Jeepjeepster wrote:
Im not much on the spare tire being under the Jeep either. How do you get it down on the KK's?
To get the spare down on the KK, you lift up the cargo bed, and there's a rubber plug in there. The first time I saw it, I thought it was a 12V outlet, but it's where you crank the spare tire down.
Anyway, you get the 2 pieces out from where the jack is located on the left side and put them together. They form a crank thing that you crank like an old fashion wood drill, if you know what I mean. It lets the spare all the way to the ground. There is plenty extra cable, and the KK sits up high enough in the rear, you just stoop down, reach underneath and grab the tire and pull it out. Then you release the cable from the center of the tire and away you go.
I've seen the arguments about how hard it is to get to, how it's going to get ruined, etc etc etc etc... blah blah blah.
I still say, in my opinion, that when I changed the tire several times on my KJ, with the tire on the rear door, it took a LOT more effort to get the tire off the door and put it back on the door, vs the crank-up underneath the KK. You have to lift that big heavy booty tire up there, then move it around to find the bolt pattern, then push it onto the carrier, then hold it in place while you get a couple of lug nuts started. The whole thing just took quite a bit of strength to perform vs raising and lowering the tire underneath the KK. And yes, I've done it on both vehicles, my KJ and my KK.
I will say though, I had the spare underneath on my 2001 Isuzu Rodeo and it was a bit more effort than the KK to get the tire out and remounted.
I also had a spare on a rear carrier of my 97 Kia Sportage, and like my KJ, it was just a whole lot more effort than the KK takes to lower and remount than the KK.
I realize there is an argument about damaging the spare on the KK when offroad. However, if you look at that picture that Digger posted, then look at where the fuel tank is located on a KJ, you'll soon realize that if you do a lot of damage to the tire on the KK, you would have surely seriously damaged the fuel tank on a KJ, even if it did have a skid plate.
I work as a broadcast engineer and take my vehicles to some transmitter sites that are as rough, or rougher to get to than some of the pics I've seen posted on these boards of off-road adventures, and I've yet to damage either a spare tire or a fuel tank.
As far as checking the tire pressure goes.... the KK Sport has tire pressure sensors as standard, including the spare tire. I'm not sure, but it may be that they are part of the "popular equipment package", but I doubt you'll find a lot of Sports around without that.
If you are on vacation and have a lot of heavy suitcases in the rear to remove first, then I guess it is a pain in the booty to have it down there. I'm just thinking that most people don't carry a lot of stuff back there all the time though.