I'm thinking of getting an OEM rim for my spare, this way I can use my spare in a 5 tire rotation. Now my question - Do I have to use the tire pressure sensor for the spare or can I get away from using one. If I use one will it have to be programmed? If not will it throw error codes?

 

Very good question! I would think it'll fuss about not hearing from a wheel, or it'll give you false readings, 'cause one of the TPMS senders is not actually mounted. If you spring for the fifth transmitter, you'll probably confuse the hell outa the system!Why not just rotate four? Since the advent of the "motor-cycle" spare, most folks just do a four-tire. Come to think of it, your spare should be normal-size. Is it not? Most of us just leave it there and rotate four.

 

yes my spare is a normal size, its actual the same tire thats why I wanted to do the rotation with the spare. Seems like a waste of tire to use it for a spare only.

 

Now I'm confused. You have an OEM spare and you want to get an OEM spare?

 

he wants to get an 'rim' to mount the spare tire onto so he can then do a 5 tire rotation with 5 rims and not a steelie. but i know nothing about TPMS

 

No, the tire is the same but the spare rim is different. The spare has a steel rim which does not match the rims on the truck, so I wanted to remount the spare tire on a rim that matches the others.

 

Many of the Jeeps, such as the liberty, have full size OE rim spares with sensors in them. Now while I am not sure about the ram, I know that the liberty has to be reprogrammed if you rotate the spare to the ground, and the spare is set up to read when it is low also. I think the computer will just need to know that there is 5 sensors and the light somes on any time one of them is low. So as long as they can all be programed, it should be fine.

 

You can probably get a wheel that matches the ones "on the ground". The TPMS sensor might be an issue, though. The replacement wheel may not have a sensor or its sensor won't communicate with your truck's system. It would be interesting to see what the system does, though, with three sending units in their proper places and one under the bed. Heck, give it a shot -- put the spare on somewhere an' see what happens. If you want to continue that, put the "ground wheel" under the bed (or in it, maybe). The result will be interesting.