Largest Spare in Stock Location

I think they are the same from the rear axel to the bumper

 

Gonna go for it the next dry weekend to get my 255/85/17 to fit, I’m not sure it will with the Rago hangers. Can’t hurt to try and also move the now useless pulley to see. Spare in the bed has not been ideal

 

So I run a 285/75/16, and was thinking of trying to fit a 275/75/16 in that space. I know its not ideal but figure I could throw that on in case of an emergency just to get me to a a repair shop or home without damaging anything.
Has anyone tried to fit one? And do you think the difference in size (albeit minimal) would cause any damage to diff/gears etc in case of emergency?

 

I run this size now fully inflated and it fits without any modifications

 

ok it was an easy 15-20 minute mod. 12mm ratcheting box end wrench. Start the holes with 3/16th bit and finish off with 5/16th bit. Spray the holes with black chassis paint and the hoist with white lithium grease!

 

Nice mod, and your pics helped me better visualize a project I’m about to start lol.

Im super tempted to remove the cross brace in your pic that the hoist mounts to from the frame rails and replace it with a couple 1.75” tubes and end plates spaced farther out to support the frame. The goal for me would be to fit a 35” tire under the bed. I’ve already done a Chevy 63” leaf spring swap so I don’t have the factory leaf spring mounts below my frame to get in the way. I also have a outgear rear bumper which takes up less space than the factory tow hitch. My stock exhaust is also cut and dumped over the axle. I’m thinking these few little details might allow me to tuck the 35” between the frame rails and bring it closer to the rear so the differential doesn’t rub it.

 

I needed to measure the gap between the frame rails for my custom under the bed tire holder, so I dropped the spare. I have an extra set of 295/70r17 tires so I used one of those to see what would be required to set it in the spare tire location under the bed. If you open/bend the two tire guides (see first pic in red circle) and do the hoist relocation as stated in this thread by DRob, a 295/70r17 can be fit in that space. However the tire will affect departure angle (see second pic) not horribly but if you offroad it’s probably gonna get dragged on some surfaces. Last pic is just a reference of my factory spare tire 265/70r16 a 295/70r17 and a 35x12.50r17 pushed next to each other. Hopefully this of some help to someone eventually lol

 

any plan to trim your fender and remove the fender liners?

 

The front is fully trimmed to clear my long travel suspension. I have Chevy 63” leaf spring swap in the rear so it sits pretty high. I have 7” of up travel and 7” of down travel on my 14” fox DSC and my rear tires have never touched the plastic fenders. My real battle was needing more backspacing on my rims because they were hitting my shock body at full articulation.

Don’t judge me, I’ll be cutting my front bumper tube back and capping it to line up with the fender trim when I pull off the tires to install my long travel coil overs once I pick them up from accutune on mon or tues lol

 

Well shit I’m going to have to cut my exhaust because the spare won’t fit. It clears the hitch and the two guides but it is hitting the driver’s side leaf spring hanger and the exhaust

 

Bummer to hear that! Is it the stock exhaust?

 

Yes

 

I removed the spare tire cross support, 8 rivets and 4 14mm bolts the bed did not need to be touched to remove the bolts. It’s such a tight fit the cross support has to be cut. I used a cupped wire wheel to clean inside the frame rails, I unclipped the electrical and ground wire from the frame and welded in the plates for the cross tube. Had evening plans and didn’t get to fit the tube perfectly or weld it in so that will be done tomorrow. Once the cross tube is fitted and welded I’ll acquire a heavy duty “Y” strap with the open end going to the cross tube and the point feeding into a tie down winch Im going to modify to be able to use my impact or a ratchet to spool it up and release it.

 

That’s good! It’ll still be quiet even when it’s dumped down after the axle.

 

Even my 265 75 16 KO2 did not fit without adjustment, so I put mine in the bed.

I have unfortunately had 2 bad blowouts over the years in very bad offroad spots. No flat or dry ground.

Once in a 6 inch deep snow filled flowing creek, and another down a really steep incline of a heavy boulder strewn trail that was 4-lo first gear and braking all the way.

I don’t want to go under the truck again in those kinds of spots to pull the spare out. It was a massive bitch both times. If you are on the flats and dry it is no big deal. I have not been that lucky.

So I put mine in the bed under my toolbox. Bolted into the toolbox as well. Raised the toolbox a bit with shims to make it fit under. So a different idea for the larger tires.

I can still fit all of my camping gear in the bed. Toolbox is mounted over the rear axle, so my storage boxes go in front and back of the toolbox. I have loaded up the bed on hundreds of trips and it works well.

Having the toolbox (250 pounds loaded) and spare over the rear axle gives a little extra traction too when the bed is otherwise empty.

 

That’s pretty interesting because factory spare in my truck was 265/70r16 and it had plentiful room under there, but I understand not wanting to deal with removing a tire from under the truck. OCD prevents me from wanting to see anything in the bed lol. I do really like that it looks like you have some bolts keeping the tire in place and from unwanted hands.

 

Had a buddy help my old ass yesterday. Trimmed the exhaust and bent the tabs. I didn’t like having a spare in the bed. Maybe after I get a cap and create a platform to sleep on, I can slide it in there but, I need that space for other equipment. I’m also looking at the Allpro apex plate bumper with integrated hitch behind the license plate in the future.

 

Came out really good! Looks like a perfect fit. I agree, I’m not a fan of seeing a spare tire in the bed.

 

Cross tube has been welded in. Waiting on the winching mechanism and tire strap to arrive. I’m gonna use a “tire basket strap” because it starts with two points and comes to one and it’s 16” wide with 2” thick straps and I found one in grey lol. Obviously it will go across the side center and not over the top like the picture. Also made some anchor points to weld on the tube to catch the strap hooks.

 

How does that strap mount up