I'm hoping that someone has run into this issue and knows how to solve the problem.....
I have a 2013 GMC 2500HD Duramax pickup. The spare tire is mounted under the bed and to lower and raise it you stick a shaft in through a hole in the bumper and spin it up and down. On my truck the mechanism for raising and lowering is frozen from corrosion and wont turn. Problem is that it is up above the spare and I can't get to it.
Does anyone know of a slick way to get this thing unstuck?
Is it turning and the tire not dropping or is it frozen and not turning? Sometimes the tire kind of ‘welds itself’ to the underside of the truck and a kick will loosen it up. Have you tried tightening it and then loosening it? Has it been off the truck before?
However, I will say that you probably have a spare that is too old to be used. Once you get it down, read that code on the tire and you can see when it was made.
Is it turning and the tire not dropping or is it frozen and not turning? Sometimes the tire kind of ‘welds itself’ to the underside of the truck and a kick will loosen it up. Have you tried tightening it and then loosening it? Has it been off the truck before?
The mechanism itself won't turn.The wheel and tire will "wiggle" some so it's not that.
It has been off the truck but it's been about a year.
However, I will say that you probably have a spare that is too old to be used. Once you get it down, read that code on the tire and you can see when it was made.
You are right. Was wanting to drop the spare so I could replace the tire. It is old. I pull a fifth wheel and was doing some upgrades and maintenance including putting a new spare on it.
I don’t know if they changed the design by 2013 or not. I’ve seen it fail on a 2003, 2006, and 2007. Fun to find this out in 6@ of snow on Christmas Eve an hour from home. Luckily dad had a dry shop to get his cut out and bring to me as a spare.
I don't know that it's much help, but I know on my older Chevys you have to turn hard clockwise until you get a couple of clicks before the tire is unlocked. Then counter-clockwise down. I don't know if they updated the design.
I don’t know if they changed the design by 2013 or not. I’ve seen it fail on a 2003, 2006, and 2007. Fun to find this out in 6@ of snow on Christmas Eve an hour from home. Luckily dad had a dry shop to get his cut out and bring to me as a spare.
I don’t know if they changed the design by 2013 or not. I’ve seen it fail on a 2003, 2006, and 2007. Fun to find this out in 6@ of snow on Christmas Eve an hour from home. Luckily dad had a dry shop to get his cut out and bring to me as a spare.
This ^^
Not totally clear on what he is doing, but shows where the likely problem is.
When you get it down, cut the hooks off the secondary so you don’t fight it in the future.
There’s some good advice above, but if the crank mechanism is rusted solid, you can attack the toggle piece on the end of the cable. It’s accessible from below as it slips through the hub center. If you can get it to slide far enough to the side and tilt it up through the hub center. You will wear the tire as it falls free.
There’s some good advice above, but if the crank mechanism is rusted solid, you can attack the toggle piece on the end of the cable. It’s accessible from below as it slips through the hub center. If you can get it to slide far enough to the side and tilt it up through the hub center. You will wear the tire as it falls free.
If I remember correctly, you can block up a jack and use it to pop the secondary latch from underneath if it's frozen up as well. I know that system has caused a bit of angst in more than one person.
Get a grinder on whatever you can and cut it down.
thats what we did on my sons old silverado. failing that, go to the junk yard and get a used rim and a new tire and put it in the bed. i have two spares for my truck. one underneath and one in the bed. only took one time not being able to get the spare down that taught me that lesson.
Get a grinder on whatever you can and cut it down.
thats what we did on my sons old silverado. failing that, go to the junk yard and get a used rim and a new tire and put it in the bed. i have two spares for my truck. one underneath and one in the bed. only took one time not being able to get the spare down that taught me that lesson.
That's the real answer. Old, or new, a spare you can't get to is an an aggravating and frustrating thing. I might have to move them to put something in the bed, but a truck AND trailer tire are always there.
