Spare wheel stock size question

[njja]

Greetings folks,

I am back with another stupid question so pardon my ignorance.

2017 Expy EL XLT FWD with factory 275/65/18 tires and a 275/65/17 spare tire.

Now I know nothing about the wheels and such.

Recently I had 1 from the factory tires go bad and had to put on the spare tire and wheel.

Not being the same size and state inspection almost due, I had to get all 4 tires replaced right away because the other 3 were on their last legs too.

I did not want to replace 1 with a new while 3 did not match up in tread.

I also didn't want to buy the 1 used with matching tread not knowing the repair history and not being very knowledgeable.

I got an incredible deal on the new 18" tires and was hoping to buy a 5th and put that one on the spare wheel and sell off the 17" spare tire only, retaining the spare wheel.

I just don't know for sure what the sepcs and size of the spare wheel is.

If it's all stock, i.e. the spare wheel and the other 4 wheels - is it reasonable to assume the spare wheel will be able to take a 275/65/18 tire, replacing the spare tire that was 275/65/18?

All I am trying to do is that in future if I have to put the spare tire on, it be the same size and all, just so I don't have to worry about putting the spare back in.

Call it OCD now that I have had to go through this episode - I am itching to make it all standard.

To make it easier to understand why I want to do that, consider that the cost of the new 5th tire will be more or less the same as what I will receive off of the 17" spare tire I will be selling. All the more reason for me to get this done once and for all.

Please also enlighten me why I should not do that.

Thank you.

 

[AllBoostNoEco]

Short answer is that an 18" tire will not fit on a 17" wheel. So your current spare wheel is useless to be able to exactly match the rest.
As you've discovered, Ford for some reason gave the XLT with 18" wheels a 17" spare. Other Expeditions seem to have come with either a 17" or 18" spare wheel, such as my wife's which has 22" wheels but had an 18" spare before I stole it from her, as I also wanted a matching spare.
In order to run the exact same size spare, you will have to locate an 18" wheel to use as your spare. Any 18" wheel from a 2004-up F-150 or Expedition should work, and I run across steel ones on Craigslist rather frequently, so I would start looking there.
Alternatively, a 275/70R17 on the stock 17" rim is virtually the same size as a 275/65R18 is (32.16" vs 32.07"), and while it seems sketchy, there is only a 1" difference in diameter between the 275/65R18 and 275/65R17 (32.07" vs 31.07"), so even long-distance there wouldn't be any harm caused by running the stock-size spare that came on the truck.

 

[njja]

Short answer is that an 18" tire will not fit on a 17" wheel. So your current spare wheel is useless to be able to exactly match the rest.
As you've discovered, Ford for some reason gave the XLT with 18" wheels a 17" spare. Other Expeditions seem to have come with either a 17" or 18" spare wheel, such as my wife's which has 22" wheels but had an 18" spare before I stole it from her, as I also wanted a matching spare.
In order to run the exact same size spare, you will have to locate an 18" wheel to use as your spare. Any 18" wheel from a 2004-up F-150 or Expedition should work, and I run across steel ones on Craigslist rather frequently, so I would start looking there.
Alternatively, a 275/70R17 on the stock 17" rim is virtually the same size as a 275/65R18 is (32.16" vs 32.07"), and while it seems sketchy, there is only a 1" difference in diameter between the 275/65R18 and 275/65R17 (32.07" vs 31.07"), so even long-distance there wouldn't be any harm caused by running the stock-size spare that came on the truck.

Nice, and thank you.

I had thought about sourcing an 18" wheel from craigs or locally but then didn't find many locally from the 3rd gen of Expy. I did give up pretty quickly though.

The spare is a a cheapo one and if I had to get another wheel, I figured might as well try and make it the same exact one as the other 4, but then trying to get lucky with the exact same Expy wheel sounds overly optimistic.

I will continue hunting though now that I have my answer. Seems easy enough only once I get the 18" wheel. Selling the cheapo spare tire and wheel together, and buying a new 5th tire similar to the new set of 4 is easy enough.

Thanks again.

 

[Wali4vr]

there is only a 1" difference in diameter between the 275/65R18 and 275/65R17 (32.07" vs 31.07"), so even long-distance there wouldn't be any harm caused by running the stock-size spare that came on the truck.
That's a little over 3inches in circumference. It WILL start wearing out spider gears and with long term usage they will fail especially when using 4x4.

2007 Expy 5.4 3 valve pos motor

 

[99WhiteC5Coupe]

I ordered and bought a new 2015 Expedition Limited 4x4 - which included a “full size spare”. Twenty-inch wheels and tires were standard on the vehicle.

The first time I lowered the spare to check the air pressure, I realized it was an 18-inch wheel and tire.

I contacted my salesman who initially thought the vehicle received the wrong spare. After some checking, he contacted me and said Ford provides an 18-inch spare wheel and tire for Expedtions with standard 20-inch wheels and tires.

I fully believe Ford should provide a 20-inch spare wheel and tire for those vehicles with 20-inch standard wheels and tires (or the same size spare wheel and tire as the standard road wheels and ties).

I felt that Ford was deceptive and cutting corners on me.