ok well you guys aren t doing much for rotating tires..... they are still rotating in the same direction and will not correct the terrible feathering. here is how i do it and have been doing it for 7 years at work (i do medium truck and heavy equipment tires for a living)

this is the modified x (the spare being rotated also)

spare to rf
rf to lr
lr to spare
lf to rr
rr to lf

this gets the tire off a powered axle (rear) and gets every tire rotating the opposite direction every single time.

yes you should rotate your spare.... might as well use the damn thing instead of replacing it because it is weather checked or dry rotted! i ll be damn if i am replacing a new tire that was never run because it has cracks in the sidewall the size of the grand canyon!

 

If you mainly use your rig for 4wd, 4 wheel rotation is the best method as in RR to LF, and LR to RF. This will give you the best wear.
If you, however like most use your JK for on and occasional off road, 5 wheel rotation is the best for maxium tire wear. In that case as Red Rubi posted.
spare to RR. RR to RF. RF to LR. LR to LF, and LF to spare.

 

I use the pattern Geeper posted except I move the spare to the left instead of the right (mirror image). I started out with the spare at the LF the way the dealer did it and it sucked. The spare will shake the crap out of the truck and make plenty of noise that way. IMO spare should be moved into the rotation at the rear as shown in Geepers diagram. I think 5 tire rotation will ride rougher than if you only do 4. No matter how you rotate them. I rotate every 3K. But you will get more miles out of your 5 tires. You can do your own rotations with a 5 tire since you only need to jack up one wheel at a time. And who needs the spare when your other four wear out. That's when you get bigger tires. if you can make it that long.

 

And what system of rotation do you use if you have directional tires?

 

FR to LF
LF to LR
RR to RF
RF to RR

This is unfortunately the only way to do directional. My last car had these, and a mini spare, so no worries there.

 

You know I had the dealer do my last rotation and they did not rotate the spare in? Lazy! They only do it if you request. Last time my dealer does it even if I am short on time.

 

Some more threads discussing this - https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/stock-jk-tech-12/rotate-spare-818/ which then links to https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/stock-jk-tech-12/question-about-tire-rotation-7149/

What ever you decide you might print out one of the diagrams and keep it around or make a note in the manual so you remember for the next round. Don't count on the dealership knowing - when I took mine in they came out to ask me - you would assume they know best... they probably won't... oh, and for peace of mind, I put a small chalk mark on the tires (LF, LR, etc) so I could double check how they were rotated...

 

im at 5k now and the first time the dealer did not rotate the spare in... how this this effect the drivability if i rotate the spare in for the next rotation?

 

with that few miles, it shouldn't affect it, just rotate in at your next oil change. I jut found a big gash in the outer side wall of one tire, so that has become my spare now and will not get rotated in anymore.

 

so is it ok to turn the tires around and not bust steel belts? if the front right goes back the rear left and you had the white letters facing out on the right front then you would have to run the tire in the opposite direction to keep the white letters facing out on the new location of the rear wheel. how else would you keep all four tires going in the same direction after a ratation? do you just have to run the whites out for one rotation and black walls out for the other. hell, i'm confusing myself now