2500 HD ZR2 and AT4X owners, which way is your spare tire facing?

[Red Hawk]

I have a 2024 2500 HD AT4X AEV and I happened to notice that the owners manual shows that the spare tire and wheel for ZR2s and AT4Xs should be installed face up, or tire stem up if you like.  And for all other models the spare tire and wheel should be mounted face down.  Presumably this is because these trim levels, (AEV or not) have a matching spare wheel, not a less expensive steel spare wheel, and installing them face up is to protect the face of the wheel.    However, the spare on my truck, two other AT4Xs and one other ZR2 I have been able to look under, all came from the factory installed face down.   Just wondering if anyone else had noticed this and which way is your spare installed?

Edited August 21, 2024 by Red Hawk

[gemarsh]

Makes sense. Give it a try and see if gm's goofy cable system will tighten down with the extra cable it will have to roll up.

 

Do the spares still use a cable as a safety backup on the X's?

[HK_Crew]

Hard to check the tire pressure when its face up... 

[Another JR]

My SLT’s 18 inch steel spare came from the factory face down.  I check the air pressure a few times a year. I wouldn’t want to have to lower it for that. 

[Epsilon Plus]

If you plan to drag it on some rocks, flip it around.

 

If it's going to end up where most of these rigs will, on a fire road or the Home Depot parking lot, I wouldn't sweat it much.

 

HK_Crew makes a good point though.

[Red Hawk]

Thanks for the replies everyone.   I was mostly interested because it seems that these trucks are coming out of Flint with the spares installed contrary to the instructions in the manual.  I was curious if any were showing up installed as recommended in the manual.

Gemarsh, my spare did not have a safety cable and the lift cable can be retracted all the way up without a spare in there at all.

For my part, I flipped mine around so it will be face up.  I won't be dragging it across rocks, or I would just remove it all together or mount it in the bed or something. But I live in a rural area so I do a fair amount of driving on gravel and farm roads. Seems likely to get road rash or rock chips in my case.  With regards to the tire stem issue, I have on board air so that can be corrected if need be.  But more importantly, since this is a matching wheel, I plan to use a five wheel rotation pattern when I rotate my tires.  So all five of my wheels will be spending time under the bed.  And it's more likely that if I did need to swap a tire on the road that the pressure will be fine since it was recently being used.

If anyone else is worried about checking the pressure with it facing up, I think that could be solve by installing a short flexible tire valve extension.