New owner of a 4 door 98 Tahoe, Spare tire (IMO) has never been lowered/removed from it's factory resting place.

Lubed the mechanism as much as i could (in the last week) but i cannot move the lowering mechanism. Is there any other way to do this?

This is preventative maintenance, and for my peace of mind that i have a functional spare.

New owner of a 4 door 98 Tahoe, Spare tire (IMO) has never been lowered/removed from it's factory resting place.

Lubed the mechanism as much as i could (in the last week) but i cannot move the lowering mechanism. Is there any other way to do this?

This is preventative maintenance, and for my peace of mind that i have a functional spare.

It's likely rusted. Very few people maintain these cranks.

Try using a solid bar or pipe and hitting the end with a hammer ,HARD, to shock the rust loose then try cranking the tire down again.

The wire could need replacing as well but only a close inspection will reveal that.

New owner of a 4 door 98 Tahoe, Spare tire (IMO) has never been lowered/removed from it's factory resting place.

Lubed the mechanism as much as i could (in the last week) but i cannot move the lowering mechanism. Is there any other way to do this?

This is preventative maintenance, and for my peace of mind that i have a functional spare.


if you can release some air from the spare this will losen the tire from frame ...spray the mechanism at the tire....above the tire....use a straw in the spray lube...try to get it in the holes of this...in time it will work,,,not much in there to rust up....

I usually drop the spare every fall wash/spray tire with silicone to protect rubber and oil the complete mechanism with 20wt non detergent oil...when I first did this , when the vehicle was new ,,,,it did make the mechanism work much easier so there is no lube put in at the factory..

Update: After a heavy dose of WD40 and heaving with a rubber mallet i finally got it removed.

Q: is there a better way to carry the spare? What does everyone else do? Any oppertunites to upgrade?

thx for all advise.