Anyone ever mounted the spare on the front bumper? I did it on a F-250 I had with the straight 6 and it was great. My only concern is being worried about too much air flow restriction for the 3vze but I was thinking of making an air deflector on the bottom of it to push air up to the radiator, kind of like a wind scoop to counter the effects of the tire being in front of the radiator area...

I searched around yotatech and also the web and could find no instances of it being done.


If anyone has done it let me know. I hate to build it and then have it cause overheating. I'm about to make bumpers front and rear for my 1995 4runner with the 3vze and it was just a thought. A little extra cushion if I hit another car/truck and it leaves my rear bumper open so I dont have to swing crap out of the way if I want to access stuff in the rear...

Input? Thoughts? Am I an idiot for even considering this? Pull no punches. Looking for thoughts and input. Thanks. RJ

 

http://www.expeditionportal.com/foru...n-Front-Bumper

Found this on EP...Figured I'd put some angle on it too...

 

It's not a bad idea. The benefits being that the spare tire is not underneath the vehicle, meaning somewhat better ground clearance and it's better protected from trail obstacles. Second, you free up space in the bed/cargo area.

Downsides? Possible cooling issues like you said. It also could make it difficult to work on the engine if need be, you know, having to lean over/remove the tire to get to certain parts of the engine bay. The last thing I can think of is visibility. Toyota pickups are smaller than F-250s and have less frontal area. Depending on how you mount it, the tire could stick up over the hood and block your sight.

It's not a bad thought.

 

In my opinion, I like the look of them more up on the roof rack. That way you don't have to deal with cooling issues either!

 

Thank you for the input...

I thought about a roof rack...not sure I want to drill into the roof. I had one on a Grand Cherokee and never used it except for keeping the tire up there...

I was planing on stacking class 3 receivers one for the winch, and one for the spare mount so it could be removed by pulling a pin...

I think a air foil scoop on the bottom or middle or both of the bumper would potentially offset the air restriction...

I'm in no hurry. I'm going to make the bumpers after it gets painted...

I guess I could try it and if it didnt work, move it.

 

oh yea, it's definitely just food for thought. I personally drive in too much traffic. Stop and go traffic makes it too sketchy to have anything blocking my radiator haha.

I'm sure it'll definitely look cool!

 

On my F-250 it looked awesome. Kind of a throwback to yesteryear. And just mean as heck as it was a hoss of a tire....

 

On some other sites where this was discussed...people are concerned about it getting launched through the vehicle windshield and decapitating the passengers reminiscent of the VW bug spare was known to do in the case of a serious collision. I suppose that is a factor to consider...but as Mike Rowe says..."Safety third..." hahahaha!

 

I'm 80% that I'm going to try this just to be difficult...LOL. I wish someone with another 3vze would comment if they have tried putting the spare on the front or not tho...

 

i dunno man. you could try it, but I think just from size alone I would say don't do it. on a big full-size truck it wouldn't look so bad, but on a truck that's significantly smaller you're messing with aerodynamics, visuals, etc. would be easiest to build a rear tire carrier since already planning to make rear bumper.

perhaps prop up your spare on a box or something and get a visual reference?

 

I agree, I need to mock something up to see how it looks. Or I could put real small tires on it. Kidding.

 

First things first. I have no spare at this time. Note to self...get spare...

 

do something like this. The front of your runner is heavy enough.....

 

I know. I know. I just have a bunch of other stuff I want to hang off the rear of it...I guess that is the nice thing about metal. Make it...if you dont like it cut it up, change it, re weld it into what you want. That is cool looking.

 

Front will be REAL heavy now that I think about it after I put that HOSS of a winch of mine up there...

 

Hmmmmmm......gears in brain box turning...smell burning...ugh. darnit bone....

 

What did I do now????

 

Nothin' got me kind of talked out of that spare on the front due to weight...but I could swap in a solid front axle, add helper springs and air bags and 3x shocks and I think I'll be good...
>crap<

 

Your truck you can do what you want. But everything you described sounds like a lot of work and downtime on the truck.

 

Was just joking. Yes. I need the truck. I want it as my DD NOW.