Was bored the other night, so I ran down to the car wash to rinse off my 4Runner (1997 SR5 V6).

While there, I began to wonder if anyone had ever cleaned under the spare tire (bought my truck 2 weeks ago). After a few minutes trying to figure out how to lower the spare, I was able to have a peek - I wish I would have had my digital camera with me - what a mess!

Clean your spares boys!

 

Hehe...im lucky if i wash the rest of my truck....

 

Hehe... I find it really hard to choke up payments when it's dirty - maybe I'll relax once it's paid off.

 

While its down its a good idea to get some kind of oil on the hoist mechanism so its not rusted solid when you need it at night during a hailstorm.

This applies more to old trucks. Mine was very hard to operate when I bought it. After oiling it with a few drops of synth. motor oil once every 6 months it works much more smoothly.

 

Truer words have never been spoken (typed..). Last time I needed mine was in a huge snowstorm in February. We got like a foot of snow overnight. I wanted to go play around in it, but a little corrsion where the tire bead met the rim made me loose air. So there's me crawling around in the snow, under my rig, whacking the gearbox with a BPH to unseize it. Thankfully I was at home at the time...

 

haha my 15" spare with a 26" tire wouldn't even help my other 32" tires..........................

Anybody sellin a spare 16" wheel?

 

z and jx:

great advice. i actually took my spare out to change my rear diff fluid on monday but realized i didn't have a 24mm socket. anyways ive left it off and ill do some lubing too.

i tell ya, that tire sure is heavy b/c its much easier to accelerate w/o it!

bob

 

I too got my trucks two weeks ago and was crawling around under there the other day and noticed that the spare tire was a completely different brand. Its a Dueller...I have BFG's on there now. I was like, WTF?!?!?!? But, I should probably lower it and clean since I have no idea what the previous owners of this thing did to it!!! I'll work on that later though, got work to do now so I can get some more MONEY!!

 

I hear Discount Tire will give you credit for an unused tire for another purchase.

I went from 265/70R16 to 75R16
I might go back, get credit, and buy the right size so I don't mess up anything if I ever get a flat.

 

The hoist mechanism that hold the spare up on my 91 is rust welded together. I hot wrenched the spare off years ago. Anybody know of another way to mount the spare back up? I would like to get my storage area back. It would need to be sturdy but easy to get at during an emergency/flat tire. I was thinking I could steel band it up there and just keep tin snips in the truck at all times. Ratchet straps might work, but I am afraid they might fail. If the mechanism seized I would just cut the strap when I needed the spare.
Any better ideas?

 

I had a 1988 4Runner with a rusted out mechanism so here is how I solved the problem. I found an identical non-rusted mechanism off of another 4runner, and I then proceeded to mount it inside the cargo area. It was done out of necessity, because I originally wanted to replace the old mechanism under the truck, but there was no way in hell that it would come off. But, the results exceeded all my expectations.

The result was, the tire was snug and upright against the driver side of the vehicle inside cargo area. It actually looked like original equipment and, because it was upright, took very little room! I put a tire cover on it, and that was it. The chain mechanism held it in place nice and tight so it never moved an inch. In 1988 4Runner mounting it was extremely easy because it had a roll bar, and all I had to do was undo one of the roll bar bolts, and use it to bold the mechanism to the floor. 1991 does not have a roll bar, so you might have to do some drilling, but by no means hard to accomplish.

I used to have a 1984 Blazer that had the spare tire put by manufacturer in the exact same spot. Definitely a better choice than under the truck. Find a used spare tire mechanism and try it, you wont regret it.