Spare tire carrier capacity

[fljeeper]

I have 32's on my 98 Sport with a regular sized spare. I need to upgrade the spare to 32 as well. What is the practical limit of weight and diameter for the factory spare carrier?

Thanks,

Daniel

 

[jodomcfrodo]

I've heard that stock carriers can last up to 33's. I had my 33's and the carrier started to creak and squeak. I've ordered a new carrier because of that. I would try and make sure that the tire is mounted as close to the tailgate as possible. My tire was mounted fairly far away so there was a ton of leverage on the tailgate and tire carrier. With 32's you should be finen

 

[JFjeld]

A 32" tire should be fine for your factory spare tire carrier from a weight perspective. Most 32s are 11.5 wide, so you may need to cut down the bumpers a bit, particularly if the 32 is mounted to a custom wheel with differing backspacing than stock.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

My factory tire carrier lasted 1-2 months after installing a 33x12.50 spare tire on an aluminum wheel before it cracked and failed. But if you weld or bolt something onto the bumper to support the tire, it'll handle a 35" tire.

Something like this...

 

[StG58]

Brilliant! ...and a pintal hitch to boot! Gotta love the more experienced hands around here.

 

[mrblaine]

I have 32's on my 98 Sport with a regular sized spare. I need to upgrade the spare to 32 as well. What is the practical limit of weight and diameter for the factory spare carrier?

Thanks,

Daniel

Weight has little to no bearing on the durability of the stock tire carrier and tail gate. A stock size tire will destroy both of them in short order if you remove the rubber bumpers and allow the tire to bounce around. I put a 35" tire on Kat's 01 in 01 and the carrier and tailgate worked exactly as new when I removed the carrier and replaced it with the Exogate a couple of years ago. I replaced it because I could, not because I had to.

The key is two fold. First as Jerry showed, the edge of the tire should just slightly jump up on the top of the bumper when you slam the gate and the rubber bumpers need to be slightly compressed into the sidewall when you tighten down the lug nuts when you bolt the tire to the carrier.

To further that, a friend brought me his Exogate to repair because he failed to space the bumpers out correctly and the mount flanges were broken and about to fail and it only took a few hundred miles of driving to do it. The tire simply can NOT bounce around back there so one must do whatever it takes to prevent that.

 

[Serbonze]

I did this for a short period of time when I switched to 33s.

 

[billiebob]

I did this for a short period of time when I switched to 33s.

View attachment 4570

Very cool

 

[basic]

Bumping an old thread (instead of posting a new one) - having recently went to 33s now and finally having full size spare, I find my 255/85R16 does not fit on the stock carrier anymore and hits the bumper/light.

I'm looking at a new bracket to replace the stock tire mount - something like https://www.quadratec.com/products/12212_1010_07.htm

Spare tire total weight is 79 lbs (55 lbs for the tire, 24 for the wheel).

For reference - my bumper (ebay chinese one - https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/dp8AAOSwVlVaKK2a/s-l1600.jpg ) does not have a carrier or option to install one.

I will ensure the bumpers are properly extended, as well as try and fashion some sort of lower support as Jerry posted above.

With these additional options - what is likely to fail? Carrier? Tailgate? Hinges? Tub? Funds are limited so trying to keep the budget in check while still carrying the spare.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

 

[cjaama]

When mine wouldn’t fit I just drilled holes slightly higher in the tailgate and bolted them up.

 

[derekmac]

I had my 33" spare mounted to my stock carrier for two years, and no damage. The tire would rest on the bumper when closed, and it was against the rubber bumpers. I have a 35" spare on it now, and with the body lift, it's also sitting on the bumper.