Has anyone fit a 35" spare tire under the GX550?

[turbo8]

The Overtrails have a Torsen limited-slip rear differential that is also equipped with an electronic locker. The limited-slip part is what makes me nervous. When I had the lift & wheels/tires installed at Westcott Designs, they completely wrote-off my tire size concerns regarding the 33" spare vs. the 35" new tires on the ground. They said it wouldn't be an issue if you took it easy on the spare and had the 35" tire replaced quickly (i.e. minimal driving on the spare). The truth is that, even with 5 same-sized wheels & tires like I've run on trucks for 25 years, I would always immediately take my truck to the tire shop if I had to use the spare. You go out off-roading on Saturday and you puncture a tire, you take it easy because you now have no spare and you get to the tire shop on Monday morning. Fortunately it's only happened to me a couple times over the years. If I were to have to use my 34" spare, I would take the time to juggle tires and mount the 34" spare on the front axle even if it was a rear tire that went flat. That would be a pain but worth it to avoid upsetting the Torsen limited-slip rear, in my opinion. I'd love to hear that it wouldn't matter one bit, 34" vs. 35" and/or front vs rear.

Center diff is Torsen with locking function. Rear diff is open with locking function.

 

[Bluegill]

Center diff is Torsen with locking function. Rear diff is open with locking function.

I've seen the rear listed as Torsen limited slip but I just went straight to the Lexus website and it appears that you are correct - the center is the Torsen limited slip and rear is just listed as electronic locking rear differential. This therefore eliminates much of my concerns....and no need to juggle a flat rear tire to get a good 35" front tire on the rear the 34" spare on the front. Thank you.

 

[mlapoint]

I like the deflate idea a lot. Does anyone know if you deflate the spare if your TPMS will throw a dash alert? It does on my archaic FJ, could kind of annoying if it's a persistent warning that you can't clear away.

It will throw an alert, I had a blow out and drove back with 0 PSI in the spare area, I believe you can just clear it and it stays cleared for a while until you can get the patch/tire replacement.

 

[S SUBERI]

I'll take some more shots of my 34 in there. Just got home, going to let the truck & garage cool down a bit.

Looks like your spare is mounted on a stock wheel? I have 285/75R!7's (Method 316 wheels) on the ground and a stock spare wheel and tire. I'm thinking I could go either new 17" Method 316 with same tire for spare or 285/75r18 on spare stock wheel. Based on the pictures on this thread it looks like either would fit. if I get a puncture I'm getting it fixed or replaced right away and Westcott didn't think it would be a big deal either way. I tend to be a bit more conservative though and would like to get it right. Any thoughts on what would be the right choice.
Thank you in advance.

 

[Bluegill]

I have my 34" spare mounted on a stock Toyota 4Runner wheel. Similar size and offset to my 17" Methods.

 

[JorgeR]

Looks like your spare is mounted on a stock wheel? I have 285/75R!7's (Method 316 wheels) on the ground and a stock spare wheel and tire. I'm thinking I could go either new 17" Method 316 with same tire for spare or 285/75r18 on spare stock wheel. Based on the pictures on this thread it looks like either would fit. if I get a puncture I'm getting it fixed or replaced right away and Westcott didn't think it would be a big deal either way. I tend to be a bit more conservative though and would like to get it right. Any thoughts on what would be the right choice.
Thank you in advance.

I tried several sizes for the spare. The 285/75R18 does not fit. I took the rear recovery point off, deflated the tire and shifted it to the right as far as I could and it wouldn’t clear the hitch. The only way it may clear is to do all that, cut off the bracket and have a new pan hard bar fabricated that is bent closer to the axel to try and keep it from hitting the tire. I think that would work on a 34 but not a 35…when I was getting my 285/75 we lifted several different size tires into the well and none fit…

 

[S SUBERI]

Thank you Jorge and Bill, I'm just going to have to try to get as close as I can. Right now there's a 1.2" delta between the stock tire and the 285/75r17's I'm running. Not sure how much that matters but being conservative I don't want to take any chances in case I get a puncture out in the middle of nowhere.

 

[mlapoint]

I just got Open Country RT Trails in 285/75/17 installed last night and they actually fit in the spare tire area! I was completely surprised. Remember each manufacturer's actual tire sizes are not the same, these are 33.9". I'll post up some pics of the underside but I looked where the bumper is cut out by Lexus to fit the curve of the OEM tire size and this fit's right up against it. Also, the poke below the bumper isn't to bad as these are 11.3" wide

 

[BryanM68]

I just got Open Country RT Trails in 285/75/17 installed last night and they actually fit in the spare tire area! I was completely surprised. Remember each manufacturer's actual tire sizes are not the same, these are 33.9". I'll post up some pics of the underside but I looked where the bumper is cut out by Lexus to fit the curve of the OEM tire size and this fit's right up against it. Also, the poke below the bumper isn't to bad as these are 11.3" wide

The 285/75/17 tires I'm looking at are stated to be 34.1". Looking at your spare, is their wiggle room where a 34.1" will fit? Thanks!

 

[Bluegill]

Took my 34" spare off today to get the TPMS swapped over to it from the stock spare (I forgot to do this when I had it installed).

Here is the 34x10.5x17 wheel & tire compared to my 35x12.5x17 - it's actually higher than the 35 because it has no weight on it:

Here is the 34 on the left and the stock 33 on the right (265/70/18):

 

[Bluegill]

Re-installed the spare in the under-cargo stock area. Managed to tuck it up a bit more snug against the forward tabs. It's now not even touching the recovery ring. Also note how clean the backside of the Toyota 4Runner wheel is now. It's the little things that matter.