More Clearance for hooking up a trailer

2004BLKKJ · **Posted:** Mon Oct 07, 2013 5:33 pm

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)

tommudd · **Posted:** Mon Oct 07, 2013 5:43 pm

Lots of folks have done that over the years
But Thanks for reposting it so maybe some that don't know can do it

May want to have your pictures on Photobucket and then post on here so we can see them

2004BLKKJ · **Posted:** Mon Oct 07, 2013 5:46 pm

Oh, well hopefully it can be of help to somebody out there.

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!

tommudd · **Posted:** Mon Oct 07, 2013 5:48 pm

No pictures yet

and

WELCOME TO LOST

2004BLKKJ · **Posted:** Mon Oct 07, 2013 5:49 pm

Aw okay. I think I read somewhere that pictures won't appear until I have been a member for 'x' amount of time to prevent spam. We'll see. Thanks for the welcoming.

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Mon Oct 07, 2013 10:20 pm

Howdy - Welcome to LOST

Pix's work for me - FYI - if you're running IE - it will block images - Firefox doesn't.

also the flip the spare mount also helps with clearance if you put a 265/75/16 spare on the back.

John3:17 · **Posted:** Tue Oct 08, 2013 9:42 am

And another alternative thats been posted before. :ROTFL:

Gets the ball and coupler out past the tire.

And Welcome to LOST!

2004BLKKJ · **Posted:** Tue Oct 08, 2013 2:08 pm

John3:17 wrote:

And another alternative thats been posted before. :ROTFL:

Gets the ball and coupler out past the tire.

And Welcome to LOST!

True but those cost $$ and this is free.

and thanks!

dgeist · **Posted:** Tue Oct 08, 2013 4:31 pm

ATXKJ wrote:

Pix's work for me - FYI - if you're running IE - it will block images - Firefox doesn't.

Still? I updated the image resizer a while back with one that supports the newer IE versions...can someone confirm for me? I only have a Linux workstation and old windows machines

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Tue Oct 08, 2013 10:05 pm

All the pictures works for me in Chrome, IE, and Foxfire. Tested them all..
xp.

Jeepin'WNC · **Joined:** Mon Nov 15, 2010 1:48 am **Posts:** 191

I flipped my spare quite some time back. I found a couple of nuts and washers that fit the studs that the mount attach to; I used them as spacers on the top studs of the spare mount before mounting the spare carrier back on to push the spare mount a little farther out at the top. My glass barely clears my Goodyear Duratrac 31x10.50. I also flipped the center section of a universal Reese Towpower frame hitch to re-gain the ground clearance I'd lost to the hitch when it was installed "normal" . Flipping the center of a universal hitch is not possible without cutting the stock plastic "bumper". For the last several months in my spare time, which I have very little of, I've been building a rear bumper for my Liberty...

kevent · **Joined:** Mon Aug 27, 2012 11:47 am **Posts:** 22

pics opf flipped hitch and spaces tire rack to clear 31 ???..

wheeee32 · **Posted:** Mon Oct 14, 2013 9:24 am

Lift looks good.

2004BLKKJ · **Posted:** Mon Oct 14, 2013 2:02 pm

Thanks for all the comments guys. I love the OME lift. The ride is noticeably better and the look is so unique. I have only seen 2 lifted kjs in person and one of them is mine.

I recommend flipping the tire carrier to everybody, it'll give you a better departure angle if nothing else.

juliecracker · **Posted:** Mon Jul 04, 2016 1:34 pm

For some reason I can't see the pictures anymore, but I had the same problem and was so happy to hear about this workaround! I was really getting tired of the tire knocking the hitch lock latch closed...

Thanks!

Sarge48 · **Joined:** Wed Sep 02, 2015 11:12 pm **Posts:** 18

John3:17 wrote:

And another alternative thats been posted before. :ROTFL:

Gets the ball and coupler out past the tire.

And Welcome to LOST!

Where can I get one of those?

mikey1273 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 11, 2016 10:31 am

Sarge48 wrote:

John3:17 wrote:

And another alternative thats been posted before. :ROTFL:

Gets the ball and coupler out past the tire.

And Welcome to LOST!

Where can I get one of those?

Quadratec

blk05liberty · **Posted:** Tue Sep 06, 2016 10:46 pm

Theres also a hitch extension on quadratec.com.

More Clearance for hooking up a trailer

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