I was driving down some of the more fun roads in Wisconsin last week after a snowstorm, hit a pothole and blew out the right rear tire. Tried to get the spare off, it came down about 6" and stopped. So, I raised it back up...nope, it's stuck right there, 6 inches down. I tried lowering again and got some ratcheting sounds from the winch, then tried raising it - this time I got some very disturbing sounding "crunching" sounds...and the tire stayed right where it was, 6 inches down.

I finally called a tow truck and had it towed to a tire shop, they couldn't the stupid thing off either.

Any way to get this stupid spare tire off without a cutting torch?

This is one of the few times I really missed our old Expedition since the spare tire was inside the cargo area instead of underneath

 

the tire hoist has a latch in it that prevents it from dropping on its own. it becomes dirt filled and will not relase properly. lower it the amount you can; pass an extention through the rim to unscrew the one bolt that holds the hoist to the frame of the truck...the tire and hoist will fall out together will some wiggling.. power wash the hoist to see if you can free it up

 

Those things are notorious for rusting up and failing to work in parts of the country where snow and salt are common. I live in the South so we don't deal with that but, as a matter of course I let mine down about once a year and lube everything up. My wife's van (2011 Town and Country) use to live in Miami Fla and the catch that holds the spare has rusted. I had to do some serious playing and oiling to get it loosened and working again. In fact, I need to check that before her road trip next week. Here ya go..

 

If it ever stops snowing here, I will get that stupid tire off and soak everything with WD-40
Thanks, both of you

 

My wife's Chrysler minivan has a tire stored under the chassis. We bought it used and the first time I tried to get the tire out it was quite difficult. When I got everything working I coated everything that moves and wiggles with red axle grease. That was a year ago. I checked it a couple of days ago and it's still working great. The grease kept everything that was rusted up from re-rusting up.

 

We cut it off with a torch and stuck it in the back. At some point I want to get it fixed, but I really didn't want to deal with having a perfectly good spare under the car and no way to put it on after another blowout.