It looks like we are all in agreement.

 

if all are in agreement... then I say DONT rotate in the spare!

you only have to buy 4 new tires
a spare is to get you to either the house (for repair) or to the tire shop
it stays clean and pretty
you can compare tread depth from a factory original
it stays clean and pretty

so there! take that all you 5 tires rotaters!

speaking of... i need to rotate my five tires today after work.

 

too funny

 

how would the 5 tire rotation work with a directional tire like the Yokohama Geolander MT?

 

The stock Sahara tires are unidirectional radials. The service guy at my local dealer said that they only rotate front to back same-side. The spare isn't brought in unless one goes out. This allows you to only have to buy 4 new, rather than 5 new next time around.

 

Totally not true on my stock Sahara tires. Wrangler SRA's are not unidirectional.


Edit:
Yes, you would only need to buy 4 tires when they wear down, but they would wear out 20% faster than a 5 tire rotation (In theory)

Eventually you would need to replace the spare anyhow, so what you might save, IMO is negligible in comparison to my percieved issues with safety. The spare will age back there. If you feel safe running a 5yr old tire that has never touched the ground, that's fine, but I am not.

I dont care who runs what, i rotate all 5, it makes me feel better.

 

Detractor! Burn the witch... I know Jarrod so I can kid.

 

Are the Duelers unidirectional? Can I rotate my spare in?

 

It was recommended to me not to rotate the spare in so I never have but this is my first 5 wheeler so I don't have much experience.

 

Some points to ponder; do what you like with the info. Some guys run uni-directional tires backwards so that if they get stuck in mud they have better grip to get out. i.e. The tread backwards won't be enough to get them super stuck, and if they need to back up to get out of a bad situation the uni-directional tread should be able to get them out of the bad situation.