Compatability of Full Size Wheel and Tire Mounting On the Curt Hitch Mounted Spare Tire Carrier

Question:

How do you mount the wheel on this thing? I already received this product but my 255/65R18 seems massive for it. It almost looks like its only meant for a trailer spare but the product desicription says nothing about it beying made only for a small trailer size wheel. The rim depth is huge compared to the mounts top section/triangle. Its almost like Im missing about 8 - 6 inches of depth. Its also angled in such a way that you cant mount the wheel at 90 degrees even if you did have the depth. There is nothing in the description that says its for small wheels because you sell a bunch of other products that are not just trailer-specific.

asked by: Chris G

Expert Reply:

I did some calculations and came up with a 6.78 inch tall sidewall on your tire that combined with the 9 inch Radius of your wheel would give you 15.78 inches above and below the center of the wheel mount location on the Curt Hitch Mounted Spare Tire Carrier, item # c31006.

I went out to the warehouse and measured on the angle from the center of the tire mount and the distance back down to the support bar at 15.78 inches is 8 inches. This is why the angle is built into the item, so that the wheel backspacing can be accounted for. This means that if the distance from the back side of your wheels mounting holes to the farthest back part of the tire is greater than 8 inches your tire will not mount with the back of your wheel flush with the carrier. If the tire contacted the carrier and not the wheel you could still mount the tire as long as the mounting bolts you choose are long enough and the angle of the wheels is not too severe.

This tire carrier is not designed for 90 degree mounting but is designed for mounting vehicle spare tires. Usually this carrier is used in front mount receivers.

expert reply by: Robert G