Busboy

Last night we dropped the spare on my sons 2013 but when we cranked it back up just as it was close to the top the drive failed, it won't go up or down and it's not tight. It was late so we left it until this morning when we found a broken pin laying on the ground, the pin looks to be about 1/8 inch diameter but there is no way to get to the location without lifting the bed with headache rack lights and a B&W goose hitch, the hitch is OK but the safety chain attachments would have to come off plus there was about a foot of snow in the box.. I dropped the spare on my 2011 for a look and there is no way to get to it so I marked the exact location and drilled a very small pilot hole to confirm, I'm going to find a nice cover/plug then drill a larger access hole that the plug will cover, probably 1 inch to 1 1/4 inches depends on what size plug I can find. Without having another truck to compare you would be stuck lifting the box and all that goes with it. I'm doing this NOW to my truck before I encounter a similar problem. I did think about using a cutting disc in an angle grinder but not keen on the possibility of the wheel coming down on top of me plus we would then have to change out the hoist that's bolted from the top.

Busboy

OK it's done and it's so easy to access the pin for removal and installation.
17 5/8 inches from the rear of the box and 35 1/2 inches from the drivers side of the box I drilled a hole in the center of the riser and it aligned for access perfectly from the passenger side using needle nose pliers, I used 1 3/8 hole saw because that was the size of plug I found I wouldn't go any larger as the plug will over hang the edges of the riser.
If you are not going to do this mod write the dimensions down and keep them with the tire changing tools so you will know where to drill if this happens to you.

Grit Dog

Good ingenuity!

Busboy

Thanks, this isn't a problem until it happens to you Just to confirm those dimensions work with the 2010 and up to at least 2013.5 which I think would include the 14's and 15's.