Do you like to party offroad and tow heavy but don't like carrying your spare in the bed? Carli Suspension has come up with a solution for the 17+ Fords that allows for up to a 38" tire along with the ability to tow 16,000+ lbs. A combination of 3/16″ and 1/4″ Cold-Rolled American Steel combine with a 3-way tie down to provide users a 3″ Hitch Receiver and 38″ Spare Tire in the Factory Location.

It all started with the purchase of Carli's 2017 F250 Super Duty… Their previous 2011 had no issue with a full size (I’m talking full-size – 37×13.5″) tire fitting in the factory location. This was new territory for us as the RAM platform with which we’re so familiar wouldn’t even allow a 35 in the factory location without contacting the axle center-section to the tire sidewall on full compression of the rear suspension. The 2011-16 Fords spoiled us. Once they got through the R&D on their 2.5″ Lift Ford Systems for the 17+ “Alumiduty” platform, they went to throw in a full size spare to match our 37×13.5″ Toyo R/T and, much to their surprise, it took a floor jack to wedge it into the factory location. This wasn’t even an aggressive mud terrain, what gives, Ford??

It may not have been easy to get in and required deflation to remove (and carrying a compressor to inflate) but it was doable. Fast forward to the 4.5″ System Development and the monstrous Super Duty Wheel Wells exhibited by our customers posting pictures of their 40″ meats on our production 4.5″ systems and they knew something had to be done. These customers claimed only “minor trimming” to fit the 40’s so they stepped up to 38″ x 13.5″ M/T knowing full well that, unlike most, they'd be cycling the FULL length of travel and doing it often so it was best to err on the side of caution when stuffing bigger tires. They were a success – very minimal trimming tucked the 38″ without issue but the spare was ratchet strapped in the bed as there was no way to fit it under the bed. Not sure you’d want to crank it into the factory hitch even if it would fit – they saw video evidence of two of our customers running whoop sections dropping their oversized spare tires from the bottom of the bed thanks to a broken factory winch cable. The factory winch cable is far from party-rated!

Sage Carli is an avid camper and hunter; most trips, these activities are in extremely remote locations and the pickup bed becomes both his hotel room and supply house. Carli experimented with several options, back bumper with a swing out? Naw, who the hell wants to lift a 38″ mounted spare if they don’t have to; also, how do you build it strong enough to withstand movement when abusing it as hard as they do? For fun, he started looking to the factory hitch and found that there was sufficient room between the frame rails to mount the tire but the factory hitch would have to go. This allowed him to solve several issues – the factory safety chain mechanism is a nightmare. Sage kept the factory design but eased installation of the chain to the hitch. the construction of the hitch is massively strong, boxed 1/4″ cold-rolled steel where it matters and powder-coated for corrosion resistance. It maintains the factory spare tire winch to raise and lower the tire but includes a custom 3-Way Ratchet strap and 3 Heavy Duty D Rings to secure the tire in place once the winch gets it into position and unload the weight from the factory cable.

If you’ve followed this project, you’ll know Carli never intended to run a 3″ options; well, as the project progressed, this became the F350 (and F250 Tremor/High Capacity Tow) standard. After playing with the factory hitch and seeing the amount of play in the hitch receiver, they hoped to find something better. Unfortunately, material selection on 3″ Square tubing was slim. Carli selected the best-fit they could find. It ended up being 3/16″ wall-thickness so they added doublers to the hitch pin and custom-machined caps are welded to the front. This results in a very similar hitch interface as the stock unit – as this was the OEM benchmark and there was no other avenue to pursue – Carli signed off but it’s worth mentioning as it wasn’t an improved fit over the factory receiver. The remainder of the hitch is built from a combination of 3/16″ and 1/4″ Cold-Rolled American Steel.