Spare Tire Questions

[Capebuild]

I'm trying to determine what the smallest tire/wheel combo I can get to use as a spare (i'm not all that knowledgable in this area, so need a bit of help).
I'd like to get the smallest tire/wheel spare that will work

The tires currently on the trailer are Goodyear Endurance ST215/75R14 and the wheels are 14 inch X 5 1/2 with 5 on 4 1/2 inch bolt pattern.

1) Can I get away with using a 13 inch wheel (considering the tire would just be used in an emergency situation to get me to a tire center for a replacement)?

2) If anyone has a 14 inch spare, is small width, like 5 inches or less (donut size spare) can you please tell me the make, model, etc.. That would be big help.

Thanks very much

John

[tony.latham]

Can I get away...

I hope so. My spare is a couple of inches shorter than the tires on my camper. But in all these years and miles I've never had a trailer flat, so dunno, for sure. But obviously, I don't know why it wouldn't do just fine.

Here's a bit of discussion from eTrailer:
https://www.etrailer.com/question-63907.html#:~:text=An%20important%20point%20of%20consideration,side%20tire%20is%20quite%20possible.

I toyed with chasing down a donut spare but have not done it.

Tony

[KCStudly]

I have to believe that having unequal diameter tires, in addition to potentially causing rapid wear, must certainly create a big potential for sway.

So how far and under what conditions does "just making it to the next tire store" make it okay? For the adventurous this is extremely unpredictable. Rough stony roads out in the boonies potentially very many (a hundred or more) miles away from service is not where I want to be swapping on a less capable tire with no spare remaining.

If you plan on camping close to "the beaten trail" not far from civilization, then a more compact spare might be a more practical consideration. My cautionary comment would then be, are you sure that is always going to be the type of camping you will be doing, or is there a possibility that you will be bitten by the outdoor bug and venture out to ever more remote venues?

I am sure that the reason Tony hasn't needed to use his spare, even though he has clocked many many miles on stony tracks, is because he started with good quality, rough service multiply tires to begin with.

My $0.02.

[JasenC]

Most of those donut spares on cars now are undersized unless you have an AWD. Pretty much anything that keeps you from dragging the frame on the ground would work for a short run to the tire shop. A couple or 3 inches wouldn't be an issue unless you had a ground clearance issue.


Heres the link. https://www.tacomaworld.com/tirecalc?tires=215-75r14-195-70r13

[gudmund]

no matter what size tire you end up with for a spare = the one thing to make sure of, is to carry is some kind of 'handheld' tire air pump system, being so many times when the spare is needed = it will low on air from storage. And yes, even a bicycle pump will work, if that is all you have = it being better than nothing - but after having to use one once to pump up a spare and the after the "over" 200+ strokes that were needed to get it pumped up to pressure!!! it kicked my rear!!! along with it being upwards of 100degrees out with no shade along the edge of a road in the middle of 'nowheres-ville' Eastern Washington = I never want to have to do that again !!!! (most bike pumps are for 'high pressure' tires -not 'high air volume' like car tires are) = I now say, get some kind of electric air pump system to carry instead!! - a battery system that can be charged with the cig lighter plug-in works fine. I carry a Ryobi 18v 'hand-held' tire air pump for this (which also works for airing up my trucks rear air bags) along with their Ryobi battery 'cig lighter' charger. Also carry their radio-hand vacuum-lantern along with whatever else I have of their system in my toolbox I want to carry for camping. (They even have a small hand held 'air blower' that can be used to air up 'air mattresses' that I have found useful when camping.) It is also nice just having the electric tire pump for topping off the vehicle's tires when checking them when traveling. (I use a plastic ammo box inside the PU cab to carry the charger and extra Ryobi battery's in when needed) And YES - one time I did wake up one morning at a campsite with a tire half flat and when seeing the nail in it, I used the hand held air pump to bring it up to pressure and took off heading on down the road - stopping every few miles checking it for pressure and I did get to a W-M thus getting it fixed without having to use the spare out on the open road/camp site = was glad to have the electric air pump with me .......

[tony.latham]

is because he started with good quality, rough service multiply tires...

Exactly. It's the same reason I haven't had a flat with my Tacomas for almost two decades.

Tony

[JasenC]

Another idea came to mind, not something I'm a big fan of and don't really know anything about them, an inflatable spare.
I think they are still around in European cars.

[swoody126]

6594dfd8-8d71-490e-a5df-c817885dd642._SR970,300_.png.jpeg (38.74 KiB) Viewed 422 times

sw

[Socal Tom]

Perhaps the question you want to ask is. "is there a way to share my TV spare with my TD?" Depending on the size of the spare on your TV, you might be able to get a wheel spacer that will let you share the spare?

