Mud tyres on the truck with an All-Terrain spare?

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Mud tyres on the truck with an All-Terrain spare?

Post by Klem » 23 Jan 2017, 10:13 am

G'day Fellas,

The family Lux has been running A/T's since getting it, all four are due for replacement shortly and I'm thinking about giving some proper mud tires a crack.

Only thing is have an unused A/T spare, nothing else to put it on, obviously a waste to replace it with a M/T at the time to have a set.

Any problems I'm liking to run into keeping the A/T for a spare, it would only need to serve as long as it took to get back to town and fix the broken mud tire.

The thing that springs to mind is different braking performance between sides which could be really bad?

As about 75% of braking is done on the front though, what about if the spare was needed rotating it to the rear, so equal tires on the front for braking and a little difference on the back.

Works? Am I missing anything?
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Re: Mud tyres on the truck with an All-Terrain spare?

Post by WhelanLad » 23 Jan 2017, 11:21 am

Well, The the other issue I can see, an even though you say its for short use? but sometimes that flat might be a good 100k back to town through some wild stuff.... So I'm thinking the Diff wont like spinning around if the diameter is different, I suppose if both say eg. 30 inch MT and AT it might be fine?? but in my tyre combo (2 x set of rims rubber) I have 32 mud an 31 roads. I wouldn't like to get into too much terrain with that combo?

somelese may have more indepth proper info
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Re: Mud tyres on the truck with an All-Terrain spare?

Post by Flash » 23 Jan 2017, 11:34 am

If you've got 4 muddies on and keep an A/T as spare, it's really just an emergency tyre to get you out and home.
Would you get muddies that are the same size and profile as your A/T?

If you plan on doing harder 4wd'ing, I'd suggest getting a matching muddy as your spare, even if you never use it. You could also regularly rotate your tyres so you use all 5 equally instead of 4.

For the most part, having the A/T as spare, if you bust a tyre, it's time to go home and it should get you out, although you'll have to take it easy.
Just going to the nearest town to have yours repaired might not always be an option, eg. if you pierce your side wall and it damages a lot of your tyre.

If you're doing hard 4wd'ing when you lose a tyre, getting out is going to be more difficult if you have an odd tyre fitted. That's the one that's going to break traction first.

You could also buy a second hand muddy of the same type you buy, as a spare.
In any case, shop around and haggle, find the best price for the 4 you want, then ask if they can do a fifth at cost.

A word on Bob Jane stores.
When I was shopping around a few years ago, I went to quite a few places.
I dropped into a couple of Bob Jane stores, and they both wouldn't give me a price. They said, go shop around, then come here, and we'll match it.

f*** that.
Why would I go back to Bob Jane if they're only going to match it anyway? If you're not prepared to commit to a price to me, I'm not prepared to give you my business.
If some other store is prepared to put their price out there and negotiate, I'll always go back to that store.
I even had a great price from someone who does 'grey' imports. I went back to one of the stores to a guy who'd been really helpful and showed him. He said to leave it with him and he'd get onto the distributor and see what he could do.
He rang me within 2 hours with the results and I gave him the go ahead on the spot.
My tyres are 33" BFG KM2's.
Last edited by Flash on 23 Jan 2017, 11:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Mud tyres on the truck with an All-Terrain spare?

Post by AusTac » 23 Jan 2017, 11:41 am

She'll be right mate, size does make a difference in terms of wheel speed which can upset some stability/abs stuff but the car can usually work around it, it'll be fine for short stuff ( few kms ) but if your starting to go more than 100kms from the nearest town id probably think about it a bit more
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Re: Mud tyres on the truck with an All-Terrain spare?

Post by brett1868 » 23 Jan 2017, 11:54 am

Another option, ask the shop where you buy the muddies from if they might have a good second hand tyre of the same type / size to replace your spare. Depending on diff design running different diameter tyre's can destroy it if run at speed or more then a few km.
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Re: Mud tyres on the truck with an All-Terrain spare?

Post by Mard » 10 Feb 2017, 3:10 pm

Sounds like inviting trouble to me.

Different traction, different braking on different wheels, diff stress with different diameters.

All for a once off $250 tire.

I wouldn't do it.

If the shop one do you a deal just sell it second hand. Someone will need a spare of the same you have.
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Re: Mud tyres on the truck with an All-Terrain spare?

Post by Lorgar » 14 Feb 2017, 2:28 pm

I wouldn't screw around with tyres. Safety etc.

Sell the spare for what you can and get a proper set of what you want.
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Re: Mud tyres on the truck with an All-Terrain spare?

Post by Gamerancher » 14 Feb 2017, 2:46 pm

Unless there is a drastic difference in circumference or you are running aftermarket "locker" diffs or running on hard surfaces locked in 4 x 4 ( why) you shouldn't run into any problems. That is what differentials are for, to allow slip between wheels at different speeds. You wouldn't be able to turn corners otherwise. Some "limited-slip" diffs don't like different circumference tyres but I'm yet to see a Jap diff that is a true "limited-slip".
Running different size tyres on the front axle to the rear axle can lead to transmission troubles when "locked" in 4 x 4.
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Re: Mud tyres on the truck with an All-Terrain spare?

Post by Klem » 02 Mar 2017, 1:11 pm

Thanks for the opinions fellas.

I'll mull it over.
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