Anyone consider mounting it on a rack attached to the bedrails up near the cab (below the roof line, basically the bottom of the tire would be sitting aboust even with the top of the bedrail)?
I was giving this some thoughts for a few reasons.
Positives
1. Frees up the stock location for aux. gas/water/storage/air etc...
2. Improves the departure angle.
3. Tire is easier to access.
4. Provides better weight distribution.
5. Mounted on a bedrack you still have all the usable space in the bed
Negatives
1. the weight of the tire is up higher raising the COG.
Considering things like flip pacs, rooftop tents, baskets, bed racks etc.. I dont see the raising of the COG much of an issue since most expedition types have far exceeded the weight of a spare tire and that weight is usually up higher than I'm proposing.
I dont consider the visibility issue out the rear window a real problem since we have mirrors and many are already running set-ups which affect that anyway.
Any feedback from those who have done this or those that can propose some other negatives?
I realize how we set our trucks up can vary so for some this would not be an option but if you are starting with a clean slate, like me its just something I'm considering.