Never taken spare off truck...

On my 2012, I have not used or even accessed the spare.
Should I do that, any trick to the operation?

After a highway flat with another vehicle, loaded with camping stuff, I am seriously thinking of keeping the spare inside the cabin - access cab backseat is storage space to me. One less step working on the side of road.

 

Your spare is probably flat, dry rotted, and useless at this point.

You probably shouldn’t put 60 to 80 pounds of wheel and tire inside the cabin where it could kill you in an accident.

 

The carrier is probably seized/frozen by now

 

Soak the winch in PB blaster, and run the chain all the way out. Inspect your spare. Make sure the wheel isn't crazy rusted, and that the tire isn't rotted/cracked to hell. If all is well on that end, inflate the spare to 35ish PSI (vastly overlooked item, sucks to need a spare just to find yours flat), cover with soapy water to check for any leaks in the bead, tire itself, and valve stem.

When all that's good, treat the chain and winch assy to some white lithium grease spray. Work the crank to spread the grease to keep it all lubed up and ready for use when needed.

 

Remove it, inspect (replace tire), lube device, install, have a beer… you’ll be fine.

I remove mine annually. 2014.

 

OK good advice, no tire in the cabin!

New tire: cheapest I can find just for spare use?

 

The last time I got new tires, I had them put the best, old one on in place of the spare. They put it back in, valve stem down so I can check the pressure from time to time.
A couple of years ago, I lowered mine and sprayed the hell out of it with Fluid Film and sprayed the chain as I was winding it up. I also sprayed the top side of the spare wheel.

 

Dont stress out, it doesnt see sun light or driving.

I topped up a spare today that was fine from 2005.

It's a spare, not a permanent tire.

Remove it, lube the chain, top pressure up.

 

^this 100%

 

I don’t think I could justify using up what little interior storage space the Tacoma has for the convenience of having quick access to an item that historically I have needed once every 15 years or so. But thats just me.

 

May be out of the sun and not being driven on, but still sees every bit of the salty winter road spray, hot summer temperatures, and many thousands of miles of rocks and road debris pinging off of it. Pretty useless to have a spare that's so rotted it's ready to blow when it's needed. Or at <10psi cause the valve stem corroded out of it or the steel wheel rusted around the bead. Or not be able to access it because the winch is rusted solid.

It'll most likely last a good long while, but I say it's worth spending a few minutes a year to make sure it's useable if you end up on the side of the road(or trail) and it's all you have to get you home.

 

I still have the factory tire on my spare.
Mines a 2007.

I top it off at 40 psi and call it good for a year.
Why 40? Because sometimes I forget and it might be longer than a year.

 

The stupid second gens with 5th tpms I always set the spare to 40psi, because no one checks them.

I've never seen a rotted out spare thats tucked away and I live in the salt belt. I think its crazy to replace one that holds air.

 

Don’t cheap out on your spare. Go with a good quality tire that matches your regular use tires

 

I also have the original BFG spare tire on my '06 OR. Just bought the truck a year ago. Dropped it for inspection in April before a 1500 mile plus four state trip in the southwest. Looked perfect. Never used. No rust.

 

bingo, dropped my 2015 (new to me) and fluid filmed above it and looked at it...dry rotted, bad crack between tread around entire thing. currently trying to find a replacement spare and it sucks. $100 i dont want to spend right now

 

I bet your mechanism will work fine... Its made for very infrequent use. The spare will probably look great and never been used. I wouldn't replace if it holds air... if you do get a flat you'll put it on and got to favorite tire shop within a few day or sooner to have them fix your other tire. The only thing is if the original tire gets ruined, it wouldn't be smart to run the spare too long being that old.

 

Casually, I dug out the tooling to reach the tire release, and could not insert it all the way through, seems it bumps into something. There is no indication how far it should go, init?
Funny how my tag almost blocks the access window - for some reason, I always thought the spare release was some easy hand lever... I am nuts!

 

the one i have (never been used tread full) is cracked bad between the treads and they say if you run highway speeds like that it can be deadly. you made me realise though, instead of time and money to replace (just to upgrade wheels and suspension down the rd anyway) i might be able to get it to a shop on my super cracked and dry spare, only kicker is is if youre trying to get home from a long trip and its after hours or something from when shops are open

i have a good tire repair plug kit, and a viair compressor (88p), and these in my truck at all time though

 

i have like a 1"x .75" access hole for spare tool (what she said)

and you do have to insert it ballsdeep to get it to drop or lift the spare (chain on 2015, cable on older i think)