Was reading thru this and thought I would chime in here. I have a 3/4 ton and had the same question about the spare tire carier under the bed. Mine has a flattened C shaped channel that runs from the last crossmember (above the rearend) straight back toward the bumper, stopping at the end of the bed, and sloping down a little. I have seen this same peice on some of the trucks in the gallary section but none with the whole assembly. I am curious what the rest of it was. My assembly manual is kind of vague in that area. I think I remember reading somewhere that the bar stuck out to the back some and was in the way for those trucks that maybe had the bumper removed for whatever reason.I am guessing they wern't very good otherwise since it seems most of them were done away with even with the bumper on.
