35 inch spare in factory location

I'm sure this has been done before but I'm pretty stoked I made it happen. It took a lot of modification and my new high clearance bumper was the last piece of the puzzle. The factory bumper trailer hitch receiver pushed the tire into the diff.

Another user on here posted a thread, I can't remember who, where he moved the spare tire chain bracket by drilling two holes and moving it back toward the tail gate. I copied his idea and also hammered down the tire guides. I also chopped my exhaust back a bit. And finally the tire needs to be deflated to fit in between the leaf spring hangers snug.

I know this definitely is not for everyone, but it's gonna work nice for me. I have a portable air compressor that allows me to keep it flat. I used a strap to help pull the tire back as far as possible while lifting it into place.

My truck is lifted with Dobinson's leaf's so I have some more ground clearance for such a big tire back there. and finally I test fitted my 35x12.5 geolandar's to see if it could be done, but I plan on ordering a Kenda Klever RT in the 35x10.5 so it fits just a bit higher up in the undercarriage. It should be fine since it's only going to be a spare and not worked into my tire rotations.

Right now the exhaust tip is about 5-6 inches away from the tire which worries me a little. I plan to remedy that by just making a turndown elbow right at the catalytic converter.

Anyways thanks for reading and here's the test pics.

 

How has this been working out for you? It's funny, for all the 35s I see on Tacomas, I don't see where everyone is putting their spare. Swing outs are less common for Tacomas and kills some flexibility that a pickup offers by no letting you run the tailgate down if needed. I like that 33s can still fit without much drama in the spare location, but the jump to 35s gets a bit more tricky. Once you throw a 35" spare in the bed, well that kills most of that storage space. And a lot of the other options, besides a swing out, for mounting in the bed end up blocking a lot of your field of vision.

BTW

How are you liking your Relentless Fab Bumper? That's one of the best looking high clearance bumpers out there.

 

Ya all the points you made are why I wanted to try and keep it in the factory location. I also have dirtbikes and wanted to be able to run with the tail gate down so a swingout was out of the picture.

So far its working out pretty good and I'm happy with it. I'm running a 35x10.5 up there just to keep it tucked up a little higher and since it's only going to ever be used as a spare. Like I said it works for me but obviously there were a lot of steps involved to make it actually work. And the tire has no air in it otherwise it wouldn't fit, but I have an air compressor under the hood.

As far as the relentless fab bumper goes I love it! It was a bear to install though and I ended up having to mount it and un mount it 3 times before I finally cut enough off the bedsides. It's a solid and awesome bumper, I think the only gripe I have is that they didn't put the receiver hitch behind the license plate instead of letting it hang down low like they did. But it's not a deal breaker.

 

Very practical setup

 

I have to ask... What's the reason for the high clearance rear bumper if you're going to keep a spare under the bed? Doesn't that negate your extra clearance?

 

boom goes the dynamite.

But still, nice.
I shoved a 33 up there with no modifications but I'm not happy with how close it is so I'm going to get under and hammer the tire guides. If I need to I'll get a ratchet strap and tie it to the hitch to pull it backwards. Not much needed to fit a 33. I may end up going to 35's eventually, but really don't feel like buying a 5th 35". 33's were enough to break the bank for a DD for me.

@OP, Did you throw on a turn down to dump the exhaust, or you just cut it off? Would be interesting to see how it fits during flexing when off roading. But I like it. Well done.

 

I got rear ended and used the money for the high clearance plus I just wanted to see if I could do it. It doesn’t hang down too low and I’m pretty happy with it overall. But ya it’s definitely not for everyone haha.

 

I ended up doing a turn down on the exhaust. And I’m also curious how it will do when flexing, I haven’t tried any real wheeling with it yet. I’ll update when I finally do

 

Haha, that makes better sense.

 

I am planning on doing similar. I would just strap it to the bed when wheeling. For day to day I would prefer it underneath. I have some aftermarket bumper (previous owner install) that makes it rub against the diff.

Currently trying to decide what bumper to go with, hoping for one with a hitch tucked up from the ground better. Warfab's is my current top interest

 

Does anyone have a fabricated bracket or some metal tire carrier mounted inside their bed? I found a guy making them and says he puts four tabs to his carrier to drill through the bed. My biggest concern are the composite beds— is this a bad idea?

 

It's important to mention the OP is a long bed. This will not work on a short bed without a ton of fab.