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Spare tire in cargo area...

29K views 50 replies 12 participants last post by  MRBachand 
#1 ·
I didn't want to rob bigjeeps thread about tire carriers so I'll start a new one. :D

I'm thinking about ditching my Garvin rear tire carrier and moving the spare tire to the cargo area. One of the things I've wanted to add for some time is a rear cargo area storage box and after doing some thinking I'm wondering about mounting the spare on top of the box. On the Tuffy website it says the box I'm looking at is 16 gauge steel so I'm thinking it should be strong enough to support the weight of the wheel and tire.

There are two storage boxes that could work. This one is: 27”L, 35 3/8”W, 16”H. (The lid opens on this one)





It's the tallest of the two. If you mounted the spare on top then the spare would sit about 25 - 26" or so above the cargo area floor.

Then there's this one with dimensions of: 30”L, 35 3/8”W, 13”H





This one is 3"'s shorter than the first.

My questions are: Has anyone seen one of these boxes up close? Do you have one? Is it pretty heavy duty and strong enough to support the weight of the wheel and tire? Has anyone done this before? Am I stupid?
 
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#2 ·
One thing I would do first is take your back seat out and toss the spare in there for fitment. It might push on your seats a bit and bug you. I know that when I have the back seat folded up it pushes on my seat and I have to adjust it to sit straight up and down... and with the storage box in there its gonna raise the tire up and maybe push on the seats some more..... just food for thought.
 
#4 ·
The cargo area is 35" x 35". This is from the rear or the gate to the front where the lip drops off and from the wheel well to wheel well. My tires only measure 34" so I don't think it would be a problem. Not to mention it will actually sit up higher than the smallest part of the floor.

A TON of guys run their spare inside the cab, it is not that unusual, it just takes a lot of space.

I ran the large Tuffy drawer in my YJ and loved the functionality of it for storing all my trail junk and recovery gear. It is a heavy duty unit, and should hold the spare if the weight is distributed over the top fairly evenly (don't instal a mount point in the center of the drawer).
I KNEW I wasn't the only person who thought of this. :D

I thought about fabricating (not me of course :)) a brace that would run laterally and horizonally making an cross point then mounting a post in the center. I'm sure I could find a spare tire mount somewhere to weld to the center of the cross. This way the center of the box would be the strongest point and I could easily remove the tire If I needed to.

Do you remember how tall your storage box was in your YJ? I'm just worried about getting this thing sitting too high on the box.
 
#3 ·
A TON of guys run their spare inside the cab, it is not that unusual, it just takes a lot of space.

I ran the large Tuffy drawer in my YJ and loved the functionality of it for storing all my trail junk and recovery gear. It is a heavy duty unit, and should hold the spare if the weight is distributed over the top fairly evenly (don't instal a mount point in the center of the drawer).
 
#6 ·
if neither of these will support the spare i would check at your local tractor supply company store. they have some boxes that are almost identical and are HEAVY duty. not for sure about the guage of steel but they are pretty thick...
 
#10 ·
I actually thought about that. My only issue is trying to keep it as low as possibly for CoG reasons and so I can still see over the thing. I'm afraid if I angle it toward the rear enough to make a difference it might block my vision.

I guess I could always throw the winch cable over the roll bar and winch the damn thing out. :D
 
#11 ·
I was originally gonna do something like that. I fabricated a box for the spare to sit on. I rode around with it strapped down in the back. After careful consideration I ditched it cause I didn't like that much weight up top.

Pictures...



That is a good size 37 as well. If you go up past the fender well you can clear up to a 40. Just food for thought so you don't have to do it twice.
 
#14 ·
That is exactly what I'm thinking about doing. Thanks for the pic Andy.

How much do you really think the weight of the spare will affect the CoG? I don't know what my tire and wheel actually weigh but I'd be surprised if it were over 100 lbs. That's less than a person riding in the rear (for comparison sake).
 
#12 ·
rear view camera or a rear view mirror rotated 180 degrees or mounted to the roof (if top is off)?

I have my mirror flipped over.. just take it and spin it so the knob that was on the bottom is now on top.. works for me otherwise its in the way when on a stopsign and there is a car in the right lol :)

^ what about the box on top of the spare?
 
#39 ·
Okay honestly if you are conserving weight then a plug kit is way easy to accomodate. Andy I'm sure that you either aren't going to have a spare or it's going to be on your trailer and not your rig right? :D

And Scout, even with the spare tire in the tub I think it's better than having it hanging so far off the back end. The weight is right over the rear axle and should balance the suspension more with the front than it was before.
 
#45 ·
So back to topic, I have nothing in the back other than a seat and an insta-trunk, but I think the drawer would be better than a trunk: lower and makes the stuff more easily accessible (esp with tire on top), but then prolly has less storage as well
 
#48 ·
I was leaning more towards the aftermarket side of jeep suspensions. It is very obvious to me that jeep didn't really get it right from the factory. Else they would have stuffed a big chevy motor in them and big chevy axles and blah blah blah. I do believe there can be a noticeable difference of a properly set up suspension versus one that isn't. Moving equipment around and changing the weight distribution will widely determine which spring rates you should run.

The proper spring setup for any vehicle is important. Take my 2500HD for example. Thing gives marginal ride at best driving around town. Load up the back or toss the trailer on it and the thing rides like a dream. Same thing happens with wranglers. You can design your suspension to handle the weight added by after market goodies like the bigger tires and tire carriers or lack there of.

The biggest selling point of this opinion is taking a stock wrangler with absolutely nothing done to it. Add the proper OME coils and shocks and it will ride better than stock. Every time. :)
 
#49 · (Edited)
Bringing back and OLD thread, Im am looking at something similar for my YJ.
I built a storage box out of wood that sits at the exact height as my tonneau cover, so its invisible (with the top off and the tonneau installed)1, and after upgrading to 35s I put the spare on top of it.
Im looking at mounting the spare on its own mount above it so the bottom of the spare sits at the height of the cross roll bar.

Its a work in progress...
 

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#50 ·
I have the Tuffy security enclosure (the one that requires permanent removal of the rear seat) in my TJ. While reading the installation instructions, I noticed they said the lid is load-bearing and can support something like 200 pounds. Okay, great. After it was installed, I removed my factory spare tire bracket from the tailgate, carefully measured and centered it on the security enclosure's lid, then drilled four holes and mounted it there. My 35" spare fits comfortably, even with both front seats slid all the way back and my soft top in place.

For added protection from the elements, I decided I'd like to cover the entire thing as much as possible. I had an extra duster cover in my garage, so I took some more careful measurements and then cut a strategically-located square hole in it. I had a local upholstery shop sew up the edges to keep it from fraying--it looks slick. Each spring when I remove the soft top assembly, I remove the spare, install the duster, then replace the spare. Outward observers think the spare is just sitting on the duster cover with no reinforcement. (Seriously, I've has more than one EJS participant ask me if I was using velcro to hold the tire in place.)

These are the best photos I have available:


 
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