Pacific Northwest yetti
Expedition Medic
I know on my 04, the 33 fits in the under bed OE location, with the 17inch H2 rims. Maybe worth double checking? I may have pulled a heat shield, I dont actually remember at this point.
Lee's '04 Chevy Silverado 2500HD and Radica MoonLander camping shell
- Thread starter Lee
- Start date
There is something about the GMT800 platform.
Yes it has a few issues that are well known but overall, there is a lot to like.
I've had my truck for 20 years, 150k miles and it still brings a smile to my face.
Long winded story
OK, your making me do my homework now.
I'm old school and plan to carry 2 spare tires.
I know 2 spares are going out of fashion now, Andrew SPW (4XOverland) and Ronny Dahl both are switching to a single spare.
(I prefer YouTube over TV - I'll watch what I want to watch but it's way out on the fringe apparently)
I've been in 3 situations where more than one spare was required, twice as a kid traveling with my parents and once as the responsible adult.
In the early 70's my Dad made a tent trailer from a teardrop donor trailer.
He set up the trailer to have the same bolt pattern as his Jeep Wagoneer.
I was a kid so I don't remember where we were but we ended up taking a tire off the trailer and going in to Barstow or Mojave to get 2 tires fixed, then back out to recover the trailer.
In the late 70's we lived in Australia for 5 years.
When we left Dad and I made a tour from Alice Springs (where we lived) to Queensland and back to the NT in Moms' Holden Sedan.
Dad had arranged to sell the car in Darwin and we would board a plane back to the US.
We planned to take the Barkly Highway from Tennant Creek to Mt Isa.
But 50 miles from Tennant Creek we shredded a tyre.
Dad suggested we mount the spare then make lunch and plan what to do.
The fly's where so bad we threw the tools in the boot, hooked a U-turn and retreated to Tennant Creek to replace the tyre.
I still haven't been to Mt Isa.
20 years ago my wife, kids and I lived in Japan.
I stored my toy hauler at my brothers place in Lancaster California.
After moving back to Ohio we went out to pick up the trailer.
On the way home we had 2 flats within an hour of each other.
I ended up dropping the trailer on the side of the interstate, driving in to Deming New Mexico to buy 2 tires.
Back to the trailer and back to the tire store for 2 more tires.
Note - the shelf life of tires is different between Ohio and Lancaster out in the desert.
Can a 33 fit under the bed?
Yes - but.
I spent some time switching out a spare with one of the front tires and took some pictures.
This is my current spare, it's a Cooper Discoverer in the stock size.
The tire hangs down to the same level as the OEM trailer hitch receiver, I measured 15" clearance.
And this is a picture of one of the 33s in that space, I set up a jack stand to get the phone the same height off the floor.
This is 12.5" to the floor.
So, my preference will be to carry 2 spares on the back.
Will I ever need the 2nd spare?
Will I ever need the 2.5" of extra ground clearance?
Probably not on both accounts but it will be there.
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ExpoMike
Well-known member
Yeah, 2 spares seems like overkill and two of your examples are from tires in the '70's which were not a tough as modern offroad tires today. Seems like a lot of extra weight for the once in a blue moon situation. I would carry tire repair kit, as many times you can repair before swapping out. Also a common thing I have seen happen, folks get into rougher trails but never air down. We were in Death Valley and saw a guy who managed to get a rock the size of my fist, through the tire and inside the the wheel/tire area. He was running at full tire pressures.
Pacific Northwest yetti
Expedition Medic
I know mine sticks down, but the hitch is still lower. I do have a flatbed though, so I am not using the OE reciever. All of ours have the spares there. I do cary a hd patch kit, and a compressor though and usually air down.
No worries though to each their own.
No worries though to each their own.
I am also of the “two is one, one is none” school of thought when it comes to spare tires on certain trips, but as pointed out above, we all have different conditions and risk tolerances.
My solution is to carry a LT255/80/17 Toyo on a steelie as a spare for the LT285/70/17’s on the truck to help with clearance underneath and keep tire heights close. The spare spare for trips where I feel I need it is a loose 235/80/17 tossed on the roof .
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I do carry a plug kit, side wall slugs, compressor.
I would not run a side wall slug on the interstate but I would get out to where I could replace the tire.
At the end of the day I have a 2 day hard slog to get home - 1000 to 1200 miles from where I like to play to where I have a job.
If I ever need to mount a spare being able to hop on the interstate and not think about it has value to me.
I have no illusions that everyone / anyone would agree with me.
In 2017 I made a trip to Death Valley.
My daughter had listened to my Dad talk about the race track and the time we forgot the family dog when we left (only made it a mile or two before he figured it out), so she wanted to go there.
At the time I was driving an Acura MDX as my company car so that is what we took.
I read in a review that said they use that road as a test for the 'off road' part of there vehicle testing.
This was during the Christmas break so there was a lot of people in the area, they kept looking at me like I was crazy.
On the way out there was a guy with a Nissan pickup that had two flat tires, I stopped to see if I could help (this guys tires where past there 'take it to Death Valley' date)
There was another guy that stopped with a well kitted Chevy Avalanche.
He swaped one of the tires out with this Nissan's spare while I plugged the other and inflated it.
The whole time this guy is playing 20 questions with me trying to figure out why some idiot with an MDX in Death Valley had the stuff to plug and inflate a tire.
The MDX at Teakettle Junction.
View attachment 847085I had considered using the stock 16" alloys with a 255/85R16.
That would give almost the same rolling radius as the 285/70R17 size I have on the ground.
But, in the end if I have the same size spare as what is on the ground I can rotate the spares and wear all 6 out evenly.
I doubt I would opt to run an odd size spare.
Also, I got myself in to the size by selecting the Method bead grip first, then the 33" diameter.
The wheels and tires are wider than I would have preferred.
I may have been a little bit too focused on wanting to try the bead grip technology.
In my job I'm used to setting a spec then creating what is needed to achieve it, not really a cost effective method for putting tires on just one vehicle.
