Spare Tire Modifications

[SierraWheeler]

Everything I needed was in-store at Lowes. I used a PVC sprinkler riser. The steel spacer insert does the heavy lifting, so I'm not sure how necessary the PVC riser is but it does seem to add some extra stability. The wedge spacers I used were composite construction shims that I had laying around from some other home improvement project. The shims only gave the bracket a little bit of angle. I've seen others use metal wedges which may have had a steeper angle, but not sure where those were sourced from. The spare I'm running is 285/75/16. Tire only makes contact with front and rear support bars, does not touch the crossmember.

 

[WannaLC]

Do you think the spare is less stable / secure without contacting the crossmember as well?

 

[flintknapper]

I went to Home Depot and Lowes tonight to try to gather parts for this mod, but they didn't have everything I need. The search will continue later this week. Just to be clear for those using the 1 1/2" spacer to raise the crossmember does a 285/75/16 (KO2 if it matters) tire make contact with the crossmember when the front bar is flipped and the rear bar is tilted back?

is the sprinkler riser made of PVC or metal?

The sprinkler riser is PVC or something like it. The reasons I chose it for my project were several.

1. Easy to cut to length.
2. Thick walled, tough material, feels much harder than normal (white) PVC plumbing pipe.
3. Is about the perfect diameter/footprint to sit on the frame and cross-member.

I used steel inserts to provide a crush proof structure against which to tighten the assembly down, the riser material is just a simple way to create a larger footprint and add stability in a durable and inexpensive way.

The steel inserts I used were just a little shy of being the correct diameter to fill the I.D. of the riser, but by putting few wraps of electrical tape on the O.D. of the inserts, they became a good tight fit, none of it is going to move around once tightened down. The inserts are intended to be the backbone of the spacers.

The purpose for the washers I used was to spread the load across the spacer and to eliminate any chance of abrasion/damage that might be caused by vibration over time, though the unit feels very solid to me.

My tires are 285/75R16 (about 33") and the spare does NOT hit the frame/crossmember anywhere. It rests on the supports (after modding to allow the tire to sit higher).

 

[WannaLC]

I did the spare tire mod today using 1" steel spacers and 3 extra washers for about 1 1/4" of rise. I lowered the winch between 1/4-1/2". I used the beveled spacer for the rearward tire bracket and flipped the front bracket. It looks and functions pretty well. My tire is also not touching the crossmember although if I had known that I may have only used 2 washers instead of 3 to make it closer or give it light contact. Thanks for all the insight in this thread.

 

[cruzerDave]

I raised my spare today and took a slightly different approach, some may like, some may not but thought I would share.

1. First off did the standard 1.5" lift on the crossbar, used aluminum spacers and bolts from Ace - easy peasy.
2. Removed the rear support bar since the frame does its job.
3. Shimmed the front bar at an angle, but couple notes.
- I tried to maximize the rise and went with 5 washers. Don't bother, that is too high for getting the lowering rod in there. I left mine at 4.
- My trailer wiring was definitely tight against the tire so simple fix, cut the zipties Mr T used to attache to the wire trunk and pull more slack from further in the truck, there was easily 6", and re-zip with it tucked higher and tighter.

4. Here's where I went rogue. Instead of lowering the winch, which I didn't feel as good about from a stability perspective (plus I didn't have longer bolts and spacers handy), I angled it forward with 3 washers to point it down to where the lowering rod wanted it. Installing the washers was a PITA because of the limited space, but worked perfect. That wasn't enough though as now the lowering rod was jammed tight against the bumper, so, solution, trim the bumper! Used a rotozip on my drill and was 5sec job:

I cleaned up the cut after this pic, but almost looks factory, and MUCH easier to thread the u-joint in and out now.

Final angles are perfect:

And now I have my 285/75/16 sitting nice and high!

 

[SmoothLC]

Nice solution @cruzerDave. Hadn't thought of that.

In fact I was trying to source some shorter socket cap screws for the spare tire crank since one of them hits on the rear bumper while turning it (the tire shop lost the original cap screws).'

Or not use any at all so it won't hit the bumper as shown in your photo above.

