[Jackkill1]

The spare tire is not lowering. The handle is turning freely when I crank it counter clock-wise. Either I don't have it seated in the slot of the cranking mechanism or I do and the mechanism is broke. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

[catrains]

Originally Posted by Jackkill1

The spare tire is not lowering. The handle is turning freely when I crank it counter clock-wise. Either I don't have it seated in the slot of the cranking mechanism or I do and the mechanism is broke. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

the reason it is not dropping is the rod is not engaging into the crank .. the end of the rod is a bit too small and the tube a bit too big. so need to try inserting this rod several times until you feel a connection and rotation resistance..

I do this every november when I do the complete vehicle maintenance work ..

[bdubbin]

Yeah, I think you need to seat it... I had the same struggle the first time I tried lowering my spare.

Have you lowered it successfully in the past?

[Montego Murph]

Stupid question, are you sure you have the rods assembled correctly? I'm trying to remember if it's possible to piece them together wrong. Anyway. There are three sections to the rod, and they have "big" and "small" ends. If somehow you've put a "big" on the tire winch end, it's not going to grab.

[lightfreak]

Use a long 3/8” extension with ratchet. Piece a few short extensions together if you don’t have a long one. If that doesn’t work the cable is probably broken or all fused together from corrosion. Pretty common problem, Toyota redesigned it several years ago with a chain instead of cable.
Mine had to be cut off then torched to remove the whole carrier.

[Montego Murph]

When you get it to go up and down, remove the plastic cover. Douse EVERYTHING with some sort of spray lubricant, run it up and down a few times, then spray it again to rinse off everything you just worked out.

Now put on some gloves, take a handful of grease and pack it into the mechanism, the spool, everywhere. Run it up and down a few more times to work the grease in everywhere. Grease the cable too. Vow to exercise the cable twice a year when you check the tire pressure.

Also, throw a pair of gloves in with the tools so that when you're dressed up in a tuxedo for that formal event and get a flat tire, you won't rue the day you listened to me about the grease.

[ZebRuaj]

Originally Posted by Montego Murph

When you get it to go up and down, remove the plastic cover. Douse EVERYTHING with some sort of spray lubricant, run it up and down a few times, then spray it again to rinse off everything you just worked out.

I hose the mechanism down with fluid film 1x year, then roll up the spare. The spare won't be pretty, but it's the spare.

[Montego Murph]

Originally Posted by ZebRuaj

I hose the mechanism down with fluid film 1x year, then roll up the spare. The spare won't be pretty, but it's the spare.

I suppose you could cut a circle out of thin plastic and put it up there as a crapcatcher?

[Jackkill1]

Originally Posted by ZebRuaj

I hose the mechanism down with fluid film 1x year, then roll up the spare. The spare won't be pretty, but it's the spare.

I had time to mess with it today. I got it lowered, cleaned it and greased the crank and cable. I will add the 18" 3/8th extension and breaker bar verse connecting the pieces from Toyota. As always, thanks for everyone's input and for those of you who read the post and realized our members had it covered.