so I tried to lower my spare and my crank is not catching anything so the tire can't be lowered. anyone have any ideas on what to try next?

my only option is to use a metal wheel cutter to cut of the end of the cable on the tire pass thru side and let it drop.....then if the crank is salvageable...weld a nut at the end of the cable to hold the washer and spring retainer.

 

I believe you need the special socket for your vehicle to put on the end of the crank. If you don't have it, you can go to the Ford dealer, and they will get the right one for you.

 

that's how the newer SD's are, I don't know about the older ones. On my truck I didn't want to have to rely on the special socket so I took a flat screwdriver and popped the end off the winch crank so now I can just use the flat end of the extension shaft. It was very easy to do and took longer to crawl under the truck than to pop the end off the winch.

Another thing to consider is that if the spare hasn't been lowered for a long time it could just be seized up. The first truck I owned with a crank type spare tire holder was the '97 F150 I bought with 19k on it. The previous owner must have never lowered the tire because the winch was locked up and I ended up having to cut the cable to get the spare out. Luckily I tried to lower the spare before I needed it.

To keep everything working good I lower the spare everytime I rotate the tires and haven't had any problems.

 

could it be this simple?

 

My 2000 required the special socket, which I found out at 2 in the morning 250 miles from home. I just cut mine down and throw the spare in the bed if I am going on a long trip. I'm not a fan of the locking lug nuts either. I would rather risk someone stealing my spare or wheels(not likely) than someone not putting the tool back where it goes(certain to happen).

 

so the 15mm magic socket in the video did not work.

I'm going to cut the end of the cable and see if the anti theft nut is in place and if so remove it and weld a nut to the end of the cable.

what a bunch of BS, you would think the magic socket would be part of the tire change kit behind the seat.

 

Try a 9/16 socket on a of couple extensions give it a few taps with a hammer then lower with a ratchet.

 

X2. It works. 6 pt 9/16 only, a 12 pt won't work.

 

ok, walking out there now to try it

 

so none of the socket tricks worked. this is on an 08 so ford must have caught on to owners using sockets to get their spares out and changed that.

every little add on sale helps so if you don't by the spare tire lock key, guess you are sol.

so this weekend the cable is getting cut and the tire is going in the truck bed.

thanks for the leads.

 

Even with my special socket, using the winch is a pain. You have to keep alot of pressure on it to keep it engaged as you lower it. I could not get it to rise back up. Then I went to a 33" tire and removed the winch and its sitting in my garage.


Kinda getting sick of it in my bed, and now that I know how to make that winch work without the dumb key, will a 33" tire mounted on the stock wheel fit underneath?

 

my local service station spent 30 minutes trying different grip sockets with no luck.

tried to cut the end of the cable , but all that did was add spring slack becuase once you cut the end off, the spring drops out, tire drops 2 inches, but problem remain.

I took a step back and thought about what was happening. took a 3 ft peice of 1/2 dia gas pipe and put a cotter pin cliped on one end. banged the pipe onto the lock mechanisim. I was able to crank the tire down by hand just by turning the pipe. so for a 2008 f-250 the tool is the black pipe with the cotter pin.

when I pulled the pipe out, the lock device came out as well. now I can use my behind the seat tool kit.

spare tire goes in the bed til i decide if I need to weld a washer or something on the end of the cable to hold the spring down.

but mission accomplished.

 

It took me trying an assortment of sockets, and then REALLY beating it on. But once I cranked the tire down, it was easy to pop the "special" piece out, and now I have a slot that is easy to engage with a tire iron or flatblade screwdriver tip.

 

Dealer was able to drop mine and take the stupid lock thing off all without destroying anything important.