Hi! I'm Daniel, one of the guys behind the Deadman. Just an interesting note: we tested the old spare tire trick side by side the Deadman. We buried a stock spare (about 29") and it held to 2,500lb before it popped out of the hole. (Yes, we trenched the line, etc.) There was no sustained capacity once the soil gave way. The Deadman, buried to the same depth, not only held about 2x the weight (4,900lb), it also provided a sustained capacity of over 3,900lb while the soil around the Deadman gave way. So we've learned that we can recommend burying the Deadman at about 24" - far shallower than a typical off road tire would require - as that depth gave us 2,600lb capacity and 2,100lb sustained. If the situation requires, the Deadman can certainly be buried a little deeper, too - 36" gave us 7,100lb (6,100 sustained) in soft shifting sand.