Ever since I bought my '97 short bed I've tried to find an extra spare wheel for it. So, it's been an off and on search for almost ten years right?

Last November I had it out hunting and punctured one of the Goodyear Wrangler's that had come on it from the factory, ( I had earler run a different set on it for a year or so).

Anyway, I put on a new set of BFG AT's and mounted a Goodyear ATS as a spare. Then I set to searching for another spare again.

Lo and behold I found "U S Auto Parts"' online and ordered the wheel I needed. It got here in a week or so and I mounted another ATS on it and bolted it in the bed.

Now the bad news. This morning I noticed a roofing nail sticking in the tread of one of the new BFG's so I got busy with the old R&R so I can take it in tomorrow for repair or replace. Genius that I am, I decided to use the new wheeled spare.

That is when I found they'd sent me the wrong wheel. The hole pattern is 4-1/2 instead of 5-1/2.

Their return policy is that they will not deal with anything after 21 days of receipt by the buyer. Makes no difference if it's a spare you hope never to use or cannot use due to their shipping error. It is considered used, period.

So, the search goes on but US Auto Parts is now on my "Nevermore, Nevermore" list.

Buyer Beware.

YMMV

 

You say buyer beware, but did you check to see if the bolt pattern was correct when you recieved the wheel? if not, then yeah, they made a mistake in shipping the wrong wheel, but if you had checked it when you got it, then you could have returned it in the 21 day time frame, and had the correct one by now

 

Yep, that's exactly what they said. It's my fault I didn't catch their error so I can just get hosed. Funny part is, I don't recall anything like that in the purchase agreement. In fact, all I can find from them is a charge to my Visa card.

 

Also, your bolt pattern isn't 5x5.5 inches, it's 5x135mm.

 

You are right of course. I guess my reference to 5.5 was more in comparison to what they sent which is approx. 4-1/2. Shoulda' known somebody'd be techin' me.

Anyway, I went junk yard walkin' today and now have three spares. Two of them are the stock three hole steel and the third is the steel spare that came new with the truck.

Anyone need a "Mystery Wheel"?