Removing large wheels from rear wheelwells

[JMR5]

Hey guys, let me start by apologizing for the stupid question, but it's been a long week and it was 105 degrees today...which means 100+ in my garage. I purchased a 60 GMC 1000 wideside, short bed, big back window truck last month. The prior owner had 20's with 275/45 tires and that just isn't my style, not to mention how hard it was to turn those beasts with manual steering. Anyway, I've got my new tires mounted on steel wheels today and I'm having trouble trying to wedge the old monsters out of the back wheel wells. This is the first truck I've ever owned without leaf spring suspension in the rear and I'm puzzled. On a leaf spring truck I just jack under the frame to clear the tire, but that doesn't work here. On a trailing arm truck like this how do I get the rear suspension to drop down enough to get these huge tires out? Do I need to unhook the coils, shocks and/or pan hard bar? Thanks guys.

[Reyals Bemus]

You need to jack up the rear of the truck from the frame, instead of under the axle. It will take more jack travel to actually get the wheels off the ground, but it should allow the suspension to droop enough for you to yank those 20's out of there. If that doesn't do it, then you'll have to add a small bottle jack to the equation. Place it between the axle and frame and jack them apart just enough to make the space you need. It's all quite a pain in the ass!

[66Submarine]

Why can't you get to the frame? On my stuff with somewhat normal tires I jack the truck up to where I have say, 3" from the bottom of the tire to the ground, then pull the bottom of the tire out to get it off the lugs/hub. Then you can let it slide down until the wheel itself hits the brake drum. After that it should come out, probably still need to be a little sideways with a big tire. My trucks aren't lowered, but I always jack them up by the axle or trailing arm, so the suspension is still loaded. I think on your truck you should be able to jack it up by the frame and slide the tire out like I described pretty easily.

[LVPhotos]

Jack the frame in front of axle right at the curve. I also used 4by4 across rear frame. If short because shock travel, disconnect.
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[JMR5]

Ok, thanks guys. I may need to disconnect the shock. I started by jacking under the frame in front of the rear tire right at the curve as LVPhotos noted and I was really surprised how quickly the tire came of the ground and didn't take up much suspension. On my 59 I would have to go forever on the jack from the frame to get a tire off the ground. I'll disconnect a shock and see how she goes.

[Chevy Fleetside]

A friend of mine lives in Rocklin. I was supposed to go up there this weekend and help him with an arbor for his house. But since I just came down with a cold and it is going to be majorly hot I decieded not to go this weekend. Next weekend will be better...
Did you ever get the back tires off? Unbolting a shock like you mentioned might help.

[JMR5]

Definitely good that you aren't heading over ChevyFleetside because it's supposed to be even hotter tomorrow! Yes, once I unbolted the shocks I was able to get enough room to wiggle out the wheels.