Well I've lost another spare because of the junky little lift thingy. The salt just kills them. I asked the dealer about it and they gave me the usual answer "Oh never heard of them having problems" That must be why you can't find any good ones at the salvage yards. I have a short box and don't want the tire in there. Has anybody rigged up something better?

 

I saw a nice swing out tire and jerry can carrier for the back of pick ups on line a few years back.
Other than putting it in the bed you don't have a whole lot of options...

 

When mine dies I think I am going to adapt a Ford unit........From the looks of the ones in the junkyards around here, they don't seem to fail like the Dodge units.

It cant be that hard to retrofit.

 

My current RV trailer has a cradle made from angle iron that hinges at the front and the rear drops down, when up it has a safety pin to secure it. The spare sits on the cradle. It might be possible to do the same thing and still use the cable to hoist it up and down.

 

Yeah it was kinda funny to see my spare chasing me down route 44 the other day after feeling a clunk. Dam good thing no one was coming the other way, single lane road where speed limit is 50, people usually do over 60 though. The "arm" at the end of the cable folded in half, didn't look too bad a few months ago either. Winch still works, gotta get some lithium grease in there once in a while or it'll freeze up. When it's working properly I think it's a pretty slick setup.

I was just going to loop the cable through two holes in a piece of heavy steel with a few cable clamps, then bolt that to the rim for safe keeping.

 

Wow--I wonder what kind of nasty salt they use on the roads where you guys are?!? Up here in Alaska they use a salt/sand mix all the time but it doesn't seem to rust out everything like I hear about in the lower 48.

 

Hmm,my wife's Superduty had the identical winch that failed on my '98.5. I rigged up a 2" rachet strap setup on my '07 where the hooks go into the holes on the inside of the frame. Snug it down and you're done. I'd think you could use that on the 2nd gens also. On my '98.5,I threaded a Master 6' cable lock through the tire and crossmember and never worried about it again.

 

How's the best way to grease it?

 

Mine is still going strong after plowing snow since the truck was new... where are you that the salt is so much worse than Mass?

To grease, lower the spare and spray the mechanism and cable with white lithe- simple as that. (and no, I don't do that often- think I did it once about 10 years ago)

 

My winch doesn't work so it rides in the bed of the truck, bicycle locked to the Goose neck safety chain's so it doesn't "walk off"