[TCJ]

OK, crazy thought; I'm almost embarrassed to ask it: what happens if I don't carry a spare at all?

I get a flat on the highway or at a campsite, even a remote one, I simply disconnect the trailer, lock it up, and take the tow vehicle to get a replacement or get the tire repaired. Given that I've only had one flat on my vehicles in the past 5 years (averaging over 20K miles/year), it seems pretty unlikely that I'll get a flat in the first place and will always have a tow vehicle on hand to fetch a new one for the trailer if needed.

Is this nuts?

[Graniterich]

OK, crazy thought; I'm almost embarrassed to ask it: what happens if I don't carry a spare at all?

I get a flat on the highway or at a campsite, even a remote one, I simply disconnect the trailer, lock it up, and take the tow vehicle to get a replacement or get the tire repaired. Given that I've only had one flat on my vehicles in the past 5 years (averaging over 20K miles/year), it seems pretty unlikely that I'll get a flat in the first place and will always have a tow vehicle on hand to fetch a new one for the trailer if needed.

Is this nuts?

It's Sunday, tire stores are closed, buy a spare. Cheap insurance

Sent from my KFTRWI using Tapatalk

[rjgimp]

The short answer to question 1 is yes. The donut spares that have become common in cars in recent decades prove that point. The lawyers have dictated that warnings be placed on them indicating a 50 mph speed limit over only a certain distance and all manner of other nonsense... In years past I have driven many hundreds of miles on one of those with a fully loaded car at 65+ out of necessity with nary a worry. Thankfully I am now in a different position in life and can afford better rubber but a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do.

As Tony has indicated, if you start out with top shelf rubber you are extraordinarily unlikely to experience a blowout. You could get yourself a decent 13 inch donut spare with the correct bolt pattern from a junkyard for $20 that spent its life under the carpet of a luxury car trunk and never saw the sun to carry as insurance and likely never ever ever use it.

[working on it]

OK, crazy thought; I'm almost embarrassed to ask it: what happens if I don't carry a spare at all?...Is this nuts?

It's Sunday, tire stores are closed, buy a spare. Cheap insurance

* I've always carried spares for my cars and trailers; I even carried three in my HHR Panel (one underfloor, two mounted upright on the inside walls), after I had two flats on the way to work one morning (I made the last 1/4 mile on the second one). My commute was 60+ miles each way, so I figured I had the space, the spare tires & wheels, so why not? I never had another flat on that vehicle again, but since my wife drives it around now (I retired), I still insist on the underfloor spare and one extra (much easier to access) tire mounted on the inside wall. It also keeps her from buying too much stuff on any single trip.

* I carried two sizes/types of tires for my racecar, two spares for the tandem axle trailer I hauled it on (yes, I had two flats at the same time on it, once), and a spare for my truck when I was drag racing. Then, when I switched to building & camping in the single axle trailer, the first item I used was the 14" spare I took from my wife's business trailer (only used to go to catastrophe sites, for insurance underwriting). Since it was free, and 14"... that's the size I converted my original frame's 8" wheels to.

* I've not yet had a flat on this trailer, but nearly did coming back from a long camping trip. My tow vehicle did get damage on the two rear tires (busted belts, on 10-ply LT tires), but the trailer just flew over the huge pothole, without damage. I slowly drove (50-55 mph, max, since the damaged tires were now out-of-round) the remaining 125-150 miles home, bouncing all the way, since it was late Sunday afternoon, and I couldn't locate a tire store in any of the towns off the highway.

* I would've put on my spare, but the mechanism that held it up under the truck bed was stuck (rusted), so the bouncing was twice as bad. I did pull off every 25 miles to check for more damage and heat problems (using my infrared laser sensor), but made it home just before a major T-storm I was racing against. I replaced all four tires (and the now-freed, but old, spare) the next day. I don't ever want to repeat that drive again.

[KCStudly]

So, where I plan to go it would be incredibly inconvenient to leave TPCE behind and then have to retrieve it after a trip to town. Not sure the closest town has services, in fact I doubt it. Just too far over rugged ground. My scheme is to have the TV spare fit the trailer, and I am even considering doubling up with a 2nd spare mounted under the trailer. But mine is an off road capable build with proper 4x4 TV, so... your mileage may vary.

[Capebuild]

Thanks all for the replies, comments and suggestions. Pondering long and hard over this one. I could get a hub and tire set up the same size as is currently on the trailer.... the question just becomes where do I carry it. I suppose I could just carry it in the Subaru. I'd rather not add the weight to the trailer. I've got new and (hopefully) good tires on the trailer (Goodyear Endurance) so maybe the spare is not a front burner issue yet..... but will have to figure something out.

Thanks again for the help.

John