Spare tire trouble

I was going to lower my spare but when I inserted the rod I wasn't feeling anything to hook to. I then looked at it with a light and did not see anything that I could hook to. I then reached up and around the tire and felt a hole in the middle of the concave disc. Is there any way to get that tire down?

 

There is nothing to hook into. you insert the rod into the concave disc and twist.

 

It's a no go. I even reached around the tire and tried to insert it directly into the hole by hand, it did not go in.

 

It's shaped such that it only fits one way.

It's pure luck to get it on the first poke. It's why I did the mod that places a piece of PVC pipe such that the rod hits the receiver right away, then a bit of turning pops it right in.

Hopefully someone didn't change the tool on you.....

 

The spare tire hook (rod) will fit into the slot on the pic. It's not an exact fit rather the curved rod section grabs the ears in the pic. This is on 1st Gen, I would think your 2bd gen is very close to this.

Hard to explain... Peter in SA

 

Concave disk? It sounds like mine, which looks like this through the hole in the bumper:


And from below with the hook in place, tire lowered:


I pulled the hook out just a little for this picture, disregard the white lithium grease resideue:

 

I lowered the tire to lube the parts up when I bought the truck back in 2017 but can't remember how I did it. When I felt around the disc there was nothing but a hole, so it must operate with the square end of the rod.

 

It’s been 7 years since you lowered your spare?

 

BTW I'm not stranded, I just wanted to lube the parts again, but I have to figure out how to get the spare down.

 

Use the hook end.

 

Its time to replace the spare tire now too
Also make sure to check the air pressure once a year

 

I would be willing to bet a fair amount of people have never lowered their spare. I was never a fan of this under body storage.

 

I know the 4Runners use the smaller (male) square end of the rod to lower, but I thought all the Tacomas use the hook end. Is the slot to insert the rod under the tailgate large enough for the hook end to fit?

 

I always felt that the concave disc was some thin ass metal for this use. Is it possible it got stripped out and no longer engages with the hook, or maybe the disc part broke/fell off?

 

I have a 2012 and there was a special socket that fits on the hook end of the jack rods. The socket was in a plastic bag in the rod pouch. For the first time in 12 years, I decided to drop the tire this week to lube the chain and air up spare. I had to use light to see where socket went! Glad I did it at home, and tire was below 20 psi!

 

If you do manage to ever lower it: spray an entire can of Fluid Film on everything up there before you crank it back up: including both sides of the spare's steel wheel. Do it every year. It a ridiculous mess of a mechanism likely invented by Aliens. At least they used a chain in the design instead of a cheap steel pencil-lead diameter cable.

That's something I guess.

 

I gave up on it tonight. I'm convinced that the part that receives the hook is not there anymore. Tomorrow I may take it to a tire shop and ask their opinion. Thank you all for your replies.

 

maybe I ought to go look at mine and see how it works? (its been a long time)

 

I thought the flange was just a guide, so it's easier to get the hook in place and the actual turning mechanism is more robust. (Not sure though, I have not looked at it with the spare tire completely removed from the area.)

 

You’re probably right, that makes more sense anyway. I just remember the first couple of times I dropped my spare to lube mechanism or check pressure I felt like it skipped or slipped out of place rather easily.