Stock tire carrier help.

I finally got a "full size" spare, up from a 29" to a 31" and now it won't fit on the tire carrier, which I figured would be the case. I tried pounding out the bolts so I can put longer ones in but they won't budge and I started to bend the tire carrier. I need to get the spare out of the cargo area because I need the room for a trip I leave for on Thurs.

Has anyone had this problem? The solution?

Use an air hammer. The blow would only be against the wheel stud.

I'm assuming you could chop the bolts at the plate and then use a metal bit the same size as the threads to drill out the current bolts and make holes through it to fit longer ones. This is assuming you have a grinder and cut off wheel and drill and bits. But I'm just guessing so good luck.

You can air down the tire (almost flat) and squeeze it on there, then air it back up to an acceptable PSI which is what I originally did on mine to fit a stock alloy wheel (it works, really). Actually the guy at the tire shop did this for me to fit a 31x10.5 with about 25 PSI (enough to get you out of a jam). I carried it like that for about a year. Quick fix.

OR

You can buy a 1.5" wheel spacer, which is what I did next before:

I finally bought some soft 8's with less (or is it more) backspacing.

On mine the studs are welded on and I thought of taking them out but I couldn't find studs long enough to make a difference. Good luck.

Could use a threaded rod coupling and some threaded rod to extend them out a bit. Might need to trim the stud to make sure the coupling doesn't interfere with where your nut or rim goes.

Thanks for the ideas everyone. I ended up using three 1/2" X 2" bolts and a 1/2" bit. Works great!


So what do you guys think?

I had the same problem when going to a 33 spare,they6 were hell to get out even with an air hammer/chisel

Nice clean job. Looks good!!

...and simple.