Today I wasted a lot of time dealing with a stuck spare tire winch on a 2007 Chevy Suburban. There is a lock mechanism on them that won't disengage. Some kind of secondary lock they call it in the manual. Very hard to get to laying under it to try and hit with a hammer and screwdriver so I managed to get the bolt out of it and took the whole winch out with the tire still on it. Can't imagine having to deal with this on the side of the road, just a terrible design. After reading online today this is a common GM issue. I'm throwing this winch in the trash and have already ordered a new different one off ebay, there are a lot them for sale on there! Just thought I would warn other GM owners about this before there stranded on the side of the road with a spare tire they can't lower down.
Some of the older fords would get rusted up with the tire hanging underneath. You had to basically twist the thing in half with a cheater bar to get the tire down. I've never tried to lower the spare on the F-250. Your experience now has me wanting to check it out before it happens in the middle of nowhere, and to find out how to actually do it before it happens at night.
This is the craziest design I've seen on something that needs to be reliable. My Ford Super Duty had a lock on it that I remember knocking out but the the winch itself worked fine. This Suburban would not lower the tire down more than 4 or 5 inches. It completely locked up.
Gonna check the one on our RV as well. We have the insurance that says we can have roadside service, but from what I read, some have spent many hours on the side of the road waiting on that roadside service to come out to the location in non-populated areas, which just happens to be the areas we like to travel in.
Yeah that wouldn't be a good place to not have a spare tire available, had a friend that bought a pop up camper a few years back and had a blowout on it and found his 4 way lug wrench wouldn't fit in the the wheel and they didn't give him a socket or anything with it when he bought it. Had to unhook and drive several miles into to a town to get a socket.
I do keep a 670 foot pound battery impact in the tow vehicle when traveling with a big selection of sockets in the bag that have been sized for everything we pull/drive. Your thought has crossed my mind in the past, so got prepared.
Definitely never hurts to have tools with you. I just can't believe a major car company would put something out like this, knowing that it jams up and doesn't work. One guy on the gm forum said he took his in to the dealer and it took them over two hours for them to get it out.
I never ever thought a spare tire under a vehicle was a good idea.
I love one on the front of a cattle pusher bumper though.
Spare in front of the vehicle is practical.
Especially if you hit deer.
I love one on the front of a cattle pusher bumper though.
Spare in front of the vehicle is practical.
Especially if you hit deer.
I've never had any trouble with one underneath til today. Always a first time for everything though!
I have cut more than a dozen cables holding tires up that did not work.
I never had a spare under a vehicle.
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