I need to rotate my tires...question is where should I put the spare and which tire should I use as my spare?

 

I would use your spare to extend the life of your tires. If you search you can find the 5 tire rotation pattern.

 

As a general rule, the rear tires go straight to the front, and the front cross-sides to the rear. Switch the spare into the rear, and pull off one of the fronts when you switch the spare in.

IE:

DR to DF
DF to PR
PR to PF
PF to SPARE
SPARE to DR

One plus, is that you can rotate your tires with just one jack and no axle stands... Took me all of 30 minutes on Sunday.

I believe the cross-side rotation is fine for tires up to 33". I've heard that if you're running anything larger than that, you should keep them running in one direction and not rotate from driver to passenger sides, unless you're going to break the tire off the rim and flip it to maintain its 'acquired directionality'.

Maybe someone with more background could chime in. Other than installing tires and batteries at Canadian Tire as a teenager some 20 years ago I have little direct knowledge on this topic.

 

I had an oil change and David Ellis Jeep showed me a Jeep bulletin that stated LF to LR, LF to LF and PF to PR and PR to PF. No longer cris-crossing. I believe this is the NEW procedure. If I am wrong, please let me know.

 

Not saying I agree with this, but Libertyville, IL Jeep Dealership will tell you that you should never rotate your spare as it won't have the same amount of wear on the tire and could damage your 4 wheel drive system.

After they said this to me... I asked, "Then why bother having a spare then? Sounds to me I should NEVER use it???" They didn't give much of an answer after that... idiots...

I also got the same response from Field's Jeep in Chicago.

Are dealerships lazy about rotating a spare tire?

 

That doesn't make since to me. Seeing that you rotate at 4-5000 miles the amount of tread ware wouldn't be that significant, at least it wasn't for me.
At 4000 miles I think I still had nubs on the edges.

 

As a rule I never rotate my spare . On my old 96 F-150 4x4 I got new tire's 2 time's
in 7 an a half year's. Got five new one's the frist time an when it became time to replace them only got 3 and used the unused spare. both time's they got BFG-AT's

 

ALWAYS rotate the spare in. If you don't rotate it in, what is the point of the full sized spare at all? Might as well be a donut. Two things wear tires out, miles and time.

It is better to rotate the spare in every time on a JK. The tire is full sized, and the tires are expensive. There is a little difference in the diameter of the spare, but that is the point of rotating anyway - to spread the wear evenly. If it is rough on the driveline to rotate a spare in, imagine how rough it is to put on the unused spare in an emergency when it has to rotate 1-2% faster. The horror! LOL. Rotate it through, gain extra wear - and you won't have to worry about putting a 5 year old tire in the mix, or worry about making it your #1 priority to get your tire repaired.

I use the rearward cross on mine.
http://w ww.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=43

Tirerack probably knows something.

 

Many, many opinions.
I use the one on the right, in the post above.
26,000 miles, and the tires are even within 1/32", with lots of life left in them.

 

LOL

Stop using logic, you're going to hurt the dealer's feelings. Everyone knows that they live in bizarro world were logic need not apply.

On a more serious note, its ironic that the dealer actually gave you the reason why you should rotate in your spare. It would seem to me, at least, that if your tires were near the end of their life and you needed your spare up front, that the tread difference between a new tire and a nearly completely used tire would create a noticeable amount of pull.

Also, as stated above, rotating them in will significantly lengthen the life of all your tires.