2006 Chevy Silverado

NY 986 · Mar 9, 2016

I am trying to get my spare tire off the holder and am not having any luck. Any tricks to get the cable to lower?

glennster · Mar 9, 2016

if the wnch is still good and not rusted solid, crank it up about 1/4 to 1/2 turn to tighten it, then go the other way to release it. if its rusted shut, cut the end off the cable and drop the spare, then replace the winch. has your air bag light gone on yet? there is a problem with the two sensors at the bottom of the radiator support going bad. they are about 175 dollars each my cost.

hd6gtom · Mar 9, 2016

We used to have to hit the end of the cable piece with a hammer to get the safety catch to release. Usually takes a couple of good whacks.

Petert · Mar 9, 2016

Let the air out of the spare tire. That should give you some slack in the cable.

rossow (mn) · Mar 9, 2016

http://www.silveradosierra.com/

This Chevy/GMC site has lots of discussion of the cable-hoist problem with spare tires. You might find useful tips by searching there.

rankrank1 · Mar 9, 2016

Yes, The likely problem is that the T-bar that holds the spare tire up is tuck in the winch housing.

Terrible design as that T-bar is riveted together and a little rust and corrosion causes it to swell and the tip mushrooms when it swells in the winch housing.

I ran into this exact problem on my 2003 GMC Sierra a couple years ago when I had a flat 150 miles away from home. Only way I could get the spare tire down was unbolt the winch carrier from the frame. Not too hard to do

Once you get the tire off it is easy to fix so it never sticks again. I mig welded that T-bar together and then took a grinder and ground down the tip that goes into the winch housing to provide more clearance.

The problem and the solution will become obvious once you see how it is made. Good news is that it is a Free fix to solve so it never happens again.

Hoenes · Mar 9, 2016

Look a little deeper in the owners manual, and it says to crank it up higher than you think it should go,almost to the point of stripping it out or breaking the cable,and that's supposed to release the safety catch. It may or may not work!

GM Guy · Mar 10, 2016

All of my GM pickups are the 88-98s, but I did have a friend with a 05 run into this exact issue, and he had to replace the winch.

The way I understand it is that there is a secondary "safety catch" that can sometimes malfunction. Apparently it is not the most robust design, as IIRC there were instructions on how to destroy it in the operators manual.
I think it involved jacking up on the center of the holder to ram it into the winch body and break the latch.

I have heard of some folks unbolting it and working with it and getting it to finally come apart.

Good luck!

2x4 · Mar 10, 2016

Does it have the long plastic tunnel that starts at the bumper? I had to bust the plastic tunnel & turn the winch square end with a thumb wrench. Much faster & easier.

2006 Chevy Silverado

NY 986

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glennster

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hd6gtom

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Petert

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rossow (mn)

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rankrank1

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Hoenes

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GM Guy

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2x4

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