Getting the spare tire out....

I’ve read of some with Fords who have rotated the winch so the crank is accessed from a wheel well. On our Chevy, I can use the factory tubes but cannot crank the handle. If I remember correct a 3/8” ratchet fit right into the tube end and worked great.

Why not raise the camper just enough to get the spare out? That is our intentions, plan a. Plan b is call coachnet.

I would just unload the TC. Others, besides the relocation of the crank, have added a front mount to the front of the truck.

Unloading the TC with a flat on the rear on the side of the freeway sounds like a bad dream in the making.

Think I'd rotate the winch to a more suitable position or replace it with a new one. Dorman makes them and Rock Auto and Autozone sell them. I think they ate about 70 bucks.

My old 97 don't have a winch at all. Has the cross carrier. I take my hydraulic jack and push the end of the carrier up and release the now frozen hold down and take the spare out. Done that before, not too bad actually. I carry a hydraulic jack and 4 way lug wrench all the time anyway.

I get a little dirty under there but it beats waiting for road service.... and it's a bunch cheaper.

I had an enclosed hitch cargo box custom built for my 2016 GMC/ 10.4 Bigfoot camper. It has drop down doors on each side.I had the fabrication shop drill a 1" holes in the box in line with crank tube on my rear bumper so I can open the cargo box door, pop out the plastic plugs I have inserted in the holes, use a stiff wire with small hook bent into the end to catch hold of the tube hatch and pull it open, insert crank rod and use a ratchet inside cargo box to drop tire. I remove the lock cylinder from crank tube before I put hitch cargo box on. I set this up and did a dry run with it and it worked fine before i left home.....low & behold if I didn't have 2 flat tires in Arizona this spring due faulty valve stems ( GM warranty issue) and had to use my spare tire both times. First was a front tire so was able to lift truck ok with camper on. Second was passenger side inside dually. I lifted the camper up off the truck bed about 6 " to relieve weight then jacked truck up and changed tire no problem. Its a time consuming proceedure but it all worked good. I put the spare back under the truck by myself both times too using the ratchet to winch it up. It was a bit awkward getting winch wire thingy thru the wheel hole while working under the camper overhang and cargo box. Hopefully I will never have another flat again, but I am prepared if i do!!

Like Z-Peller, I also have a hitch-mounted cargo box hanging underneath the camper, and also have two holes in it that line up with where the spare lowering rod goes. A trip to the junk yard got me a couple additional rods. This has worked fine as I have changed tires on the road maybe 4 times - except for the first time. There is a plastic 'cone' that guides the rod into the mechanism, and that had fallen out. No choice other than crawl underneath and insert the rod by hand. The biggest headache is getting that T-bar out of the center of the wheel.

With my F350 and Igloo I am able to drop the spare with the camper on the truck. I tested it to make sure before we headed to AK last year. The access to the tire is through the rear bumper near the license plate and there is plenty of room to insert the handle and drop the tire. Other TC's may block this access but the Igloo does not.

Maybe not a helpful answer, but I simply would not buy a camper that blocked access to the spare. Have had to use mine once already. Had no issues.

I chose to solve this issue with a front-mounted receiver hitch and spare tire carrier on my old truck. This method really worked well for me and it gave me two spare tires which I wanted to have when I lived in Alaska. I could still get the spare tire crank into the slot near the bumper but it was a pain to do so and took a lot of time to lower the spare tire.

I have yet to mount the new front-mounted receiver hitch on my new truck. Guess I'd better get with it!

SidecarFlip wrote:
Unloading the TC with a flat on the rear on the side of the freeway sounds like a bad dream in the making.

Yeh, unloading on the side of the freeway ain't gonna happen.

We had to lower the spare on our 2006 F-350 last year in Memphis rush hour traffic. Luckily the cord separated but the tire stayed up long enough to get off the interstate into a parking lot. The crank shaft barely fit under the camper with maybe 1/2" to spare.

If the crank had not fit, my plan was to loosen/remove the tiedowns and lift just the rear of the camper up an inch or two.

The best thing to do is check all this out at home on your flat driveway so you can be prepared for what you will need to do incase you need the spare.

BradW