Spare tire troubles

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tungsten

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After you get the spare tire down, remove the secondary catch, or replace the entire assembly. Those are the only 2 options that I know of.
Yeah removal involves a cutting disk for the ones Ive seen.Once rusted their toast.
 

S33k3r

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Or you could be an ass like me: I had one I *knew* was going to be impossible to drop. So I bought a spare tire from Firestone, and had them replace the existing one... :angels2: I figured if it was going to have to be busted loose, it would be better at a Firestone than on the road.
 

B-train

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This idea is nice in practice because it prevents a 75 lb bouncing ball from going down the highway into someone's windshield. The older c/k trucks and I think early 2000's didn't have the safety latch......I ended up with a 6 lug spare in my yard from a 90's Era chevy that some guy lost.

I had the same issue and I usually buy southern vehicles. I rust proof the heck out of them, but overlooked this little fella. Before a vacation I was doing my check over and couldn't get the tire down. That's when I learned about the safety latch......that was frozen. I was able to use a ratchet wrench and drop the whole assembly on the floor and cut the cable. I now make it a point to drop them annually and spray them down with grease and exercise them.

Now that you've experienced this, you'll see GM trucks and vans with a tire that's literally just hanging in the breeze when going down the road....scary and clueless drivers.
 

S33k3r

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I was not clear; we replaced the spare, not the holder. And, since 3 of my last 4 purchases were Quadrasteer vehicles, the pickings are slim
 

Mudsport96

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I had to cit the one on the Tahoe. And i have never tried ti get the Silverado spare down.. guess that is a project for spring.
Ive thought about trying to retrofit the style that is on the 8th and 9th generation ford trucks. Basically it is allthread on one end and a threaded eye bolt on the other and a bar connecting them that just pins the tire to the bottom of the vehicle.
 

ncalvo

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To get my spare down I lowered it a bit, pushed in with a tool on the safety latch that was catching, then I took the entire assembly off and used a bench grinder to get rid of the safety latch. 4 years later no issues and my tire goes up and down as I want it to
 

03yukXL

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Just discovered mine was stuck today while trying to replace some steel brake lines. Much easier to do without the spare in place. Had the safety latch catch and only allowed a 2 inch or so drop. Noticed the entire assembly was rusted pretty bad. Got out a 4.5 inch angle grinder and had that thing off in 5 min. Will replace the assembly. comes off with one bolt. Done.
 

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