Exhaust to spare tire clearance

[Wgesnerjr]

I had a custom exhaust put in my truck before I put a spare in it. Now that I have added the spare, the exhaust is about 1-1/2 inches away from the spare on either side.

Is there a general rule of thumb on appropriate clearance as not to damage the tire?

[Wgesnerjr]

Here are some pics

[Ziegelsteinfaust]

The distance is a bit close for my taste too, but I do not believe it is bad.

Although I would double wrap the area around the tire with header wrap. This way you keep heat away, but also do not induce a rattle at a later point.

[LS short box]

I wouldn't worry about it. When you are driving the air flow around it will cool the exhaust pipe. Plus by the time the exhaust gets to the tip it's cooled a bunch. You could start it up and let it idle for awhile and check the tire to see if its warm near the exhaust.

[Wgesnerjr]

Thanks. I think it might be ok while driving too.
I did start it up and even held the throttle at about 1500 for 2 mins to simulate driving. (cant drive it right now, seat is out at upholstery shop.) The tail pipe was hot but I could hold it for about 1 second. 1 inch away you could feel the heat, but it was not unbearable. For reference it was 55 degrees at the time.
I just worry about sitting in traffic during an August rush hour in Atlanta. (In this situation it would be around 100 degree sunny day, sitting on freeway doing 0 to 3 mph with A/C on)

[1976gmc20]

FWIW, my Silverado has a shield between the tail pipe and spare tire.

[Palf70Step]

My 81 and my 2002 had duals close like that and the 02 had the same spare for 12 years and no issues. My 81 is a bit tigher than what yours is and is is no issue. I am on the coast of souther MS, so it gets hot like Hotlanta also. No issues, but If you are worried either make heat shield or do the header wrap (that would be my preference).

This is the onlu underside of my 81 I have when they were running the pipes.

[Wgesnerjr]

Decided to go out this morning and utilize some of the other holes in the bracket and frame with the hope of moving the tire back towards the bumper.

[Wgesnerjr]

I found an oval hole further back on the frame near the bumper where the screw part goes. I had to drill the smaller hole but that was easy.

[Wgesnerjr]

Spare tire moved way back. Now almost a hands width on the tight side. More than a hand on the other side.

Makes me feel better about heat during hot commute!

[Wgesnerjr]

Looks good from the back too. Very happy with it.
Thanks everyone!

[Palf70Step]

Nice job!

[1976gmc20]

I'm glad you found some spare holes!

[Wgesnerjr]

Spare holes are always good! ;-)

Just wanted to ask, how reliable are these little guys? It the only thing holding the spare up. Do these fail and let the spare fall out? Since this is the first time I've had a spare, I just wonder about it. Its the original so the history is unknown. The carrier was in the bed when I bought the truck.

[Palf70Step]

If you're worried (I wouldn't), yuou could do like I have and put a pad lock on it. In addition to not falling thru, no cone can "borrow" it from you. The guy I got it from put it on and I never bothered to not have it on there. I have a crank up style I eventually plan on adding (88-94 style) to replace the factory one, but as they say down here "I'm fix'n to get started on that project".

[78 Big10 454]

Funny story. I was coming home one weekend morning from my 24-hour shift at the fire station. On I-5, right by Dodger Stadium, I felt a bump and looked in my rear view mirror to see my spare tire and tire carrier laying in the #3 lane. I was able to retrieve both without any significant damage. When I got home, I found a recall notice in my mailbox from GM in regards to a faulty spare tire carrier for my 78 truck!

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

If you're worried (I wouldn't), yuou could do like I have and put a pad lock on it. In addition to not falling thru, no cone can "borrow" it from you. The guy I got it from put it on and I never bothered to not have it on there. I have a crank up style I eventually plan on adding (88-94 style) to replace the factory one, but as they say down here "I'm fix'n to get started on that project".

Yeah, I bought one of those brackets and padlocks from Chevy when I got my 1973 K20 (or maybe I ordered it with the spare tire lock?).

Anyway ... it worked just fine until one day I had a flat and couldn't get the spare tire lock to unlock. I had to use vice grips and a crescent wrench to unscrew the bolt on the other end of the carrier from the frame. So someone could theoretically still steal your spare tire if they want to work that hard.

To make it all more interesting, where I had the flat was on a shelf road not really wide enough for a pickup to begin with! I had to stand on a boulder several feet below the edge of the road to do the lug nuts because the flat tire was literally right on the edge or maybe a little over (the other side tires's sidewalls were running up the rocky bank). It was maybe 1000 feet down and I sure had to be careful not to drop anything