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Wheel questions


Pawla Smith

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1987 dolphin on a 1986 chassis. I have the 6 hand hole 6 lug rear duals and am bidding on a spare wheel on e-bay. I went out to the barn and discovered mine has 5 lug front rims and the mounted spare is also 5 lug. Was this a common feature for this year? I cant believe they put 2 totally different wheels on from the factory. It appears to have the heavy duty full floating rear from pics I have seen posted here. Any specific way to tell? The rim I am bidding is a 6 lug and I would sure like to have a spare for the rear before trying any long runs. Any Ideas as to what they are worth?

Edited by Pawla Smith
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Yep its normal. You use the five lug for the front, you can't dirve with a flat front tire. You remove the flat rear wheel and limp in to a repair shop on 3 wheels.

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so you are saying theoretically instead of bringing 2 mounted spares I could carry just one front 5 lug spare and the back goes flat "limp" to somewhere until you can fix the problem or how about if i bring one spare tire and 2 rims and then I save the weight of one tire and have to get it mounted or mouth the tire to the 5 lug and the 6 lug it it goes flat I limp to somewhere I can get the tire mounted on to the other rim

is that what you do?

whats more important: less weight or 2 spares?

this feels like that riddle where you have a river to cross and bring with you a goat a wolf and a cow or however it goes any you only have one boat and cant leave the wolf with the cow

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so you are saying theoretically instead of bringing 2 mounted spares I could carry just one front 5 lug spare and the back goes flat "limp" to somewhere until you can fix the problem or how about if i bring one spare tire and 2 rims and then I save the weight of one tire and have to get it mounted or mouth the tire to the 5 lug and the 6 lug it it goes flat I limp to somewhere I can get the tire mounted on to the other rim

is that what you do?

whats more important: less weight or 2 spares?

this feels like that riddle where you have a river to cross and bring with you a goat a wolf and a cow or however it goes any you only have one boat and cant leave the wolf with the cow

Another option is to get a 5 to 6 lug adapter to be used on the front in case of a flat. Then you carry a 6 lug spare that will work all the way around. The cost is about $200

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Flat front: Change on side of road using 5 lug spare. Drive to tire shop and have flat repaired/replace if necessary.

Flat rear: Remove flat from camper. Limp to tire shop on 5 wheels. Have flat repaired/replace if necessary. Reinstall.

Alternatives:

1 - get a set of 6 lug adaptors for the front

2 - swap out the 5 lug front hubs for the newer 6 lug front hubs

FWIW many heavy trucks also have mismatched front and rear wheels, don't carry any spare, and instead plan to call for roadside assistance in the case of a flat. With current communications technology and the widespread availability of roadside service this may not be a bad option. Plus, you save carrying the weight of a spare.

Many of the older (now recalled) aftermarket rear duals on Toyota motorhomes had the same problem in that the front and rear wheels weren't interchangeable.

You'll also be told that you must run matched tires on the rear duals. While I'm sure this is true and the world will come to an end if you don't - you certainly wouldn't be the first to do so.

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Flat front: Change on side of road using 5 lug spare. Drive to tire shop and have flat repaired/replace if necessary.

Flat rear: Remove flat from camper. Limp to tire shop on 5 wheels. Have flat repaired/replace if necessary. Reinstall.

Alternatives:

1 - get a set of 6 lug adaptors for the front

2 - swap out the 5 lug front hubs for the newer 6 lug front hubs

FWIW many heavy trucks also have mismatched front and rear wheels, don't carry any spare, and instead plan to call for roadside assistance in the case of a flat. With current communications technology and the widespread availability of roadside service this may not be a bad option. Plus, you save carrying the weight of a spare.

Many of the older (now recalled) aftermarket rear duals on Toyota motorhomes had the same problem in that the front and rear wheels weren't interchangeable.

You'll also be told that you must run matched tires on the rear duals. While I'm sure this is true and the world will come to an end if you don't - you certainly wouldn't be the first to do so.

Edited by Pawla Smith
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Well I won the auction for the wheel and should have it on Monday. I am mainly concerned with availability of a good 14" truck tire on the road. Got stuck once on the way back from Florida and paid dearly for a substandard tire to make it home. I plan on stowing this one in the rear compartment. We are planning some mods to the dolphin before hitting the road in the spring. Did one trip and everything works but the water system leaks from freezing and bursting a pipe. I plan to replace all the Quest pipe with pex in the spring so no big deal.

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