Giving your Spare Tire a Lift!

After you’ve lifted your JL with the latest and greatest, bolted on a sweet set of 37″s and your Wrangler is looking good. … then you hit a slight problem. Your 37″ spare doesn’t fit on the back of your JL, it hits the rear bumper.

Time for a LoD spare tire riser. LoD can help with their 2018+ Jeep JL Spare Tire Riser pn# LODJTC1801. Laser cut from 1/8″ steel, MIG welded and finished with black powder coat, it is designed to last the life of your Jeep. It’s also quick and easy to install, gotta love the easy ones!

 

What comes in the box:

Tools Needed:

Flat Blade Screwdriver

13mm, 14mm (or 9/16″) socket

1/2″ Socket Ratchet and extension

Medium strength thread locker, we recommend Blue Loctite 248

 

The HOW-TO:

This one is a quick and easy project, even if you take your time with a couple frosty beverages, you’ll still have time to get at those honey-dos you promised a week ago.

 

First step is to open the tailgate and remove the inside panel. We carefully inserted a flat blade screwdriver between the edge of the panel and pried it open enough for the clips to pop loose. We used a shop towel to help protect the paint from scratches.

 

 

Pull the inner cover from the tailgate, set aside and close the tailgate.

 

 

The green circles highlight the 8 bolts holding the OE tire carrier to the tailgate.

 

 

Use a 13mm socket to remove the 8 bolts holding the OE spare tire carrier to the tailgate.

 

 

Carefully pull the spare tire carrier from the tailgate and pull the 3rd brake light/back-up camera wiring harness from the slot in the side of the tire carrier.

 

 

Wrap a bungee cord around the tire carrier and loop it through the tailgate handle. It will support the weight of the tire carrier and keep it from pulling on the wiring harness for the 3rd brake light and back-up camera.

 

 

Quite a bit of dirt and dust can build up behind the tire carrier, so we took the time out to clean the tailgate off with a soft paper towel and some household cleaner.

Tip: We popped the wiring harness grommet out from the tailgate, this gave us a little more room to move the tire carrier out of the way.

 

 

Set one side of the tail gate riser onto the tailgate, align the holes in the LoD riser and the OE carrier holes and start installing the OE Jeep carrier hardware.

Leave the bolts just a little loose so the LoD parts will have a little movement. **We recommend that you use a dab of blue Loctite on all mounting bolt threads to help keep them tight.**

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do the same with the other side, set the second LoD riser piece in place, Loctite the bolts and screw them in. The factory bolts only screw in about 1/4 way before you meet some resistance.

 

 

We then used a cordless driver to run the screws in until they were just a little loose. We want them to move just a little to help line them up to each other.

 

 

Keep the two halves as parallel to either other as you can and tighten the mounting bolts by hand.

 

 

Set the OE tire carrier back into place, route the wire harness in between the tire carrier and the tire riser, careful not to pinch it. If you have the two brackets lined up, the OE tire carrier bolt holes will line right up. If you cannot get all the bolt holes to line up you’ll know that you do not have the two riser plates lined up properly.

 

 

We recommend that you use a little bit of blue Loctite on all mounting bolts.

 

 

Push-in the wiring harness pass-through rubber grommet if you pulled it out earlier.

 

 

Grab hold of the OE spare tire bumper, pull it out at angle, the rubber barb on the inside should pull loose allowing the grommet to pop out.

 

 

Insert the LoD supplied 3/8″ bolts for the LoD tire bump extensions in through the OE rubber bump hole in the tailgate and thread the tire bump onto the bolt. Definitely use a little blue Loctite to secure the hardware.

 

 

Hold the LoD tire bump extension in place and use a 9/16″ socket to tighten the bolts from the backside.

 

 

You can now pop the inner tailgate panel back in place. Make sure to line up all the factory snap clips and push the panel into place.

 

 

You are now finished installing the LoD Spare Tire Riser kit onto your JL. The OE spare tire carrier now sits 2″ higher and 1-3/8″ out from the tailgate. That’ll not only clear a 35″, it’s enough to clear a 37″ tire!

 

 

Bolt on the spare tire and adjust the LoD tire bump stop

 

 

The bumper stop extension can screw in or out to adjust for different sizes of spare tire offeset/backspace. You want it to just contact the tire, with only a little pressure to help keep the tire stable when driving. Our 4.75″ backspace seems to be big enough that even fully extended, our tire bump does not touch the tire.

So are you ready for a LoD Spare Tire Riser? CLICK HERE!