I recently put on a lift and some larger tires, 31" Duratrac's and was looking for a spare option. The stock spare was way too small for a tire that large, and the problem I had with a full size spare is the room it took up in the back of the Cherokee- i.e. the width of the tire, since I carry a ton of stuff in the back of the Cherokee and need all the width I could get to fit things in.
I looked for the narrowest spare I could find, and considered a number of options, even considering narrow Firestone Military tubed tires, but that was too much $$ and dealing with the tube, rim bolt pattern etc was a PITA. I finally decided on a 93-98 Grand Cherokee donut spare. Its a good bit taller than the Cherokee stock spare our 125/90/16 (24.8" tall) vs 155/90/16 (27" tall)- a little over 2" hight difference - and only 1" wider and the bolt pattern is the same. I really wish I could have gone with the 99-04 Grand donut spare, which is a 175/90/17,(29.5") but the bolt pattern on the rim is different.
Just thought I would toss this info on, since the GC donuts are cheap and plentiful at JY. Its not a perfect solution but if I ever do get a flat I feel a little better that the spare is a little bigger than the stock xj one and it doesn't take up more space in the back of the Cherokee. It could also be a good swap for people who have 225/75R15's if they want a donut closer in size to their actual tire.

 

Good info. Never seen this. I might have to snag one next time im at the junkyard.

 

I was also looking at 17" 5x4.5 rim options that might work to swap a 99-04 Grand 29.5"x 17" donut tire. I found that a Subar WRX around 2006 has a 17" spare rim that is 5x4.5, and a Infiniti G37 09-12, 17" 5x4.5" spare rim as well, but I never got motivated enough to grab some and try the swap. Just tossing it out there if anyone wants to try!

 

Mine came equipped with full size factory spare and mag . Are newer xjs smaller inside than older ones?

 

So did my 96 and 99. I believe it was an option.

 

The newer XJs don't appear to be any smaller inside. I was comparing differences between my 87 and a 00 owned by a guy I work with. Seem to have about the same amount of room, and his full size 225/70-16 spare doesn't take up much space either.

Not a bad idea, going with the bigger donut, but I feel much more comfortable with a full size spare, or at least the same height. Have you considered something like a 235/85-16 for a spare? That's what a buddy of mine keeps for a spare, 4 wheel parts let him dig through the tires they were throwing away and he found one that size, and got it for free (just about bald KM2, but it holds air). Then he paid $15 for a 16" wheel from pull a part, and now he has a full size spare (he runs 31x10.5's on his, the bald 235/85-16 measures roughly 31x9). Only reason I really prefer a full size spare, is because most of the places where I'm most likely to kill a tire require 4 wheel drive to get out of, and having 4 tires the same height allow me to still use the 4 wheel drive if I need to. But a smaller spare is better than no spare at all. Not knocking your idea, just throwing in my 2 cents worth.

 

kirknd4spd, I totally agree with you, am considering having a full, or close to full size spare that I can swap in the Cherokee when I actually go wheeling, but since the other 98% of the time I am on the road, I am trying to not give up the extra 3-4" of width that the larger full size takes up in the back of the truck. My concern was with the original donut, if I actually did get a flat on one of our crappy Los Angeles roads, the size difference between the donut and actual tires would be so great, the Cherokee would be extremely difficult to drive. I think the best of both worlds would be if we could actually get a tire like the following which could easily get you off of the trail but took up minimal space. In all my years of wheeling I think I have gotten a flat once, maybe twice(maybe I've been lucky!), and the rest of the time just lugged around my full size spare everywhere. Just my thoughts.