I have a Hummer kit built on a 73' Chevy K10 p-up chassis, full-time 4x4 with 35x12.50x15 ATs to be used as a daily driver. After considering all the alternative locations I've decided that I want to put my spare wheel under the rear of the truck as per the original location, however there is only 27" between the chassis rails. So how do I get a 35" wheel up there? I don't want to mount it under the chassis rails as it will hang down too low, so I thought what about a 're-inflateable' spare with onboard compressor? OK, so I deflate my brand new 35" Avon SXT and try to squish it down to 27"...the sidewalls are so new and stiff I could'nt get it to squish down to less than 32".

Does anyone here know of a 35" tire with really soft sidewalls?

Maybe a good used tire that someones been using aired down on the rocks, so that the sidewalls are now soft and flexy.

My tire dealer tells me there is a real narrow Mickey Thomson Baja Claw 35x10.00x15, this would help clear the rear axel but it's a bias ply so it probably has stiff sidewalls.

Any ideas

Thanks.:confused:

get out the come-a-long and squish that tire down till it fits:D

Ya know, I've thought about something like that...really. I have to make up a swing down spare wheel carrier anyway, so what about one that doubles as a kind of vise with twin screws attached to two large pieces of angle (like the jaws of a bench vise) that would cradle the tire and squish it down before swinging it up into place.
Still, it would be nice to find a tire soft enough that I could do it by hand and save on the extra fabrication work.

Any more ideas?

havespine.

get yourself one of those mity-vac or other vacum pumps udes for bleeding brakes, put it onto the valvestem and suck the air out of it, do this in combination with a ratchet strap on each side with a couple peices of 2x4 and it will go.
the question for me is if you have a flat do you have space to bring the flat one back?

Mytzlflick,

I like the way you think, very creative!:beer::beer: I gotta try that.

Good question about where to carry the flat, I had'nt even thought about it. It's a full sized Hummer Wagon replica so i'll have room in the cargo bed or in the rear seating area. I just don't want a spare permanently mounted back there as I need all of that space for my construction tools. Tailgate mounts out since it's hard enough to find parking for something this big in San Fran with out adding 12" to the lenghth. And low headroom parking garages rules out the roof mount. Hood mounting is ridiculous and probably illegal. So that's why I'm trying to stuff it between the rear chassis rails.

I've since found out that Mickey Thompson makes an offroad Baja Pro 35x10.0x15 for desert buggies (not for highway use!), but it's just a spare right? I can't imagine why it would'nt get me to the nearest tire shop. I doubt johnny law would pull me over just to read my sidewalls. It's a polyester/nylon ply, no steel belts so I think the sidewalls should be pretty soft. It's rated to fit on a 4" wide rim so If I can find one in aluminum I'll have one ultra light space saving spare!

If anyone reading this thinks this is a recipe for disaster please let me know...I'm just winging it, not sure if its safe.

If all you are worried about is getting to the nearst shop why not use a smaller tire as a spair and if your going wheeling throw a full sized spare up top.

Would'nt that screw up my full-time np203 T-case? To be honest I don't know for sure but I've been told that running a dramaticaly different sized wheel on a full time system would cause driveline damage. I would have thought that the differentials would take care of it but I'm not that knowledgeable about this so i'm being cautious. Besides that, the nearest tire shop could be 60mi away, that's a long way to go with an 8" limp, hoping the've got my size and brand tire in stock. I guess I was'nt being realistic when I said the nearest tire shop, what I really want is a spare that will safely last a few days/few hundred miles until my tire comes in. Otherwise i'll have to take whatever brand/style tire the nearest shop has in my size for $140+ and then spend another $140+ for the correct tire later.

What I'm worried about is a complete tire failure, if it's just a flat due to a nail or something like that I can usually repair it on the side of the road with a tubeless plug repair kit and a compressor.

Sounds like you need a full sized spare. The 203 full time wouldn't be a huge problem If you had hubs on the front end and could unlock them.

Welp!, It's official,

The experts agree: Mytzlflick is a genius. After getting a suggestion from Don an offroad tire tech guy at Mickey Thomas tires, I bought a tube deflator online from Myers Tire Supply ($2.67). It's a little devise that screws on to the valve stem after you have removed the core, you then attach an air line chuck to a side fitting and deflate! It turns your air compressor into a vacuum pump, worked so well that I was able to suck that 35" tire right down to the 15" rim in a BOX like shape :eek: . Problem now is that the tire went from being 12.50 wide to 17.0 wide due to the pancaked tread. Guess I'll have to get the Dune buggy tire after all.

havespine.

The differentials will take care of it. Run a donut without fear

So you have finally put it all together! Lets see some pics of how it came out. You have defiantlly put together a diffrent type of truck. I am the guy you were going to orginally buy the 73' from. I am curious as to how your new truck looks.

As to your delema of your tire. If squish your 35" to fit into the space of a 27" I would think you would be putting alot of creases and piches in the side walls of the tire. Combine that with long periods of non use and they will start cracking very fast. If you have swing out doors in the rear why don't you have a body shop make a sort of scoop that the tire sits in either standing up or laying down in the back of the body. You might be even to have a box like area between the frame rails (or sitting dirctly on the frame) to store it laying down. What i would do is see about puttin it standing up in the back with a small area indented into the floor tha the tire slides into. I don't know if i am explanning it right but i hope you get the picture. If done right it would slove most of your problems..

Hope it all comes out well!!

Hey there drnut!

Good to hear from you. How's your new married life?
Progress is slow with my Chevy framed Hummer kit, you know how it goes. Thanks for your suggestions (cracking issue well noted). There's not much room for making "Detents" in the rear cargo area, it would help, but a large chunk of cargo space would still be eaten up by a spare. Maybe I'll just have to replace my re-inflateable spare every couple of years, before it develops cracks!

This is the most recent pic (2 weeks ago)...as you can see I have a lot of work to do.
http://hummerforum.kicks-ass.net/~thoulihan/Badlands Hood 005.jpg

http://hummerforum.kicks-ass.net/~thoulihan/Mounting The Body 002.jpg

http://hummerforum.kicks-ass.net/~thoulihan/Badlands Hood 002.jpg

Here's the 73' K10 longbed frame.
http://hummerforum.kicks-ass.net/~thoulihan/Under Tunnel 03.jpg

Here's the body being manufactured
http://hummerforum.kicks-ass.net/~thoulihan/P9240040.JPG

havespine.

Married life is good! She's letting me do a project of a 85' yota. I hope to be some what done in a year or so..

Well to say that your project is awsome is an understatement! You knew what you wanted and i'm glad to see that its coming together!!! Send me a finshed pic when you are all done!!

I just have a couple of questions..
1. Is it turning out the way in intended it to?

2. Would you do it again?

3. Is it coming in on the budget you had for it?


Well good luck with the rest of your project and best wishes!!

Now that is COOL!!!! I like it ... I love it.... I want 1 !!!!!!