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Problem With The Spare Tire Hoist

My 03 was manufactured in April 03 and it does not have this secondary lock. Like ygmn said, there was probably an issues with the 02s or early 03's that made them come up with this secondary lock.

When I replaced my spare, the tire just cranked down and replacement went right back up. Climbed under today before I left and it is still snug - must have fixed the problem.

Maybe they started the locking mechanism as a mid model year fix and did not re-print the Owner's manuals. It appears thet they discontinued it as a mid year change on the 03's.
????????

 
Thanks. I just went to the section on the Secondary Latch. I am not sure if mine has this or not. The manual didn't indicate that this might be optional. Looked to me like 03's have it. I will check it out when I get a chance. Thanks for the input.
 
Butch any update?
 
No, I have been busy this week. We are going camping on Thr. and I have a dr. appointment tomorrow so it will be next week before i can get it in to the dealer.

Butch
 
I got over to the dealer on Monday. I left it at the service writers area and told him about the problerm with the spare tire hoist. I then went in to order some parts. I returned and sat down in the customer lounge. After a few min I see 3 service tech's look at the back of my Avalanche so i go back out there. One guy was laying under the Av, one was trying to crank to tire down and the other was trying to tell the other two what to do. They messes with it for 5 min or so and got the tire to crank down. He cranked it back up and said there you go, its working now. I said well lets see you do that again by yourself this time. He tried and could not get it to work! The guy slid under the Av again and they got the tire down and he looked around and found that the plastic tube that guides the crank was broken and it lets the crank fall under the gear box. They ordered a new tube and said they would call me when it comes in.

Butch
 
funny butch I can see them under there now...hehehe

and thanks for info....
 
Glad you got it figured out Butch. Sorry that I was refering to the wrong model year manual. Hope the tube replacement solves your problem.

Steve
 
After 5 years I am bringing this thread back to life....So 2 nights ago I get off work after a 17 hour work day....Its 1am and I have to be back in at 8am with a 1/2 hour drive home....I get in my truck backed up and went to turn the wheel and thought man that didnt feel right. I put it in drive and pulled forward and realized something was wrong. I get out and sure enough I have a flat. So I get the tools out from the saddlebag and unlock the hole and stick the rod in. Now I have done this on plenty of Chevy trucks without a problem. So I start cranking and I look down and the cable is on the ground....Well the tire is still on the truck. So I crawl underneath to investigate and noticed this $(% %!(* POS tire lock thing....So I fiddle with it for awhile and its just not working. So I go inside and visit this site....Seen where it was mentioned before but no real solutions were posted. So I pulled up the owners manual (my truck didnt come with one) and start reading up. I read through it 3 times and did everything it said. Even the whole balancing the bottle jack on your wheel chocks and trying to disengage the lock. So after 2 hours I gave up and took a "company" car home. A few hours later I returned and just took the flat tire off and had it fixed.

So my spare is back where it was to begin with. Locked up like Fort Knox....Does anyone know how to get this ignorant contraption off. And if after I do get it off can I remove the lock and just have a normal GM set up? Thanks for the help!!!!
 
thisdj1 said:
After 5 years I am bringing this thread back to life....So 2 nights ago I get off work after a 17 hour work day....Its 1am and I have to be back in at 8am with a 1/2 hour drive home....I get in my truck backed up and went to turn the wheel and thought man that didnt feel right. I put it in drive and pulled forward and realized something was wrong. I get out and sure enough I have a flat. So I get the tools out from the saddlebag and unlock the hole and stick the rod in. Now I have done this on plenty of Chevy trucks without a problem. So I start cranking and I look down and the cable is on the ground....Well the tire is still on the truck. So I crawl underneath to investigate and noticed this $(% %!(* POS tire lock thing....So I fiddle with it for awhile and its just not working. So I go inside and visit this site....Seen where it was mentioned before but no real solutions were posted. So I pulled up the owners manual (my truck didnt come with one) and start reading up. I read through it 3 times and did everything it said. Even the whole balancing the bottle jack on your wheel chocks and trying to disengage the lock. So after 2 hours I gave up and took a "company" car home. A few hours later I returned and just took the flat tire off and had it fixed.

So my spare is back where it was to begin with. Locked up like Fort Knox....Does anyone know how to get this ignorant contraption off. And if after I do get it off can I remove the lock and just have a normal GM set up? Thanks for the help!!!!
Click to expand...

Does this pic help any?
 
I think I'll try to get out my spare down today, it's never been off in 5 years.
 
I looked at that pic....It didnt do me much good....Maybe I dont understand how the lock works is the problem??? Anyone want to explain how it works and how youve got it to release????
 
Do you have a owners manual, if you don't click the resources tab on top of this page and they have them there.
 
I don't understand the problem, removed and replaced my spare on both my '02 and '04 easy enough. I should insure it still works again while it's good weather.
 
I dont have an owners manual but I pulled up the one on here the night I had the flat.....I did the whole jack on the wheel chocks trick it says to do and it didnt work.....I can lower the cable all the way to the ground but the wheel stays up.....I dont know how to unlock the secondary latch I guess.
 
My only real problem was thinking that the lock on the bumper made the tire go up and down electrically like on the Navigator, once that little faux pas was cleared up it worked great.
 
thisdj1 said:
I dont have an owners manual but I pulled up the one on here the night I had the flat.....I did the whole jack on the wheel chocks trick it says to do and it didnt work.....I can lower the cable all the way to the ground but the wheel stays up.....I dont know how to unlock the secondary latch I guess.
Click to expand...

I checked mine out and lowered my spare last week and it came down, with no problems.  I too have a '03.  Don't konw if some came with a latch or not.
 
thisdj1 said:
I dont have an owners manual but I pulled up the one on here the night I had the flat.....I did the whole jack on the wheel chocks trick it says to do and it didnt work.....I can lower the cable all the way to the ground but the wheel stays up.....I dont know how to unlock the secondary latch I guess.
Click to expand...

Try lowering the cable a little and kicking the tire, there is suppose to be a safety catch on it. I just did mine and it came down easy.
 
Here's a couple of crappy PIC's from the cell the first is the top part looks like it has some little hooks on the post that it may be suck on
 

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Mine got stuck on the secondary latch and I had to take the one bolt out that holds the whole dang assembly in to get the tire down.......The latch assembly is still sitting on my garage floor by the way.
 
thisdj1 said:
Any pointers on going that route??? Looks like my best option as of now!!!
Click to expand...
Lower the tire as far as it will go then look through the holes in the rim for the one bolt that holds the whole thing up there. I used a few extensions on a ratchet to get to the bolt (15mm I think). you may want to put a floor jack under the tire just to relieve the tension on the cable once you have it down as far as it will go.
Once the bolt is  out, lift the tire with the jack to give you some slack in the cable so you can unhook the assembly from the bottom of the bed(?). I think it's the bottom of the bed.
Let us know if this helps.
 
OBB can you post a Pic of the unit you have on the gargage floor I would like to see it also

I haven't seen that safety catch.
 
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