The spare is mounted with the valve stem facing up which means lowering it to check tire pressure.I just used a stem extender[like used on dual wheels].That way everything remains snug + pretty just like Mr. Ford's Factory built it.Just run the extension through one of the holes in the spare rim and can check pressure without the hassle of letting it down plus this keeps some of the road grime from collecting on inside of rim.

 

How do you get the cap off of the valve in order to check the pressure if the stem is pointed up? It seems to me that mounting the tire with the stem pointed down would make things a lot easier.

" keeps some of the road grime from collecting on inside of rim."

Road grime, on my spare tire, mounted underneath my truck, is about the last thing that concerns me. But YMMV.

 

The tire valve extension is a flexible 12" line that I run through a hole in the rim to face down.Forgot to mention I live in the Mountains of CO + the road grime is frozen some winters for 8-9 months.The inside of the rim is like a big bowl of ice.All my other PU's mounted the spare up in the bed but not on this 5 1/2 " bed.

 

I'd rather take the spare down yearly to inflate it. That way you're actually using the spare tire mechanism and the key lock to open it up. Both of those are known to freeze up and fail.

This also gives you a chance to clean that area out when the spare is removed.

Lastly, I believe you can in fact mount the spare upside down too, to be able to have the valve stem on the side you want it on.