With a 3" body lift and relocated bumpers, the alignment for inserting the tool to access the spare tire seems to be off now. has anyone else come across this or found another way to get the spare tire to drop?

 

Oh man,,,,never thought bout the spare and I am having the body lift done this week! Sure makes me wonder what else I may be overlooking......

 

I didn't want to drill a hole in my bumper. It appears to me that it can be accessed through the hole behind the license plate. Just don't forget to keep a screwdriver in the truck in case of a flat.

 

is there a gap behind the plate? didn't try that, tried to squeeze it around the side but the angle was wrong there too.
fortunately i didn't have a flat, was just trying to drop it to make putting the hitch on easier.
I'll see if i can find one of those flip-up, hinged holder like the hot-rodders use to access their gas filler, should be pretty cheap.

Thanks for the info.

 

On mine I removed the left side screw from the license plate. This allowed it to swing down out of the way. After that I can put the rod in to lower the tire through that hole. It is somewhat of a tight fit, but it will work.

 

Drill a 1" hole 3" down from the original one. Then I plugged the original hole with a chrome cap and put the grommet around the new hole.

Looks and works fine for me.

kev

 

thanks Kev
do you have any pics of that, also wanted a closer pic of your tow hook or D ring. been looking for ideas on that, something like wandell did on his.

Thanks!

 

maybe you could try heatin the guide tube up a little and bend it up to where the hole is i'd say it would still crank at that small of an angle change,then no drillin or anything.or just zip tie it up even with the hole.this just got me to thinkin bout that cause my buddy has a boddy lift and i was gonna make some brackets to raise his bumper up even with the bed and hadn't even thought of that

 

Just finished my body lift this weekend and we took the plastic guide tube off and the crank goes thru the original hole and works great. The tube wont allow for the new crank angle is all. Gordon

 

anyone have anypics of sulutions to this problem i want an easy clean looking fix to this problem

 

It's really not a problem. There is a large cut out behind the license plate. Just carry a screwdriver so you can unscrew your license plate to access the spare tire crank.