I always carry a compressor, but I keep mine in the boot, in the upturned spare wheel well. FL2 now gone and have a couple of items left for sale:-

Brodit active iPhone holder + Brodit dash clip,
Bluetooth Music Streaming Module.

I tried turning the spare wheel up the other way so one could easily access the space inside the rim. It is quite a good volume of space. But the outer face of the wheel hits the bracket welded to the boot floor! Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18

Geordie Boy wrote:

Is it just me? or is anyone else thinking......Why?

I haven't even been that remote yet, the best so far is on a 100 km of private road through desert near Uluru many years ago after 2 days on the Indian Pacific & Ghan. But the trip was close enough to feel how vulnerable one would be with a breakdown in the outback.

In the Boarder Ranges NP I have had a stone go through a tyre, simply not repairable without putting in an inner tube to limp back to civilisation.


I think this link says it all!
'We’ve done trips where we’ve had more than 10 plugs in a tyre!'
http://www.outbacktravelaustralia.com.au/4...flat-tyres

To survive: Plenty of spare water in separate containers if one leaks, tyre repair options (the peace of mind this provides cannot be measured), additional fuel. Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18

Fair point, I stand corrected!

Vesko and I never go out there without an extra spare tyre. Some of the roads eat tyres.

There is just enough room for the car jack outside the wheel. There is plenty of room inside the wheel for 2 x 4L air tanks! But at this stage I will keep the space for tow rope etc, & a few 1/2 sized spare toilet rolls (for camping) which can be pushed though the spokes. I have to get a couple of short pieces of PVC tubing to slide over the connectors to protect the rim.

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Custom bracket with M6 allen bolt onto spare wheel bracket into a block under the actual wheel bracket.

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Lightwater wrote:

I tried turning the spare wheel up the other way so one could easily access the space inside the rim. It is quite a good volume of space. But the outer face of the wheel hits the bracket welded to the boot floor!

I do find that odd.
I have the original 17" as a spare and there's no fouling of the bracket that's welded to the floor.
Only minor point is that I can't use the securing bolt ..... well I probably could if I cut it down.
But that's no big issue for me, as there's my off-road bits & tools packed in the well and also around the perimeter of the tyre. FL2 now gone and have a couple of items left for sale:-

Brodit active iPhone holder + Brodit dash clip,
Bluetooth Music Streaming Module.

Maybe the 17" wheels clamp down with clearance, but the 18" wheels don't & I added a couple of scratches in trying! Even with the carpet under the wheel I need the bracket to be 10 mm lower for a reasonable clearance.

I found this cone in a junk shop, from an old desk lamp & use it to clamp down my 6th wheel onto the roof with an M10 (10 mm) bolt, plus an additional safety pin. The thread in the boot I think is an M6 (6 mm) double start thread. It might be easier to put a block under the bracket & tap in a new standard M6 thread next to the original thread. "Taps" are cheap enough to do your own threaded nuts! (use thread cutting fluid when tapping to minimise the risk of breaking tap & die)

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"In outback Australia everyone carries 2 spare wheels, tyre repair kit & compressor"

which is admirable risk assessment - but not much help when the camshaft fails!

A few space shuttles have been known to fail as well.

With reasonable risk management, enough water to last a week & if you haven't notified someone of your trip, then it is a well deserved Darwinian selection to clear the landscape!

It is usually the idiots who can't start their cars' due to trying to squeeze another year out of their 4+ year old starter batteries. Had 3 of them on the last trip, & they have no jumper leads. Nothing a pair of welding cable leads won't start!

Actually I helped a person who had a flat tyre outside our home a week ago (had another one 2 years ago). We put on the spare which was completely flat as well, after pumping it up! Also, just as well I had a 3/4 inch drive T-handle that we could jump on the end, as the wheel's 6 nuts had all been over tightened by an impact wrench.

We also have a lot of these idiots with a fair few who don't get out of the car in time. In the land of deserts it is the water that kills you!

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The garages in the little outback towns like Oodnadatta, Mt Dare, Marree and Birdsville make their living from fuel and tyre repairs. I had a long and interesting discussion with a real expert on my first ever trip out there in my Freelander. He was fixing my tyres after I limped into Oodnadatta. My spare was flat, the second spare had a slow leak and all my tyres looked like they had been slashed with knives. I still had the stock tyres from new on the car. The towns out there are a minimum of 200kms apart and you always have the constant feeling that you may be stranded at any time. Low profile tyres are not recommended and the tyre choice in stock is very limited. On another trip along the Birdsville Track, I had to limp back to Marree due to one complete tyre failure and a slow leak in another. I had to camp on the edge of town while waiting for 2 tyres to be freighted in from Adelaide almost 1000kms away.
The moral of the story is that it is extremely common to suffer tyre damage on all brands of cars out there, more common than I certainly would have ever imagined. The locals use light truck grade tyres with an all terrain pattern for this reason. The other extremely important factor is tyre pressure, you have to get it right for the conditions. Too high and they pop like balloons, too low and the sidewalls are slashed. The aim is to deform over sharp objects without exposing the sidewall too much. The before mentioned expert suggested starting at 24psi and making slight adjustments from there. Since the garages are 200 kms apart, having your own compressor is pretty handy when making the adjustment. Running lower pressures on low profile tyres and encountering a field of decent size rocks covering the road has brought a lot of Range Rovers on 20" rims undone, that's a fact.
Engine failure is far less common. You are more likely to suffer damage to other rubber components like fan belts or radiator hoses due to the heat, even in winter. Fortunately, it's easy to carry those things and they are light. Carrying a spare camshaft? That would get a giggle.

PS Vesko and I both have a satellite phone as well. Probably the most important piece of equipment we carry.

Stuffed tyres, not only the outback. In Kyogle we had a stone go through the tread & it was broken off inside the tyre, in the Boarder Ranges National Park. The garage in Kyogle said they replace 30 tyres a week from this area due to stone damage!

In Tasmania decades ago I got 2 flat tyres in one go. Fortunately I was close to town, around Queenstown. Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18

Last edited by Lightwater on 15th Nov 2017 9:41 pm. Edited 3 times in total