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Help Me... I cant get the spare off my truck!!!

12K views 17 replies 13 participants last post by  Jesse 
#1 ·
Ok today i began installing a 2" rear and 2.5" front lift kit on my truck. when i began work on the rear leaf i noticed that the bolts came off to the inside of the vehicle. thats all great and everything for the passanger side. but the driver side you have to lower the spare tire. so i proceed lowering untill i find that it hasnt gone any where. i crank and crank and crank with no movement in either direction. all latches and every thing seem to bee moving fine and there is resistance when cranking the spare tire (like it is accomplishing somthing). i cant move on untill i get the stupid spare out of the way. i apreciate any feed back. thanks guys.
 
#5 ·
If by any chance you decide to do any kind of 'hot work' around the spare tire, please remove the valve core from the spare tire to prevent it from exploding! You may think 'that's stupid, that's not going to happen,' but every year people die from exploding tires in the USA. I work in the fifth largest Level I trauma facility in the nation, it does.

If you have to, you could cut w/a cutoff tool or just drill a series of holes (idea-try a hole saw big-enough to fit across the attachment point of the cable to the stamped piece thru the hub hole, then when you remove & lube everything, if the piece still works, you could braze/weld/MIG/TIG the two pieces back together) into the retaining flange for the wheel until you could remove it. I sold my spare tire lowering device to another 355 member who had a similar problem w/his. Essentially I gave it away for the price of shipping and the guy sent me some $ on top of that, nice!
 
#6 ·
Look in your owners manual there is info on a stuck spare, in that there are latched that can become engaged that prevent the spare from lowering. I seem to recall you have to jack the spare up into the frame to get it to release. They suggested on the road using the two wheel chocks to get the OE jack high enough to raise the spare to release the latches.
I wish people would keep the owner manuals in there cars. It can help techs out sometimes. Best of luck..
 
#7 ·
I had a stuck spare and tried this in the manual, but that didn't work. I used a grinder and cut the end of the cable and replaced the whole thing. Those things rust up easy with our winters. Through the winter, I drop the spare and spray some lube in there when I change my oil.
 
#8 ·
yeah i dont even run a spare 9months out of the year.. 8 plies and AAA .. im in good hands. plus my spare is too small for my truck now anyways i need a 31" spare..

good luck getting it off .. i know my s10 decided to break while driving and my spare tire went boom smash the pavement and flung out from under my truck.. while doing like 30mph.. had to go back and pick it up. in the middle of the busy road ..
 
#15 ·
In theory, bringing it up before trying to drop it should release that latch, but if it's seen more than one winter int the rust belt. That mechanism is probably rust welded like mine was.

Good luck in any case.
 
#16 ·
I battled one of those on my son's 2005 Michigan truck that at the time was three years old. Took a couple of hours but I finally got it by:

1) spraying it heavily with PB Blaster
2) breaking free the catch/lock mechanism

After all that I cranked it up to release the safety catch and it worked.

For this job you can't use too much PB Blaster.
 
#17 ·
Thanks to all you for responding, I ended up using an angle grinder and a pair of vise grips to cut through the cable. What we ended figuring out was that the previous guy who owned my truck crancked the shit out of it until it was firmly embeded into the frame, and then cranked some more until he sheared the teeth off the gears on the inside of the mechanism. When the tire finally came off there were dents in the side wall from where the tire had been planted to the frame. Even after we refilled the tire and put it under the tonneau cover, there were still impressions left over from its previous home. Right now it is just strapped down in the bed till I can find a donor from the junk yard.
 
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