Ram 3500 - Spare tire options for 37s.

[ramblinChet]

@ramblinChet - Those are good finds; thank you. Did you get rid of the original tailgate or keep it around?

Factory tailgate was removed when she was new and has been locked in a garage ever since. I am not expecting to ever need it again so maybe selling it would be a good thing to do.

 

[Inline6]

@Longship I put receiver tube on the driver side of the bed sub frame to mount the hitch or what ever I want. The fancy hitch only gets used on long hauls and I wanted some place to store it, its to big to sit inside the cab. Having the hitch always with me was easier than storing it in th house and moving it around, its quite heavy. I may try to mount some gerry cans there, or some other small box for more tools. Having everything I need on the truck has been nice.

I used the receiver tube as vertical mounting points as well on 4 sides of the bed. They could be used for many things, but nothing has become functional from them yet, well besides some additional tie down points.

I do like the flat bed more than the normal bed. I can place about anything where ever I want and don't always need to clime in and out of the bed to get to things or lift them over the side of the bed. Works better for me on a daily basis than the stock bed. Not that its my daily truck, thinking its just over 120K miles and I bought it new in 04.

With the wilco gate I usually had the tire inside so it was never in the way of towing. When flipped outside it was not in the way either, but I was just towing flat bed trailers with jeeps. It stuck out say about 2 feet of overhang, if using the vertical one say 18 inches at the most, should not be a big deal.

 

[RCP]

Has anyone run 37's on their truck, but with a 35" spare? I know it wouldn't be ideal, but over a short distance would the 2" diameter difference lead to long term issues? I am just thinking it would be similar to running a space saver spare on a passenger car, put it on the steer axle and use it to limp to a tire shop. Or is the risk not worth the convience of being able to keep the spare under the truck?

 

[ttengineer]

Has anyone run 37's on their truck, but with a 35" spare? I know it wouldn't be ideal, but over a short distance would the 2" diameter difference lead to long term issues? I am just thinking it would be similar to running a space saver spare on a passenger car, put it on the steer axle and use it to limp to a tire shop. Or is the risk not worth the convience of being able to keep the spare under the truck?

As I noted above, I think that is the ideal solution for cost vs convenience.

As long as you don’t use it on a limited slip or locked diff it would be fine to limp to a tire shop.


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[Trestle]

Throw it on the front if you have a limited slip or locker in the back, and you should be good to go. You might set of some type of sensor that would correct once things were back to normal. You might have to do the front to rear tire shuffle to get to that point though.

 

[BikePilot]

@Kingsize24 - Thanks for the details. If they've improved their game i'd like to give them a shot, but i have no time for that number of issues.

@ramblinChet - Those are good finds; thank you. Did you get rid of the original tailgate or keep it around?

@CFMGarage - I'd be open to a custom bumper if these guys can do it. I'm going to give them a call.

@Inline6 - Very nice design. I could see myself doing something like this down the line on a dedicated truck, right now i drive this truck around town as well so i don't want to chop it. What do you put on the left side with the vertical hitch

For some reason i don't really like the rear hitch mounted ones. I'm going to give them another look. Maybe i need multiple solutions. I might do the nuthouse mount above the bed and maybe a hitch mount for times that i have motorcycles.

General (potentially dumb) question - when does a bumper mounted tire interfere with towing a trailer. Is it on tighter radius turns or is the trailer not long enough to reach the hitch?

Thanks again

Bumper or tail gate mounted would be in the way of a gooseneck or 5th wheel trailer. Depending on the details of the tire mount and trailer a bumper pull trailer may still work ok.

 

[Regcabguy]

I've gone through a similar thought process, rejecting all for good reasons. I have the Carli Dominator suspension on my truck and recently they developed a way to fit 37" in the standard location on Fords. Evidently it's impossible on rams.

Too bad there isn't a bumper option that doesn't come with several issues.

What did they do stretch the frame?

 

[TommyG]

What did they do stretch the frame?

Carli Suspension 17+ Ford Super Duty Trophy Hitch

This Carli Suspension 2017+ Ford Super Duty trophy hitch is designed to fit a 37" or 38" tire in the factory location, with a class 5 Hitch tow rating. If you need to fit an oversized spare on your truck, there is no better designed option on the market.

www.cjcoffroad.com

Re-designed hitch.

 

[BikePilot]

I recently picked up a hitch mounted tire carrier (ultraswing Megafit). I didn't like how much bed space the tire took up for camping trips so I'm going to give this a shot.

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[Kingsize24]

I recently picked up a hitch mounted tire carrier (ultraswing Megafit). I didn't like how much bed space the tire took up for camping trips so I'm going to give this a shot.

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Update us on the performance of it over the years. Will be interesting to know how it will function for a long term solution. I hope you have great luck with it.

 

[BikePilot]

Update us on the performance of it over the years. Will be interesting to know how it will function for a long term solution. I hope you have great luck with it.

Will do! It'll get a workout later this week.

 

[Pundy]

I'm resurrecting an old thread here, but is it not possible to put a deflated 37" spare tire in the stock location?

 

[rruff]

I wonder as well. It wouldn't be that hard to see what could be done with a deflated spare and a ratchet strap. It might be difficult, but I bet it could be done.

I've gotten many flats offroad, but don't recall ever pulling the spare out. Having said that, I'll probably destroy a tire getting out of where I am now, that can't be fixed.

 

[TommyG]

I forgot to add we are using an Ultra Swing for a 37 inch spare as well. It works great and does not rattle at all. We have done long trips to include trails in Colorado and Moab and had no issues.

I am still considering going to a bumper with a swing out so that I can tow more easily. Chassis Unlimited makes one that looks good cosmetically. I don't know much about how they work in the wild. CJC sells them so I would think they are probably good to go but I need to do more homework before I would consider switching.

CHASSIS UNLIMITED 2010-2021 RAM 2500/3500 OCTANE DUAL SWING OUT REAR BUMPER

Chassis Unlimited “Octane Series” dual swing out rear tire carrier bumper ships to your door ready to install on your truck, complete with 3-Stage texture black powder coat. This is our direct bolt on verison, no cutting required of your bed. The Octane series dual swing out bumper is our...

www.cjcoffroad.com

If you have air on the truck you could try leaving the spare deflated and stuffing it up into the factory location. Crude but effective. (EDIT - rruff beat me to this one).

 

[Roam.Wild]

Why do you NEEd a 37 spare? I had 37s on our PowerWagon and ran a 35 inch spare, fit in the stock location. Good enough to get off the trail or to the next tire shop. Unless the spare is going to be swapped into the tire rotation I dont see a need for a 37 as a spare tire.