I'm driving Stinky down my very familiar route between work and home, and happen upon a truck near identical to mine on the side of the road with a blown tire. I figure the driver has it managed, but he was struggling with getting the spare tire down. I opted to spin around and help the guy - I'm wondering if he knows about the spare tire key. He's on a pull-out, so I park to his right and ask if he's having problems with the spare tire key. He put down the hammer and jack extensions, with a response that said it all - "Key?"

I have no idea if the keys are universal, so I grab mine and we try it. My key grabs a little, but not enough to get the spare down. We spend a while working on options... including the hammer, some wire cutters, removing parts, the jack handle he needed to borrow from me, etc.... He has a service on the the way, but the service can't pull a whole tire and rim out of the ether, so we have to get the spare tire down - which is flat. He starts searching the truck for his spare tire key, and this is when I point out to the readers he's moving to his new home 3 hours away - and the truck is packed to the windows.

During my visit under his truck, he mentions it will be for sale - so now I'm thinking that low-mile engine under the hood would fit nicely in Stinky. He's scouring for a spare tire key, and I'm giving the truck a once-over. Springs are sagging, shocks are rusted out, ESOF hoses are shredded and dangling, the pumpkin has been bleeding for a while, all four tires have every right to blow on a whim, the spare tire is flat and the spare rim is rusted. The trim is Lariat (woohoo... spare interior parts), but everything is covered with years of crud. Uh... this truck gets zero attention - I don't trust that oil changes were all that frequent. He mentions he had to redo the injectors at about 150K - this would support my concerns. Nope. Nothing to see here.

He finds the key and shortly after the high-fiving with the spare out, I see a very weather-checked mass of rubber - and no Schrader valve in the stem. Almost no problem... we can get the Schrader valve off the blown tire, but here's the fun part - for all my Boy Scout preparation, I don't have a Schrader valve tool - let alone a spare valve. Note to self - get some Schrader valves and a tool in the truck. Anyway... I have some sharp needle-nosed pliers in the truck for electronics work, and this gets the valve out of the blown tire. However... installing it in a rusted/dirty valve stem is... shall we say... entertaining. I have no idea where the guy's moral compass is pointing, so I keep all the sailor speak in my head - lip bleeding.

The valve is in, but there is no way to know if that weather-checked tire will hold air without leaking out the stem - or just blow into rubber confetti when aired up. "Confetti"... sometimes I crack myself up - like wearing suspenders on a thong.

There is no way I'm going to get my jack under his truck since the service is about 25 minutes out. I don't want to leave my jack there, and I'm already an hour late getting home to my very patient wife - who tolerates enough truck work on our personal time. The guy feels he's good to go for when the service shows up, and thanks me for bailing him out of an ugly situation.

Sooo.... How's your spare doing?

 

I had a similar situation I blew a tire and could not find the key so had to call a friend with a 2003 f250 and we ended up using his spare because his key did not fit mine. Long story short I ended up removing the key with a hammer, some long extensions and a 9/16 socket now I can just use the jack handle and am good to go.

 

Way to go Tugly, Not to many people that would stop and offer help any more these days.

I check my tire psi every oil change when I'm crawling around the truck.

 

I'm with you Scotty, I check all the tires (including spares) for cuts,etc and pressures on our 4 vehicles every other week. My wife has a 45 mile commute, and mine is 12 miles, 7 of which are a dirt road to work.
Cannot have tire issues!

That being said, my buddy bought an F250 and had the same key experience. No key came w/truck, he had no clue he needed one till he had a flat.

 

I should look for the handle piece, I think I have the key?? if not I should replace all that mess I think...

 

Great job helping out a guy in need. I had my tire down about a year ago and it look rough but serviceable, I do need to check that. Now, what's this key you're talking about? I have a long jack handle stuffed under my back seat that I use to crank my spare tire down and it works. I am clueless on what a spare tire key is.

 

I keep my spare in the bed. After seeing all the rust under there when we swapped the bed, I said I was done keeping the tire under there. If I had to get it down, cutting the wire would have been my only option. Still has air!

 

There is a keyed face on the jack winch from the factory to prevent theft of the spare. Many remove the keyed face so they don't rely on the key being in the truck.

 

These trucks originally came with an anti theft adapter that fit on the end of the handle, the key. It had a pattern milled into the end of it that mated up to an adapter in the end of the crank box that lets the spare tire down. IT's similar to a anti theft lug nut key. The adapter piece that is in the crank box under the spare tire just snaps in. Yours was probably removed before you got the truck so you don't need the key. That means someone could steal your spare tire. when I got my truck there was no key so I had to remove the adapter in mine. Don't live in a high crime area so I don't worry about it.

 

Just FYI to the readers, the early 99's have no such key.

 

Helping a brother on the road will surely earn some karma. Hopefully enough to smooth out that underhood knocking iron... whatever it is.

Can someone rep Rich for me?

Tip for removing the key on the winch; use one long extension to drive the 9/16 socket or stripped bolt remover onto the key. Several sections instead of one solid length defrays the impact from the hammer.

 

I don't think I would trust my spare to go 10ft. What used to be a steel rim appears to have the structural integrity of an actual doughnut ( jelly, powdered, cream filled, or "rust" flavored - your choice).
I would like to replace it with a matching aluminum rim, but I haven't come across a cheap single factory aluminum rim. The used ones I've found are only for sale as a set.
I figure the aluminum will be less likely to corroded over time, given proper cleaning/waxing and scuff protection (some padding where the winch "wings" touch). I t will also be lighter and easier to handle, should I ever need to remove it on the side of the road.

 

Well last year when one of my BFG Rugged Terrains started to come apart on the lonely 2 lane between Deming and Hatch I found out my truck still had the original spare, (2001 date) never used. I put it on and ran it about 50 MPH for about 100 miles to Belin where they had another BFG waiting for me. This year I think I am going to buy a new spare.

No rust though, one good thing about living in the desert.

 

Yep,gotta agree with you.

 

I have a late model 99 and no key for it either. I bought the truck new and have put the spare on more times than I care to speak of. Crap Goodyear tires were always popping.
Started running Coopers and spare has not hit the ground since.