Hi,
I'm thinking of adding a second spare tire and mounting it on the front brush guard of my D2. One concern is making sure there is enough airflow for the cooling system.
The plan is to add two bars vertically on the brush guard and install one of the rear door spare tire mounts on the front of the truck. I think there should be plenty of airflow as the tire will be plenty far away from the grill of the truck.
Have any of you done this? I have a full roof rack, I just don't want to add that much weight up there.
I've been running Cooper Discovery A/T tires, 18" (which I regret buying) on the truck. Last year I "bruised" the tread on one tire so much so that it couldn't be repaired and this year I had a rock puncture a BRAND NEW tire. It appears I'm stuck with these tires, so the work around is to carry 2 spares. I go places that are extremely remote and I like getting back out of there. I will also say, I wasn't doing stupid extreme things to the tires, they just don't hold up.

Thanks for any advice or thoughts!

 

I'd say don't do it...most likely you will be sorry. Plus, you didn't show your brush guard, so we really don't know the strength of that either. Years ago, my dad ran his chevy pickup with the tire mounted up front. Was fine for most daily driving, but the year we took it north one summer...with the truck-bed camper on board...she overheated. We had to put the tire in the camper for the remainder of the trip. Just blocks to much air flow, especially when you need it the most. I'd go roof top.

Brian.

 

My .02$

Mount it on your roof rack or invest in a tire repair kit that comes with the compressor.

Being in remote places, I personally would worry about blocking the air to the radiator.



Another option go for the double rear

 

X2 on tire repair kit with a compressor, I carry both in our jeep which is more trail specific than the rover. I also keep a can of slime, which I know sucks but if it comes down to a complete tire emergency it may help in a pinch

 

If I was going to run a front mount it would be on the hood, as flush as possible and only if it was a skinny tire. Like 235 max width.

Double rear mount seems like the best option. Top or front mount is a ton of excess drag.

Like the others said, repair kit and compressor are probably best bet, along with a couple cans of slime.

One thing to consider, and I just read this the other day, the disco 2 actually has a rear weight bias, by a considerable amount. So even if you have heavy springs In the rear, anything rear of the centerline of the back axle is going to further lighten the front end which makes for poor highway manners and interesting off roading

 

Thanks very much guys, lots to think about here. Really appreciate the input.
Darn, I was hoping this would be easy, but I'm damned glad I asked around.

 

Why not just throw it up on the roof rack?

 

Hi Joe,
I don't want to carry that much weight on the roof rack, and lifting a full sized tire up there is really hard, they are heavy.

 

I thought I attached this yesterday but it appears it didn't attach.

 

I'd either get several tire plug kits or get the ARB Kit (very robust) and a decent air compressor. Then make sure your one spare is in excellent condition. Worse case senario if you aren't traveling with more than just one passenger = toss it in the back.