The spare tire can get in the way real bad when trying to hook up a trailer to the hitch. It's almost impossible to get most trailers on the hitch ball without a 2 inch drop ball mount. An easy fix with out spending $40+ for a spare tire lift/spacer is to remove the spare tire, take off the bolts that hold the spare tire carrier on, flip the carrier over, and then remount it. I got about 2 inches of lift on my spare tire from this and it also sits so the bottom of the tire is leaning in towards the bumper. This gives you even more clearance but if you want a more level look you could throw a few washers between the bolts and the plates to push the bottom out a little. With a 29" inch tire on the back, my glass just barely clears the tire when opening w/o moving the gate, perfect fit! BTW, I am a new member to the forum, I have been reading posts on here for about a year, but just now made an account, I hope to be pretty active. ****Photo of my newly lifted jeep at bottom!
****Space between glass (slightly opened) and spare tire (with cloth tire cover)
I wanted to get a post out, first time doing this. Did my pictures show up in the post? I really appreciate this forum, I have an old man emu lift in the mail with new wheels and tires, would have been hard to decide on what to get without y'all!
I recommend flipping the tire carrier to everybody, it'll give you a better departure angle if nothing else.