Spare Tire Position?

[N8G]

I have a question about the spare on my fairly new 4th gen (2005 Limited V8). I got the low tire psi warning light today so I checked and added air to 35 psi on all 4 tires, but the light didn't go off. So knowing the spare is monitored as well I lowered and added air to it too. The light went off, but it seems that spare isn't seated quite properly after raising is back up.

It is now resting at angle probably about 10 - 15% from level tilting toward the front. I can't remember if this is how it was before I lowered it or if it was level. There is a metal "tab" toward the front end of the truck that looks as if it has a step in it to stop the top (would be the side if tread was down) and then a bend to go on the tread side of tire. However I can't get it to fit like that and the top of the tire won't fit into the "slot". Does anyone know if this is normal, or should it be level?

Not a huge deal becuase it doesn't hang below the transfer case, but it still seems lower than it should be in the front.

Thanks

 

[boston_kevin]

I noticed the same thing after I lowered my spare to fill it up with air. I had to lower the tire and center the plug in the middle of the wheel, then slowly raise it up until it was fully seated in the wheel. After that I was able to raise the spare at a normal rate and it sits normally in the vehicle.

 

[OUTRNNR]

Don't be suprised if that light comes back on again in the next few days, the tire pressure warning system is a joke. I've been running with my warning light on for about 3 months now. Every once in a while I'll stop and put air in all 4 tires and the light will go off for like 3 days, then annoyingly come back on. You only have to worry if the light starts flashing while you are driving, that indicates that one of the tires is "Dangerously Low" instead of "lower than normal pressure"

As for your spare, make sure you have the stud that sticks up on the bracket through one of the lug holes, the spare should then raise level and seat into its correct stowed position.

 

[sharp4runr]

Hmm, I thought the flashing meant there was a fault in the system as if one of the sensors was defective. The light will be on steady if one of the tires is low on pressure including the spare.

OUTRNNR - are you also checking the tire pressure of the spare? All 5 tires have the sensor so even the spare will report if it is low on pressure.

Also when temperatures drop, you'll get a false positive since lower ambient pressures will drop tire pressure inside the tire. Its not a bad idea to fill the spare to say 40psi so you don't have to worry about it as often.

 

[OUTRNNR]

You might be right. I thought I read somewhere (maybe the manual) that if it flashes to check the tire pressure immediately.

I haven't checked the pressure in the spare, and I know that it has a sensor. I don't think it matters though because I'm getting the system to turn off for a signifcant amount of time (a couple of days) by not touching the spare and filling the other tires. If the spare was indeed low, the light would stay on regardless of the other tires.

Although the pressure in the spare could be the problem, I don't feel like dropping my spare everytime the light comes on.

How does this system even work anyway??? Does the computer reference the pressures in all the tires to a number preset in the computer? Or does it compare all the tires to each other and if one is low, shoot out a warning. If its the latter, that would shoot down the cold weather theory, assuming all the pressures drop uniformly with temperature.

 

[N8G]

Well I lowered it down tonight to check it out and made sure the plug was centered and had the peg in one of the lug nut holes which it was. So then I raised it very slowly until it was fully seated making sure it was pulled back as far as possible. Once fully raised I crawled under with a flaslight since it was still not quite level. I confirmed that it was seated properly with respect to the front tab so I guess that is just how it is. Just tilts slightly downhill to the front. Thanks for the help.

By the way, I put 42 psi in the spare so hopefully I won't have to mess with again for a while.

 

[Mark86]

I had a tire pressure light issue today. Does anybody know how this system actually works? Does it compare the pressure of one tire to the others or do the sensors in the rims actually measure the pressure of each tire? Would the light stay on if I put 38 psi in my spare and 32 psi in the other 4 tires?

 

[2004rnr]

it's normal for the spare to be angled like that. around this time of year here in texas, the weather gets hot and cold day in and day out so it drives me crazy when the tire pressure light goes on. i learned that filling the spare up to 40 psi stops that for a while. the light on my truck comes on if one of the tires goes down to 28 psi.