Spare tire winch mod?

I've done a search on this and looked at the mods pages, but didn't find anything.

One thing that has always annoyed me since I bought my Tacoma new in 2006, is the access to lower the spare tire. It is tough to see it and get the rod back in there to crank it up and down. Of course it only annoys me every 10k miles or so when I check it and use it to rotate the tires. I'm going to fab up a semi-permanent rod that ends right at the back bumper so that I can easily get to it.

Has anyone else done this yet? Seems like someone would have done this before me.

 

Wouldn't you hit it when lowering the tailgate? I've found it best to use a flashlight to get the rod into the lowering device.

 

In the Cheap mod section, I saw someone installed a piece of PCV pipe so that your tool goes right in.

 

Found it!

The PVC guide will work just fine. Thought someone would have it figured out by now. If anyone is looking it's on page 51 of the cheap mods thread.

Thanks for the help!