 

[78f150tx]

@cruzerDave I just did this mod fridayday and was not super happy or confident in lowering the winch as well. Do I understand you correctly that you put 3 washers on two of the four bolts holding the winch to angle it down?


The rest of my setup looks like yours so that gives me a lot more confidence that I didn't screw it up. lol.

 

[cruzerDave]

@cruzerDave I just did this mod fridayday and was not super happy or confident in lowering the winch as well. Do I understand you correctly that you put 3 washers on two of the four bolts holding the winch to angle it down?
The rest of my setup looks like yours so that gives me a lot more confidence that I didn't screw it up. lol.

I wasn't very clear, my bad - I spaced 3 washers, each side, between the winch and the cross brace, on the two bolts closest to the vehicle front. As mentioned they were a huge PITA to fit in there since there is no finger space, and the bolts drop from above. I ended up completely removing the winch, then balancing 3 on one side, carefully threading the bolt through them, wiggling stuff around until 1 or 2 threads caught, then taking the 2nd stack of 3 and carefully sliding them under where I thought the next bolt would drop, wiggling things around until the threads caught, then tightening up. It angled things perfectly and I did not need to angle the cross brace as I was about to do, angling the winch is much more impactful on alignment.

 

[78f150tx]

Perfect. Thanks @cruzerDave!

 

[brices123]

For the 2003+ guys with the charcoal canister underneath...

I have a 2004 LC so your mileage may vary but I did want to get my spare tucked up as high as I could until a rear bumper is in the cards. The main obstacle for me was one rivet bolt that extended far past the nut. It would hit the canister before the crossmember would, so I took my dremmel with a cut off wheel and cut the rivet down to the bolt.

This allowed me to move the crossmember up about an inch or so. This picture makes it look like the crossmember is touching the canister but its about 1/8" or so off.
View attachment 1411387
I flipped the front bracket and spaced the back bracket just like the original OP did.

50 5/16" spacers ended up being the perfect amount for me. 11 spacers for each of the 4 crossmember bolts and the remaining 6 used on the rear bracket to angle it up. I believe I used 40mm length bolts instead of 60 like the 1.5" guys are using.

View attachment 1411389

View attachment 1411390

Doesn't look like much but it got my 275/70r18 just above the lowest point of my hitch. A side benefit has also been it got my spare tire off the panhard bar. Like many with this tire size, mine was starting to rub the paint off the panhard. Now its about 3/4" off of it.

@Captramrod01 Did you have to space the winch down, or did you leave it as is? I have a 2006 and want to do this.

 

[Captramrod01]

@brices123 I left it as is. Since we have the charcoal canister we cannot lift the spare as high as the 1998-2002 guys so the tire winch doesn't become a problem.

 

[REPRAP]

Just finished my spare tire lift sucessfully and got 2.5 - 2.75" lift for $7.28 and about 45 minutes of labor and shopping time. Want to first thank all those that did the measuring and figured it out. THANK YOU! And a few words of encouragement for those of us that are not engineers or mechanically inclined. I am a 3 out of 10 on the mechanical scale and I had no problems. Read and re-read the instructions and the numerous variations and made a shopping list. Here are a few photos and what worked for me:
(1) I have a '99, 100 Series and went with a tall-skinny spare that will never be rotated in and may only see 50 miles of use in an emergency. (2) Flipped the front retention bar (see prior posts and photos for references). (3) Shimmed the rear bar, 2 lower bolts using 3 washers on each. (4) Some apparently had problems with alignment and honed the upper mounting holes. I found by not unbolting the upper bolts, just keeping them loose, that I did not need to hone the bracket holes. (5) For the cross bar, winch support, went to Home Depot, found 1/2" steel pipe in the Plumbing Dept. They cut 4, pieces 1.5" each, this was scrap pipe, no charge for the pipe or the cutting. (6) Bought for bolts, 8 mm, 1.25, 60 mm long. (7) Assembled 4 bolts, washers on both sides of pipe and tightened. (8) Now fingers crossed that all would align and mounted up spare. To my surprise, all perfect on the 1st try. (9) Two important foot notes (a) I did NOT add the 4 spacers on the winch mount (as some did). The crank handle - although now higher - still aligned with the window on the stock bumper (b) I used a 235x85x16 tire. It is taller than the stock 275x70x16 (31.7 vs. 31.2) and so it snugged up tight against the rear cross bar and there is no tire movment. I also noticed that the front retention bar (which I flipped up side down) made no contact with the tire. I could have skippped this step, because this taller tire makes contact with the rear cross bar. (C) The last and most important point, did it work, was there a gain in clearance? YES, absolutely. Conservatively 2.5 - 2.75". I measued carefully before and again after and used the bottom of the hitch mount as a gauge. It was easily 1.5" below and now (look carefully at the photo), it is 1.25 -1.5" above. So obviously it did not all come from the lift. 1.5" came from the tire size change (width 10.8 vs 9.3 for the tall-skinny) and then another approx. 1.5" from the lift. The actual shim height was 1 5/8 ( 1.5" pipe and 2 washers). In the end, the hitch mount is now the lowest spot (to be removed once I get a SLEE bumper, without tire carrier), the tire and exhaust used to be the first to drag (I have a custom exhaust that is now tucket higher). ........a simple and inexpensive mod that retains space inside, does not require a $2600 bumper and keeps the rear window clear. May not be for serious rock crawlers, but works for those of us that do mild off-roading wanting that little extra. Thanks fellow Cruisers Friends for your contributions and for sharing with us that are more challenged.

