Great thread! I hear what you are saying. I carry some tools and some parts with me whan traveling out of town. The spare tire though has got to be the one thing that allot of us have no room for. I have a spare in the garage but if the family is with me I have no room in the back for a spare. I do have a can of fix a flat. What are you guys doing as far as spares go? Is there a better can o spare than others? Slime? What works and what are your thoughts on a spare. Now that I think about it my save a spare would not work well on one side of the rear replacing an 8.90 16 dirt track tire!
I carry a uni pattern space saver for a spare. It is a 16" tire and wheel off of a big car, so it will carry any of my cars with no problem. This is another reason I do not run a posi unit on the street, having a flat and using one of these will ruin a posi unit or so I have been told. All of my cars either run a Ford or Chevy pattern and this space saver will fit both, I have had to use it on all of them but one and its day is coming, i am sure!
I have A backpack set up as my crash bag. It has everything I need for a few different situations. It goes on road trips, to the pick-n-pull, and I try to keep it in my daily driver. It has a small first aid kit in a red zippered pouch, on the outside. It is the pouch for one of the first aid kits you buy at the sporting goods store. It is filled with the things I use. The tools are simple, a mid sized SK socket set all in 3/8drive. A complete open/boxed end wrench set 5\16- 1 1/4, three different vice grips(small,large,needlenose) wire cutters, 3lbs BFH, punch,chisel,line up tool, 3 files, sawzall blades with holder,6 in1 screwdriver, a few good screwdivers, a bit box with all the weird allen/torx stuff. The other stuff, that comes in handy. A good pair of leather gloves, hose clamps, short pcs of hose and tube, black ducttape, electric tape, wire, a few terminals, black rtv, 2 tubes of radiator stop leak, a couple different types of the knead together 2part epxoy products, small tarp, small tupperware container with nuts, bolts, screws, pick tool, telescoping magnet, some cord, wire, and a tape measure. The important part is thinking of new ways to use the things you have. Large sockets can be used to splice a radiator hose, small sockets will work for low pressure side of powersteering, fuel, and heater. Duct or ducktape will hold anything together. When all else fails a couple $100'S can do wonders. I have a small Camelback style pac for personal items. Sunglasses, sunscreen, bugspray, meds, leatherman tool, camera batteries/memory, saftey pins, cloth first aid tape, a couple of tampons, and hair ties. I do not carry it but it is behind/under the seat. There are a few other weird things that I take with me. I started the personal bag years ago when I first started fourwheeling. It became real important when we were out in the middle of the dessert racing. The tampons and hair ties will make you a hero when you are 50miles from a gas staion. I almost always have everything I need, it is the people around me that need what I have. Thats cool too.
Spare: A wheel adaptor in the kit will allow mismatched axles to take same spare, Or for an oddball car with no room for a spare to use something common that could be acquired on the road if necessary. A forgotten piece of gear I have used is the collapsing spare common in the 1970's--these had a special tire that collapsed down to nearly the size of just the wheel when deflated. I pulled a couple (like most, never used!) from the junkyard and tried in- and de-flating one a few times, and it worked easily and well. Wheel can be changed to what you need. I carried a 1980ish Caddy suspension air pump hooked to a cigarette lighter plug and a tire hose to blowitup. Smaller package when flat than a modern spacesaver, full size 15" tire when blown up.
No spare here either, plenty of tools, but no room for a spare. Plus with 255-70-15 on the rear and 175-14 fronts, I have the same problem as lots of other guys. What size to carry?! So far in my 28 years and many miles I have yet to need one.........of course now that I said that, I'll surely have a blow out on my next trip!
I know GM used them, and I think others did too. sidewalls collapse and fold into rim gutter, tread somehow contracts (NO idea what's going on there!) so it looks like tire tread wrapped directly onto wheel. They came in fairly big 14 and 15 sizes, so they aren't crippling like the tiny little modern temp spares. GM supplied them with a special cannister of compressed gas to inflate them, and I carry a modern flatinacan as backup, but I inflate mine with the little Caddy suspension compressor. Total size of the thing is only about 1 1/2-2" greater than the bare wheel would be.
I know a guy who wrote down on a grocery list type piece of paper all the parts as he bought them, the part number and description from Napa. That is helpful as well, as long as the stuff you own is not so old that Napa does not carry it in stock.
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