New wheels & tires - get a spare too, or keep the stock one?

Not even sure if you can tuck a 17x9 wheel & 285/70/17 tire in the spare location, but in general does everyone replace the spare with aftermarket?

 

I did until all hell broke loose with my shakes. Now the shakes are gone I going back tomorrow to pick up my duratracs and spare rim mounted. But I am not putting it in the stock location. I am building a bed rack to put mine on.

 

Yeah, we'll be loading a RTT in the back, so not much room for a spare.

 

Put it on the roof.

 

You can put a 265/75R16 tire in the stock spare location - then you've got an heavy duty LT off road spare for when you need it, even though it's an inch smaller. That works out OK.

Or, if you finagle it - you can figure out how to change the mounting for the spare to get a 33" tire down there. Varies a little from truck to truck.

 

Hmmm....

I think the TRD-OR comes with 265/70/16 full size spares, so that's what I would have. We replaced our 31" 265 stock Xterra tires with 32" 285s and they were able to shove it up under there with some work, so might have to climb under and see how the mount works.

 

I bought 17 inch aftermarket wheels... looking for a 17 inch spare steelie... so now that this came up, if anyone has one.. I'll buy it

 

We will use the truck for overlanding and camping. I'm just wondering if it's a big deal to run on a 1" smaller spare until you can get a replacement tire.

 

I wouldn't worry about it.

If you're going lots and lots of miles once you return to the highway at freeway speed - put the mismatched size on the front so it's not working the differential spider gears constantly.

 

Great idea, thanks!

 

I'm only gonna get matching after I get a bumper with a spare carrier built in.

 

I did this also. I just bought 5 wheels. 4 new and 1 blemished for the spare. All are the exact same wheel. The important thing to me was same wheel offset in case it is a front wheel that blows, I don't want to be swapping wheels front to back etc. I bought the cheapest AT tire with matching load rating and dimensions though. I'm not gonna spend another 200 bucks for a spare tire that sits under the truck. And yes, I did tuck my 33's under the truck after "encouraging" my exhaust hangers to move a bit.