If you get in a position where you need the spare, the odds are you aren't driving more than a few hundred miles before fixing it. Yes it's not ideal, but it's not going to melt a diff or be that impactful.
I rotate the 4 in use every 6k which is my oil change interval. So far it's all been pretty even wear on those 4. 38k miles of wear on the tires. My spare was used a month ago for two days when I ran over a nail.

 

For my set of KO2 O follow the pattern for all wheel drive with full sized spare. Most tires are not directional.



For my directional winter tires it’s just a 4 tire front to back pattern. No switching sides.

I only have 4 winter tires. One goodyear adventure is the spare.

 

Different strategy for me.
Spare is just that, a spare to get me to point where I fix the original and then spare goes on the back again.
So it stays 'new'. If I have to replace an existing tyre (unrepairable), I buy a new tyre to replace it and then also move the unused (new) spare to the opposite side and that used tyre then goes to spare.
That way I have 2 even used & new tires. And just rotate left to right or front to back but new & used always opposite each other.

 

my defender is in for service at 1 year and they said no need to rotate the 5th. seems odd not to rotate it in, but they said the existing tires are now all evenly worn down compared to that totally new spare. (i'm at about 10k). they figured that adding the new tire to run along the other 3 tires is going to be more causing problems than benefits. they mentioned the rear differential. I don't want to "save" $400 on the spare tire by ruining something like a rear differential, so I took their advice and i'm not rotating.

 

Honestly, that seems nuts to me. I have always rotated my spare into the mix. I have 49K on the Defender now and miraculously the differential has not failed.

 

Their advice is idiotic in the extreme.

Buy 5 and use 4.

Not a lick of sense.

 

Sounds to me more like the safe answer for them having nothing to do with what is realistic. 10k miles is about when i rotate mine, or sooner because of going from the winter set to not winter.
When one drives more miles in a season like I used to at 30,000+, they usually end up needing something else mid year, like brake pads so that becomes a perfect time for a swap.

 

I think the tire manufacturer’s guidance is better than JLR’s.

 

I rotate and balance my tires every 5k miles when I change the oil. I do an alignment most of the time, yearly. Depending on how hard we've wheeled it, it may get an alignment after some difficult rock crawling.