</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Originally posted by ErikB:
[QB]What drop-down brackets? My 34x9.5 snugged right up against the crossmember...

At some point I replaced the things that bolt to the crossmember with some straight 3/4" tubing, but I don't think that really changed how high it tucked.

I removed the tailgate spring thingy (the tailgate is kinda heavy, but no big deal) because I was planning on torching out the stock crossmember and putting in a lower-profile one that would move the spare up several more inches and then hold the tire under there with a bar under the tire like you see on older Ford trucks...

QB]</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">There are these two kinda drop down brackets that bend down to about 2" below the crossmember.They run lengthwise on the truck. The tire will not touch the actual cross member. It sits about 2" below it. The problem I see is that this 2" space is needed to even attempt to get the hand crank in there. So did you end up aborting your hand crank?

I really don't want to take off the rear taigate spring if I can somehow modify it or fab up something else. Any Ideas??

I think the 'bar across the tire' is a great idea, now about that spring.....