Secondary Spare Tire Latch

[Nick The Great]

So we get home this morning from the store and I hear a loud HISS. Big chuck o' metal in my back tire. WEll it's in the parking lot, and you can't complain when you break down at home, right?

 

Anyway, I try to lower the spare and it does that "only lower 2 inch" business. I move it up and down profusely. I balance the jack on those small, flimsy pieces of aluminum like the book says. I've jacked it up so high that it lifts the flat tire off the ground . . . nothing. The secondary latch appears to be working a little too well. But I'm out of options, short of walking to the Ford dealer!

 

I don't have a torch, and I can't find my bolt cutters. Is there something I'm missing here?

[Nick The Great]

Bump . . .

 

Nobody here ever had a flat tire????

[bigredmariner]

Never had mine get stuck Nick. I have read about guys getting them stuck and having to use the jack to push the thing down.

[thearborbarber]

You have to follow the goofy instructions in the owners manual to trip the secondary latch.

 

Goodluck!

[Nick The Great]

You have to follow the goofy instructions in the owners manual to trip the secondary latch.

 

Goodluck!

 

Thats what my question was. The instructions didn't work. The little latch appears to be seized.

 

I kinda sorta cut my hand with my saw, so I'm gonna mess with it more tomorrow. I had to just cut through it, because it wasn't releasing, even after penetrating oil.

 

I am soooo glad this happened at home, rather than on the road, like most of those horror stories you read!

[mipsco1]

had the same prob on my 04. took her down the two inchs it would go, loaded it up with lube and tightened it back up. kept doing this and the 6 time it fully came down. now i run it down twice a year and just cover it with deep creep and put it back up.

[CapitalTruck]

I'm going to start lubing that cable on a regular. Don't want that shit happening to me on the road.

[brims]

A lot of guys like to get under there and "kick the crap" out of the tire for some reason.

 

When you raised it back up, did you let the hoist click twice?

[orlan85]

A lot of guys like to get under there and "kick the crap" out of the tire for some reason.

 

 

Pretty funny when you think that people actually do that as if it were going to make a difference.

[700 sportsman]

I just lowered the spare on my '96 for the first time in 8-10 years and it just came right down, no trouble at all, but most of those years were sitting, so not much salt etc. was getting up there

[brims]

A lot of guys like to get under there and "kick the crap" out of the tire for some reason.

 

 

Pretty funny when you think that people actually do that as if it were going to make a difference.

 

 

I personally would laugh my ass off seeing that then go lower mine the proper way; just throwing out what I had read some doing. Seems a little much, and if if fell on you... would hurt.

[dlstewart01]

I lower mine once a year, air it up and grease the catch. never had a problem...

[Nick The Great]

A lot of guys like to get under there and "kick the crap" out of the tire for some reason.

 

When you raised it back up, did you let the hoist click twice?

 

The point of the thread was I'd tried all the bullshit in the manual. I'd tried "clicking" it twice. I'd tried teetering the jack on the wheel jocks and jacking up. I'd tried greasing the latch. No help.

 

I actually moved it up and down so much that I rounded out the end of the aluminum "wrench." Kicking the crap out of it actually could help, seeing how the latch was seized and needed a physical jolt to break loose.

 

It didn't work either . . . but my sawzall did! After seeing the seized piece on the ground, there was no way a simple click up was going to do any good.