) and much better luck not pinching sidewalls. The 32" tire on 18" rims doesn't have enough sidewall to airdown any further with such a heavy truck. YMMV