I don’t know if they changed the design by 2013 or not. I’ve seen it fail on a 2003, 2006, and 2007. Fun to find this out in 6@ of snow on Christmas Eve an hour from home. Luckily dad had a dry shop to get his cut out and bring to me as a spare.
I watched a youtube video on this pickup. They showed just turning counterclockwise, no secondary latch.
However, this other video shows one and how to remove it using a screwdriver.
Get a grinder on whatever you can and cut it down.
thats what we did on my sons old silverado. failing that, go to the junk yard and get a used rim and a new tire and put it in the bed. i have two spares for my truck. one underneath and one in the bed. only took one time not being able to get the spare down that taught me that lesson.
It's not the latch shown in the video that is frozen. It's the winch mechanism that raises and lowers the cable that won't budge so it's stuck in the up position. I took some stiff 1/2 inch plastic tubing and ran that in as far as I can and poured a good bit of Kroil in the tube. Then I turned the air compressor down and blew it down the tube. Did that twice. Hopefully the Kroil gets blown into that mechanism. Letting it soak overnight. We'll see...... Thanks guys!
Once you get it down replace the whole mechanism, you'll be able to get at it with the tire out of the way. If the Kroil doesn't work, and it probably won't, I'd do like slumlord said and take the grinder to it. You should be able to cut it down in a couple of minutes.
I had the same problem with my spare under my 2008 Chevrolet Silverado recently. We were getting ready to move from Michigan to Oregon and I was planning to pull a UHAUL trailer. So I checked the pressure in the spare and it was low. When I added air I could hear it leaking out. So I tried to lower it and couldn't. I followed the instructions in the manual to deal with the secondary latch to no avail. The garage that was going to rent me the trailer said it is a common problem and that the mechanism would need to be cut off and replaced with a better design. So that is what I had them do. Cost about $300. The rim was rusty so the guy at the shop did some grinding and then reinstalled the tire and pumped it up. Seemed to hold air. Fortunately we didn't need it on our trip west.
owning old toyota trucks, mine have rusted up years ago. I bought a replacement, took the bed off, grinded the old one off and replaced it. Before I replaced it I filled it full of grease and I drop the tire once a year.
for the other truck, the replacement was like $80 bucks or I could buy a dodge version that was similar for $27 and the extension tool for $9, so I will be mounting the dodge version on my Toyota this summer.
Good info from people that have experienced it. Cheap way- deflate Expensive way take to shop. Battery powered 4” grinder with a cut off wheel are pretty handy tools to have.
My spare on my 03 is in the bed of my truck because the winch works but the pipe to the mechanism is bent.
The winch on my toyhauler died last fall when I put a impact gun to it... don’t do that... that reminds me, order new winch so it is here when snow stops.
Really common up here. Really corrosive environment, due to the chemical they put on our roads in winter.
People forget about their spare, till they need it.
My shop torches off about a dozen spares a year.
Basically, torch off 1 side of the retainer bar (that holds the tire up) at the end of the winch cable.
I wonder what % of pickup spares are carrying under 20lb of air. My spare is 13 years old and probably has less than 50 miles on it. I have a good 4 year old tire on the pickup that will replace it when I buy tires later this year. They get weak from age even out of the sun.
Any time I get new tires I have the spare replaced with the best of the set being replaced so my spare is never more than 2x as old as what's on the ground.
We were up riding the SxS on a rough mountain road,ran into a guy with a Tahoe with the same problem. He was a Border Patrol guy who had just transferred from upstate NY. We had cell coverage, he called his wife and had her bring another tire to the trailhead. Ran him down, picked up the tire, ran him back up and put the new one on. I dont know if he ever got it fixed, thinking so, but his spare would not come down either. I guess if I lived in the rust belt, that would be something to flush yearly come spring.
wondering if the new electric trucks will even have a spare in order to make room for batteries. i cant see it being very practical. i did see a video of the electric f150 out running the Raptor.