folks: i just put 31" tires on my 4runner, up from the stock 225s (oh what a feeling). now my spare tire, hoisted up in the stock location, is about 1/4 inch from my exhaust pipe (custom location). do you think this is too dangerous? i am not sure how easy it is to put out a rubber fire. i think not very easy. but how hot does the rubber have to get before it burns?

i plan to get the exhaust pipe modified further after i swap my shmitty tube bumper for a marlin style, but i was hoping to modify it after i get the bumper, not *before*. what do you think? should i fix the exhaust now, or not worry about it until i get the bumper (maybe a year?..)

thanks in advance for your opinion

 

Just get some heat wrap like people put on their headers and wrap the exhaust in that area with it.

 

how thick is the heat wrap? i only have 1/4 inch between the tire and pipe right now.

 

loosen the tire up a bit and SHOVE it over to the other side when cranking it up.

Heat wrap is like 1/8" thick? Id sleeve it with ThermoTec if mine were that close..

 

i just test drove it up to operating temperature twice. no apparent damage, and the pipe actually cooled pretty quickly. i dont think there will be a heat problem when the truck is moving, but maybe in stop and go. i will continue to monitor and look into the heat tape.

thinking about shoving it like you say ewong. i'm afraid that tightening the chain will pull it straight again, but i will try it out. will advise.

 

Tightening the chain will NOT pull it straight - there is a spring in the hanger to "tension" the chain.

I stuff a 235/85R16 (32"/33") under there.
The tire hits the two "rails" and then the friction keeps the tire from sliding over.

 

A quarter inch you should be fine. When I had my muffler replaced on my 94 truck, the tire was about a sixteenth away from the exaust pipe. I drove it like that for probably 10,000 miles with no problem. The muffler and exaust pipe was replaced after that because the baffles in the muffler came loose.

 

Heard the heat wraps can make the pipe wear prematurely.

 

I had that problem with my 89. Unfortunately, I found out when I went to use my spare on the way back from AZ and it had a nice melted hole in it. After I got back, I bought new tires and I did what the 2nd poster said, and I got some header wrap. I also took some wedges and placed them between the tire and pipe while I cranked up the tire so that it would leave some space between them and then pulled out the wedge when I was done.
It worked great, but the inspection people thought I was hiding a hole in my tailpipe and they wouldn't pass the truck with the wrap. Soooooooo...I just decided to have a new muffler put on(mine was long overdue) and had the pipe moved a few inches over. Problem solved.
Yes, the header wrap and cranking it over to one side will work, but if you get a new muffler, just move the pipe over.

 

OK i shoved it over another inch before cranking it up tight. seems to have stayed in place during my short trip out for tacos. i will keep my eye on it for now. thanks for you input everyone.