So here's my deal: I mountain bike a lot, and I have a tuffy trunk. Problem is I can't open my tail gate now. I have a swing out bike rack so in theory I could, but only when the spare tire is removed, which doesn't do me much good.

I've tried all the third party spacers you attach to the factory mount and none lift the spare nigh enough. I need to clear a 255/75/16 (33.3") tire above the bottom of the tail gate in order to make this work.

Any solutions? Or any tire carriers that'll work? I'm considering a new rear bumper anyway, so that's still an option. Just has to clear the door.

 

I saw that you mentioned a Tuffy trunk, so I figured I'd check in with you...do you have a pic of the issue? We have a JK with a 33" spare on the tailgate AND a bike rack on it. Are you dealing with an aftermarket tire carrier? How does the Tuffy item fit into this situation? (Aren't I nosy?)

 

The trunk only opens if you open the tailgate. So if I take a group camping for a mountain biking trip (something we do often) then it's hard to get into the cargo space.

I use a Yakima swing daddy 4 bike rack. It mounts into the receiver hitch but can swing out so you can access the trunk area even with the bikes still on.

I don't have a pic at the moment, mostly because I'm still running stock tires until Christmas but it's still the same problem.

Basically when you swing out the tailgate, the tire hits the bike rack. Personally I feel it's Yakima's design flaw ... But yeah.

The trunk isn't the issue, it was the solution to security issues but the unintended consequence was the bike rack issue.