 

[trdcorolla]

Just did this mod. My spare tire still has a little side to side movement. The tire doesn't touch the crossmember. Is that how everyone else is?

 

[REPRAP]

Just did this mod. My spare tire still has a little side to side movement. The tire doesn't touch the crossmember. Is that how everyone else is?

No problem on mine, fit snug, but of course different tire sizes and even the same size but different manufacturers will fit differently. I suppose you could put in a shim if sorts, rubber or metal, screw it to the cross bar to take up the space. It should fit tight, swinging back and forth I think would fatigue the cable over time, and dropping a tire at speed would not be a good deal. Good Luck!

 

[trdcorolla]

No problem on mine, fit snug, but of course different tire sizes and even the same size but different manufacturers will fit differently. I suppose you could put in a shim if sorts, rubber or metal, screw it to the cross bar to take up the space. It should fit tight, swinging back and forth I think would fatigue the cable over time, and dropping a tire at speed would not be a good deal. Good Luck!

Yeah, i'm running a aftermarket wheel as a spare with a 32" tire. If I remember right, I can fit a finger in between the tire and the crossmember. I'll remove the 1.5" spacer and try a 1" spacer to see if I can get the tire to touch the crossmember so it'll be touching 4 spots instead of 2.

 

[MongooseGA]

I went to do this mod a few weeks back but noticed that the OEM spare was already very snug against the trailer hitch. I've got a 285/75/17 to put in there next, has anyone found they needed to remove the hitch to get a 34" tire in there?

 

[TxAggieLC]

I went to do this mod a few weeks back but noticed that the OEM spare was already very snug against the trailer hitch. I've got a 285/75/17 to put in there next, has anyone found they needed to remove the hitch to get a 34" tire in there?

Did you ever give this a try? Curious how it went. I'm planning on stuffing a 295/70/18 in the spare location after doing the lift mod. I know it will be super tight even with a deflated, worn 295 but would give me some extra peace of mind on long road trips. I'm already carrying a tire repair kit with a compressor but full size spare would be ideal.

 

[MongooseGA]

I never did. Ended up removing the winch and cross bar all together and now I just toss the spare in the cargo area when I go wheeling. The problem I had was that it would have hung way too low for my liking due to the emissions charcoal whateveritis on the later model trucks. They're right above the spare and take up a lot of room.

 

[TxAggieLC]

Even with the lift mod, you think the 285/75/17 would have hung too low? I know each tire runs a little differently on measurements but I'd figured that if I do the mod and get an extra inch or so of space (even with the charcoal thingy in its original spot), my 295/70/18s will hang about an inch or less lower than where the oem spare currently sits. That may still be too low and drag too much offroad which I definitely want to avoid.

 

[MongooseGA]

If your truck doesn't have the emissions stuff, it should work. I bought my tires from a guy who ran them on his '99 and was able to fit the spare in there.