Replacing my spare tire winch and have a question. What does this part do?

[Gavin S.]

Mine is rusted to hell and I was going to try to get by without it. It's part #3 in this schematic.

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[MedicBob]

It guides the wrench/pipe used to turn the winch.

 

[Gavin S.]

It guides the wrench/pipe used to turn the winch.

Thanks. Yes it does. Not necessary but it it's helpful. I wire wheeled my rusty old one and painted it with some rustoleum and went ahead and reinstalled it. Man, what a pain in the ass replacing the winch ended up being. I had to cut every bolt off and the access is such that I couldn't get at them with my angle grinder. I ended up using my winpy Dremel with a cutting wheel and, to my surprise, it cut those bolts pretty damn fast. I was impressed. Happy to have a spare tire that's acually available for use rather than fused to the bottom of my truck. :dance: