Bought a spare tire lock from the dealer (MacGuard actually) and installed it
only to have the hitch pin catch on the metal housing of the spare tire
carrier unit that mounts under the vehicle. Once this happened, the hitch
pin bent open to the point that it dropped out of the shaft that engages the
winch that raises and lowers the spare tire. Of course this happened with
the tire in the full up position. Shit! I could not move the spare with the
winch at all. I now, somehow, had to get a new hitch pin into the hole in
the shaft to be ablew to operate the winch. No way my hands were going to
fit throught the spokes in the wheel to reach the shaft to replace the pin.
Girlfriend to the rescue. She was able to reach up there with here smaller
hands and replace the pin.
Once I got the spare tire down I was able to see what the problem was. The
hitch pin was catching on the edge of the opening in the spare tire carier
where you access the hitch pin itself. Once it catches and you continue to
turn the crank fron behind the rear of the truck (while raising or lowering
the spare) the pin bends to the point where it falls out.
Here is the fix. Place the hitch pin a vice and crush the large rounded end
to make it smaller allowing it to clear the opening in the spare tire carrier
unit. Once you observe the situation, it should be fairly obvious what needs
to be done.
This whole ordeal was a major pain and cost me about two hours by the time I
got the spare down, figgured out the problem, and worked out a fix. Hope
this helps someone else avoid the headache.
Spare-ingly challenged,
Andrew
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