spare tire carrier

[Marcus Aurelius]

Maybe I'll get a better response here.

What have you done, if anything, to increase the gap between the stock spare tire on an explorer and a hidden hitch. The hitch on mine currently pushes against the spare making it somewhat harder to lower it, which would make any flat tire more time consuming than it needs to be.

Did any of you just lossen the hitch from the frame to extend it outward more or fit it with some kind of extender like what you do when you extend a brushguard on a lifted truck. I have yet to try the first idea but will give it a shot when the whether clears up. It has been raining almost everyday in NJ, and I don't have much room to work in the garage.

If this dosen't work, I'm interested to see what you have either made or used as a tailgate mounted rear tire carrier (swing gate) like what jeeps and older SUVs have. Please post pics of your truck if it has a tire carrier whether it is for an offroad explorer or not.

Also, do any of you know if any rear tire carriers from older SUVs such as the chevy blazer or both bronco's can be mounted on an explorer.
Thanks

-Marc

 

[parad1mg]

there's this metal part on the upper area of the spare tire location that curves down.. you can see it when you take the tire off and look at the rear diff.. a few people here in attempt to fit a bigger spare tire cut that part off..

search up "fitting 32's spare" and you might find it..

 

[Marcus Aurelius]

thanks very much for the info.

-Marc

 

[ranger7ltr]

I used different approach...

My Sport didn't come with a spare tire and since I used Mustang wheels on my Explorer I got a Mustang spare wheel....

Fitment is nice and I can drop the spare in no time...The frame mount hitch clears the spare and undercarriage and even cleared my 2.5" exhaust system...