After several hours of fighting to remove spare tire on 05 Silverado I junked the gear/cable assembly. Not fun for a geed up old fart.
Where can I find an aftermarket assembly that does NOT have the infamous GM safety latch?

John

I too am interested in hearing any answers as I've fought the same problem. Eventually I had to take the jack and run it up tight against the spare to get the safety latch to disengage. Lord help me if I'd have pulled the old tire off first with the truck sitting on the jack.

I've been keeping tire repair plugs and a small compressor in all of my vehicles for the last 20 years. I just plug 'em on the truck and keep on rolling. Much faster and easier than fighting with spare tires.

I've only one situation where the hole was too big to repair and actually had to use the spare in the last 20 years. That was on a Jeep where it was easy. One other time I couldn't save a tire on my truck, but it did hold air long enough to get me to a tire store.

What's more fun is when you learn about the secondary safety latch laying in 4" of snow st 10pm on Christmas Eve, an hour from home. Luckily dad was only 30 miles away. He learned of his safety latch by me warning him before he left the house, and could at least lay down under the truck in the dry. I got his spare tire, he got a busted hoist I really should replace it one of these days. He cut his cable off, I simply cut off the safety latch when the weather was dry and I had time to study it.

I do the plug and compressor thing as well. As mentioned, a jack and a piece of lumber can undo the secondary latch.

Some people cut the safety off.

Easier said than done. When it is rusted and corroded it may might as well been welded.

Had to unbolt assembly, pry out with bar and let the works drop. Then cut housing to remove the safety catch, not fun! Pure junk. Am looking for an aftermarket winch with no safety catch.

Tire plugs may work fine but not on sidewalls which is usually the problem.

Here in remote Idaho we may be over 100 miles from a tire store or repair shop and try to find one on a weekend.

If anybody is wondering what we are talking about-

The silver piece is the secondary safety latch. The part that the guys thumb is on is what needs cut off. The silver piece gets gunked up inside the outer part, resulting it locking in the out position, keeping you from lowering your spare tire when you have a flat when it is 20 degrees and 4 inches of snow on the ground.

Reading this thread made me think. I have an '08 Dodge pickup. In 4 years I've never had the spare off of it and I wondered how hard it would be. I pulled up several Dodge forums and everyone was complaining about having nightmares trying to get them off.
So, I tried it. It cranked down and back up as easy as pie. Sometimes I win one.