Different sized tires

Okay, I definitely know driving with 1 smaller tire is bad. But how about if both the front or both the rears are smaller? Say you have 34.5" rears, would running 32" fronts do any damage in either 2WD or 4WD? My drive deep into the desert may be coming up and I'm wondering if I don't get a proper full size spare by then, can I just take 2 of my stock wheels? In the event of a flat, I'll just swap out both fronts or rears.

Second question, what have you guys done for a full size spare? A 5 tire rotation would be nice but I'm not spending another $500 for another wheel. I was thinking about slapping on a cheaper tire onto my spare rim, has anyone done that?

 

@badassliftinstaller

 

Make sure to post pics of spearmint when your "deep in the desert"

 

If the Spearmint is anywhere nearby, I probably won't make it to the desert...

 

In theory you could run a pair of smaller tires on the same axle in a pinch, but not in 4wd as rotations will be miss matched and cause drivetrain bind. You could potentially hurt/break something if running in 4wd, it would basically be like having mis-matched axle gears which is a no-no. You'd probably also get some lights on the dash thinking the tires are spinning at different speeds, probably give ABS/Traction control issues having mis-matched sizes
Look into a 275/70/18 for under the truck, they're just over 33" and being within an inch of your regular tires would probably make them fine to run short-term as a spare to get to a tire shop.

 

Yeah, I figured the 4wd would be a no-no, but 2wd should be okay? My problem is, we're going up past Black Rock and the nearest shop is probably.... ummm.... your shop. LOL Uggggghhhh, I guess I'll just have to pony up for a full size soon. Thanks Eric

 

If you want to fit a spare that's much larger than 32" into the stock location under the bed you'll have to cut two brackets off to make it fit. You can fit up to a 285 wide tire onto a stock 18x8" wheel and have no clearance problems on either axle. My 285/75R18 Exo Grapplers fit just fine on both axles and under the bed. Something with lugs that stick out like on a Toyo M/T would be problematic though. Perhaps you could buy a stock OE steel wheel if you're trying to do it on the cheap.