I have a 2001 Dakota awd 4.7.

The tires I have on the truck now are a 265/75/r16, all new. However when I bought the truck it had no spare. I called the local pick and pull and gave them the year of my truck and they said the had a 15x6 spare that they would have shipped to me for $45. I'm going to take the spare wheel to my local tire shop and have then match a close tire size to it. However after looking into spares for the 2001 Dakotas, I seen the 2001 Dakotas sometimes came with a 16x7 spare wheel?

The question I have is, will a 15x6 work with the AWD system. It does not match my stock wheels size. If my truck was 2wd or 4wd I wouldn't worry, however its the AWD and I need the tires all to match. Can I get by with that size spare wheel if I'm in a pinch. I do a lot of hunting deep into warehouse land, sometimes 30-50 miles in. If I needed to throw that spare on, with a close tire size, should I be fine to limp back to town on the AWD system without damaging the t-case?

 

I would keep looking for the correct wheel for your truck. With an AWD system, you REALLY want all four tires as close to the same size as possible.

 

Dakotas used a full size spare. Get the matching 16x7 factory wheel like you already have.

 

the spare size should be listed in the tire placard.

with awd I prefer a full size rim that is match to the other rims... i do a 5 tire rotation....then if one tire gets damaged and is not repairable...you dont have to buy 4 new tires.

 

Thanks guys! After looking awhile longer, I found a full size 16x7 spare wheel at a local pick-n-pull. Took a second for the parts guy to realize they made a full size spare, but we found one

 

the 16" wheel was an option. The base model had the 15's, RT's have 17's. All 3 are considered full size spares, but the difference is which size was OE for that particular VIN.