Fifth Wheel Predicament
 

I have so far only been able to find and buy 4 Duratracs. I am due to pick up the Jeep in a few weeks and may not find a fifth tire for the tailgate soon. (Turns out there are tires around in odd lots but the sercive centers who have them are not will to part with them. I was able to find in 1 place that were in conneticut)

I have two options, keep the stock wheel on the tailgate while the rest of my Jeep sits pretty on 35's or take off the tailgate wheel/tire all together.

At this point im thinking of removing the back tire. Is it easy to remove the break light that hangs over the tail gate wheel? Does it look clean if its not removed? I plan on buying front and back bumpers sooner than later and the back bumper will have a tire carrier.

I had the same predicament finding a 5th 35" MTR cause they are consistently on nation wide back order...Drove around for almost 2 months with a bare wheel on back.

Either PM on here or give Discount Tire a call, they will get you what you need at the lowest price around!!

You know, I understand the Jeep thing about having a matching spare on the back. I realy do. But I also know that I'm cheap and a wheel and tire of that size is expensive. Especially when you think that a lot of times that tire will never have to touch the ground. I'm about to replace the stock tires on my Rubicon with something a bit bigger. For the spare I'm planning on finding a used tire the same size and then using a tire cover to hide the fact that I'm so cheap. I figure that if I have to use it that it will be good enough to get me somewhere to get the old tire fixed or last long enough to find a replacement.

Just throwing an idea out there...

I think it looks worse to run a stock tire on the tailgate when you have upgraded to larger tires. Ditch the spare until you can get a matching one. There are many options out there if you want to remove the stock tire carrier to make the back of your Jeep look clean.

Can you list some of those options?

Do a search for a tramp stamp...lots of companies make them. They will cover the openings in the tailgate. I'm running the Poison Spyder one with the Teraflex 3rd brake light.



Attachment 313207

If you opted to not install the light bracket, would there be a hole where the light cable comes out?

Thanks for posting the link.

Yea there will be a hole there and where the bump stops are. You can run to the hardware store and pick up some rubber/ plastic grommets or go the route I did and go with UFOs from Vector Offroad.

I just looked it up. This will work. Do you need to cut the 3rd light cable?

You do not need to cut the cable. If you remove the plastic grill on the inside of your tailgate you will find a connector that you can unplug. This cable runs through the grommet hole you will be plugging if you remove your spare carrier. You should save this is you plan on a reinstall or to add a third brake light after as you can just plug it back in again. There are some good write-up on this on the forum. I believe you may find it if you search third brake light/license plate delete/mount. I can't do it now, but if I get a chance later I will post the link. Good luck.