That spare tire
#62
Melting Slicks
When I bought mine it had that hole in the front, bad suspension, the tire was flat. Key didn't work the lock. couple years later, finally decided to unbolt the cover to fix the flat tire issue, nice BFG in there but I guess the tire needs a wheel to hold air. Now I use the area for the diff pump and cooler.
#63
Ok, since someone brought this up - I have a 40 year old 7.75 X 15 spare in the carrier, it's prior to the letter series tires and was there in 1973 when I bought the car. I'm now running 225x70x15's and just found out last year that they won't fit in the tub. I need to replace the 225's (and probably that 40 yo spare) and was thinking of getting the largest size tire (getting 5 tires) that will fit in the tub - I wonder if 215's would fit since 205's are really too small. What do you do on the road when you can't fit your flat in the tub??
#64
Drifting
I only figured out a few years ago that there is no way to get a flat 255-60 into a '77 well. No amount of adjusting with stock front hanger bolts will do the trick. If you want to lengthen the front bolts then that can work but lowers the tub where it can bottom out on road surfaces.
I can second this. When I was carrying a 255 spare, I lengthened the front bolts with some studs and couplers to get it to work. And yes, it was easier to bottom out on the tub.