Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

1. An extra spare wheel is always a bonus when travelling in Africa. The "strong people store them ontop of the roof rack but we normal weaklings needed another plan. I made a bracket that attaches the extra spare wheel to the normal spare wheel.

2. Some people said that it will never work and that the two wheels are too heavy for the rear door. We have travelled from Pretoria to Ruacana and down along the Cunene river over Van Zyls Pass up the Marienfluss to the Epupa falls, back over the Hartmann mountains via Puros to Hentiesbay. From there to Vic Falls and back to Pretoria with this set up.

3. A frien copied my bracket, installed it and a second wheel on his Pajero in preparation for a trip to the Kgalagadi Trand Border Park. We have just returned from this trip and I can confirm that both our Pajeros and the rear doors are in exellent shape.

4. Herewith a photo of my car with the extra wheel:

cloyd, interesting concept, but while you have no issues over several thousand kays with this setup, the door alignment issues (if they do happen) will take much longer to manifest themselves.

That being said I carry two bicycles on the spare regularly so it might never become an issue.

What I do find a problem is if you have the car on an uneven surface with that kind of weight... the door is a schelp for a tiny lass to open/close depending on the orientation of the vehicle.

cloyd,
Can you show us the bracket please ?

Pity the Gen 4 has a cover over its spare

I don't think it's a good idea, even if it seems a simple solution and a quick fix for a 2nd spare wheel....

I'm convinced, the engineers from Mitsubishi didn't design the back door and it's angles for 2 spare wheels (+ 25 kg...). I believe, a few hundred kilometers might not have an impact which is direct visible, but the rubber lips at the bottom of the door have to carry more weight as well as the angles = increased wear and tear. The result comes probably after 2-3 years...

To be honest, I also don't see the need for 2 spare wheels. We have been 2 times in the desert in Namibia and a lot of gravel roads around in Namibia - we even didn't need the base spare wheel.

MR2-Blue wrote: To be honest, I also don't see the need for 2 spare wheels. We have been 2 times in the desert in Namibia and a lot of gravel roads around in Namibia - we even didn't need the base spare wheel.

Call it insurance... what would you have done IF you had lost your spare and another one? I have been on several trips where SOMEONE needed a second spare (or spent the rest of the trip worried about the fact that they had trashed one wheel). In addition, because of the strange sizes around nowadays, a second spare is IMO even more important when overlanding in strange areas.

I'm not sure if you can "insurance" everything in life....

MR2-Blue wrote: To be honest, I also don't see the need for 2 spare wheels. We have been 2 times in the desert in Namibia and a lot of gravel roads around in Namibia - we even didn't need the base spare wheel.

On my recent Lesotho trip I carried the normal spare plus 2 tyres! I didn't need any of them, but it is the responsible thing to do.

I once lost three tyres on one 950km trip with my caravan, travelling on major surfaced roads. What is usually a 12 hr trip turned into a 2-day marathon.

If you don't have a parachute the one time you need it, the problem will not repeat itself! Guaranteed!

Coming back to the original topic:

It's a smart idea to carry the 2nd spare wheel as shown - but I still believe the backdoor is not designed to carry the weight of a 2nd wheel for longer time...but you'll find out .

It might work for some years if you only mount it for the duration of your trips - but my personal experience in JHB is, the majority of the 4x4 owners I see daily commuting carry all their gear on the RR "all day in and out" - it's only driving consumption up - and then claim increasing petrol prices rather taking the stuff off when it's not needed.

1. I have read all the comments on my "extra" spare wheel. I agree that the very long term effects are still not visible but I shall face them if and when they appear.

2. I have done a number of trips with only one spare with no problem but I always had this nagging feeling "what if....", so I decided to do something about it and made the bracket and fitted a second wheel. On the very next trip, I lost a tyre and rim due to my own stupidity!!. But luckily, my second wheel was available.

3. The total distance travelled with the second spare is close to 10,000km and that includes Kaokoland and the infamous van Zyls Pass, the Marienfluss, we crossed the Hartmann mountains, Damara land and down to Hantiesbay - and none of it on paved roads - on this trip we travelled down two of the riverbeds down to the sea. Last month we toured the Kgalagadi Trans Boarder Park from east to west and north to south - still without any sign of a problem. I must add, a friend copied my idea and he also carried a second spare on our trip to the to ther Kgalagadi. I must add, on this trip I picked up a puncture!!

4. Yes Simon, the door becomes heavy but one must make a plan. I was and still am not willing to travel without an exrtra spare wheel and am not willing to carry it on the roof - so only time will tell.

5. After a trip the first few days back at home is spent taking all the "trip equipment" out and returning my Pajero to its normal state, cleaning it inside, outside as well as underneath.

Regars to all the interested people and thanks for your comments, Cloyd.