Spare on the Back of Scout?

[No2Mud]

I'm thinking the tailgate-mounted spare may negatively impact the truck's crawling - climbing specifically. You know, more weight behind the rear axle, unweighting the front tires.

Anyone mount the spare and notice a difference?

Just trying to solve the world's important challenges here.

[JatoTheRipper]

Besides raising your center of gravity and changing your front to rear weight balance, spares also affect your departure angle. The spare often drags on the ground when going up hills or dropping off of things.

[djr01974]

Much agreed on the departure angles and weight. I actually like the way it looks and before I got the axe I put two 3oz wheel weights on the chassis up front and zipped tied them down. Now that Real car tire weights lol. Cheap and effective way to keep the front end down. They are zipped tied down right in front of the steering servo.

[No2Mud]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Besides raising your center of gravity and changing your front to rear weight balance, spares also affect your departure angle. The spare often drags on the ground when going up hills or dropping off of things.

You mean like the time a 38" Swamper blew out the back window and landed in the back of my friend's CJ5 when we dropped off a small ledge?

thx

[No2Mud]

Originally Posted by djr01974

Much agreed on the departure angles and weight. I actually like the way it looks and before I got the axe I put two 3oz wheel weights on the chassis up front and zipped tied them down. Now that Real car tire weights lol. Cheap and effective way to keep the front end down. They are zipped tied down right in front of the steering servo.

I like the counterweight idea - simulates that 600lb 304 V8

[xtreme4x2]

Would be nice if someone made a rear bumper with a tire carrier that fit well. I think I've only seen 2 or 3 rear bumpers for the gen8 and none had a tire carrier

[djr01974]

Here is my axe with the same weights in the front

[Gamer707b]

As far as effecting its crawling ability, it will do just that. Especially for crawling. I put my spare on over a year ago when I first bought it and yes, it made uphill harder on the rig. But, at the time I didn't care cause I liked the look. If you really want to put it on, have some extra weight up front to make up for it. Just know, the spare rear will get hung up on rocks on steeps climbs

[Nogman]

Ive tried to make mine as little of a hindrance as possible. But ive still been considering taking it off, but dont want to deal with covering the hole in the rear.
I removed the foam from my spare, and i am only runnimg the outer beadlock ring to save a little weight. It was still getting hung up, so i cut the hex off the carrier and made a bracket that raised it about 3/4" and leaned it back ahainst the rear window more. Doesnt hang except on straight ledge drops, but i still think the weight could be a small factor. My scouts close to 10lbs at this point so not sure how much the 5-6oz spare is really doing though.

[No2Mud]

I'm mostly okay with the departure/drop-off issues. I want the truck to be as close to "real" as (realistically) possible. Real trucks have to watch how they drop off ledges, etc. But, I would like to see it mounted like we would with a full-size truck - higher, angled back toward the window... like you did @Nogman.