Newbie question...

First let me start by saying I really don't know a whole lot about cars. I have a 2002 Tacoma 4x4 and my rear passenger tire went flat and is unfixable so I put on the full-size spare. I noticed that I had to turn the jack a few more times to fit the new tire on. The old tire is not worn enough to justify getting a new one but is definitely worn more than the new one obviously. My first question is will having one tire that is a bit larger that the other three throw anything out of wack? If I keep the one new tire with the three older but still fine ones will there be any long term problems? My second question is, in all my haste changing the tire I was going in and out of my truck getting and putting back the jack that I grabbed the seats to push them forward with my dirty hands and now there are some stains on the cloth part of the seat. What type of cleaner does someone recommend for cleaning cloth seats? Thanks very much in advance to anybody who replies.

Also, I will be out of town for the next two days so if any responses require a response from me, don't think that I am ignoring you when I don't answer right away. Thanks again.

Reply to
321zyx
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The larger tire will cause the differntial to work a lot harder on that side, and throw the handling off, and possible damage the =gears insid the diff...don't leave it for too long.

Reply to
HachiRoku

Reply to
321zyx

Yeah, I could try to explain (although I'm not a mechanical whiz myself) but in a nutshell, one wheel will be spinning faster than the other, and if you've ever seen the inside of a differential you'd know why this will mess things up. The best thing to do (though more labor intensive) is if you have manual locking hubs on the front, put the larger tire on the front of the truck and unlock the hubs. With the hubs unlocked, the tires spin freely, independant of the axle and front diff. You can get away with this a lot longer as long as you keep it out of four wheel drive.

The ultimate solution is to get a spare tire the same diameter as the rest. For example, on my Tercel 4wd, the factory recommended tire is

175/70-13. It turns out a 185/60-14 is the same diameter (or do I mean circumference here...I forget my geometry...). At any rate, when you put the two tires side by side when mounted on rims, they are exactly the same size. This is what we're shooting for here.

By being *close* as you mentioned it will take longer to damage the diff, but it will happen... are we within inches, millimeters or centimeters hare?

Reply to
HachiRoku

Reply to
321zyx

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