Lindenwood
New member
I know this is a pretty frequent question, so I thought I'd add the info.
I am going to be building my bumpers over the next few months, with the rear holding a swing-out cargo rack for my cooler, water box, and gas can. The goal is to keep the spare underneath, so I have space to mount heavy stuff to the bumper, so I don't need a roof rack. Thus, I wanted to keep my spare under the rig, and was planning on simply building the bumper around the spare.
For now, I figured I would just completely remove the bumper so I could at least have a matching-size spare (which was more important to me). However, after dropping the hitch mount, I noticed there seemed to be a bit more space than expected between the inside of the rear bumper and the panhard bar. I measured, and it was a hair over 33"! Lifting the spare up there, and physically pulling the wheel toward the rear of the truck as I snugged up the lift cable, I was able to get the spare to fit with a bit less than 3/8" of space between the spare and the panhard bar.
This is not a crawler, so I am not terribly concerned with the relatively reduced departure angle (which is now very close to what it was with the received mounted). However, I do plan on building a basic skid plate to bolt onto and cover the spare tire just to keep from tearing it up if I get to feeling crazy on the trails.
So, it seems as long as the tow receives is removed, a 33" spare will fit. My tire measures right at 33", perhaps +/- 1/8", fully inflated.
I am going to be building my bumpers over the next few months, with the rear holding a swing-out cargo rack for my cooler, water box, and gas can. The goal is to keep the spare underneath, so I have space to mount heavy stuff to the bumper, so I don't need a roof rack. Thus, I wanted to keep my spare under the rig, and was planning on simply building the bumper around the spare.
For now, I figured I would just completely remove the bumper so I could at least have a matching-size spare (which was more important to me). However, after dropping the hitch mount, I noticed there seemed to be a bit more space than expected between the inside of the rear bumper and the panhard bar. I measured, and it was a hair over 33"! Lifting the spare up there, and physically pulling the wheel toward the rear of the truck as I snugged up the lift cable, I was able to get the spare to fit with a bit less than 3/8" of space between the spare and the panhard bar.
This is not a crawler, so I am not terribly concerned with the relatively reduced departure angle (which is now very close to what it was with the received mounted). However, I do plan on building a basic skid plate to bolt onto and cover the spare tire just to keep from tearing it up if I get to feeling crazy on the trails.
So, it seems as long as the tow receives is removed, a 33" spare will fit. My tire measures right at 33", perhaps +/- 1/8", fully inflated.
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