Accessing The Spare Tire?!

[DEV1ST8R]

I recently had a blowout of my front-d/s tire on the freeway. I was getting all set to make the tire swap, when I realized that I could not find the tool to lower the spare tire from under the bed!!! (This is definitely something I should have taken care of before it ever happened)

 

So, to make a long story short, I had to have the truck towed to a tire shop and no tool was ever located in the truck. Does anyone know where I could get one? Is there anything that could substitute for it? I've never even seen it, so I don't know what it even looks like, or what it's called? Any ideas on how much it would cost from a dealership - I couln't find any on eBay unfortunately. . .

[BigRedTruck]

Under the back seat of my 2000 Silverado Ext Cab, was a black cloth pouch that holds the lug wrench/jack crank and a couple extension shafts for raising/lower the jack. Those two extensions sections together with the lug wrench has the cranking handle is what you use to raise/lower the spare tire.

 

The actual cable lift mechanism has a solid square head on it, so the extension shaft that slide into the bumper has to be the open socket end. Sometimes the spare tire in the up position puts pressure on the plastic tube that goes from the bumper to the cable crank mechanism which makes it a little difficult for the extension shaft socket to mate with the cable crank head. It takes a little finesse to make the connection.

 

I store the spare tire in the back of the bed in the winter to keep it out of the salty crappy snow. Plus if I were to have a flat in the winter I don’t want to be screwing around on zero degree temps fighting to get the spare down for use. So this gets used twice a year.

 

I hope this helps!!

[DEV1ST8R]

Does anyone know if the spare tire releasing tool is the same for 1999 models as it is for 2003 model Silverados?

[TravelinSierra]

It probably is.

 

I got my truck with nothing, so I had to get a spare, a bottle jack and a lug wrench/crank/extension set. We got it from a junk yard. Just go to your local junkyards/salvage yards and see if they have any of those.