I've got a 2001 supercrew and I got a flat the other day, lowered the tire got it changed blah blah blah. Well today I went to put it back up and something went wrong and about 3 inches from being up alll the way things went bad and it wouldn't go either way. So not wanting to drive like this I took a cable cutters and cut the cable and figured on buying a new one. After I got the tire out I looked up there and on the inside the cable was all unbraided and knotted up in there so that is most likely the cause.

Anyway, I did a google search for 2001 f150 spare tire carrier and couldn't find anything that looked similar so I'm wondering what the heck they call that thing and if anyone knows a good place to order one?

 

junkyard, they are easy to replace and rather cheap

 

mine's junk too...damn ny winters..

 

I just replaced mine for the same reason, mine was 85 bucks from the dealer. Real easy to change.

 

They call it a winch, I think the whole name is spare tire winch. About 80 bucks at the stealer. I'd do the junk yard. Just make sure if you have a "key" on the old or new one, you can crank it up and down. You can just pop the lock out with a screw driver, then the regular jack handle works.