Where can I find crank for spare tire?

[Pyrenees]

Ok guys, I successfully removed the wheel lock key from the spare tire winch with basic tools in my driveway. Total time was about an hour, including adding air to the spare tire, washing it off and reinstalling it. Big thanks to @flintknapper on this one.

The first thing I did was put the AHC suspension on high, because who doesn't want more room underneath the car? Then I used a ratcheting 12mm flexible-neck box end wrench to remove the four bolts holding the winch on. Basically, there is a huge crossmember underneath the car that holds the spare up. Attached to that is the four bolts holding the winch and the winch secures the spare tire to it.

The whole spare tire/winch assembly then fell down on me, as is tradition. I took two flathead screwdrivers and pressed them down between the locking bit and the plastic cone, and pried it up. Then I just ripped the whole plastic cone off with some force and destroyed it, because who needs that? That left the locking bit that was pressed into the standard winch.

I bent the bisected metal cone parts down (made them ugly) so I could pry up the wheel lock key with the screwdrivers. I whacked the key a few times on each side with a hammer+screwdriver, placing the screwdriver tip in a groove on the side of the locking key. It was very easy to pop the key out. Underneath that was the stock winch. I used pliers to bend the cone pieces back up into a semi-respectable shape.

Installation was reverse of removal. Overall a very straightforward job. The hardest part was shoving my whole arm up between the muffler and the tire, to place the ratcheting box wrench on the top of the bolts to let the whole assembly down.

 

[Pyrenees]

Pics

 

[flintknapper]

^^^^^^ Good Job!

Nice write up and pics.

This will no doubt help others needing to do the same thing.

We appreciate members taking the time to contribute.

 

[Pyrenees]

^^^^^^ Good Job!

Nice write up and pics.

This will no doubt help others needing to do the same thing.

We appreciate members taking the time to contribute.

Thanks. You got me started on it, I had no idea that I could drop the winch/tire assembly down as a whole. It was an awkward job to remove the winch but it was very straightforward and not problematic.

I'm just thankful that I ran into this stupid problem and rectified it while doing routine maintenance (dropping spare to access diff fill bolt) rather than while on a long family trip in the rain with a sad kid and a pissed-off wife

 

[Boethius]

Many thanks to Pyrenees for the detailed explanation and pics! HUGE help!!!

 

[Pyrenees]

Many thanks to Pyrenees for the detailed explanation and pics! HUGE help!!!

You are very welcome. I'm just really glad I discovered this idiotic problem before I ever needed to access my spare in a time of crisis.

 

[PabloCruise]

I don't see an easy way to access the key without having the winch removed and on a bench.

It is just pressed in place and held with a star shaped thin metal washer. The design of the washer is such that it makes the 'key' difficult to pull straight out, but you can grab it with a pair of pliers or hit it with a drift punch and hammer and move it side to side). This will deform the star washer and allow you to remove the key. There is nothing to do after that.... since the requisite channels are already in the metal cone to accept the hook on the let down tool (same hook end that is used to operate the jack).

I was able to reach over the top of the tire and using a ratcheting wrench...remove the four bolts holding the spare tire winch. Others have removed the bolts on each side of the supporting cross-member and then wrestled the entire thing out...but I found it easier to just do the winch.

Glad you went into this detail! I raised my spare tire cross-member up for more clearance, so I was concerned about the "reach up and over approach".

I will go for the remove the cross-member approach. and remove the anti-theft provision.

All I wanted to do yesterday was change oil/filter and rotate tires before a turkey day road trip. Much to my chagrin, the key was not in the tire tool kit.

Here we go! Thanks all...

 

[PabloCruise]

You could deflate the tire and see if you can get the chain to pass through the center of the wheel, remove spare, and reinflate.
Might be worth a try.
HTH.

Has anyone tried this?

 

[Boethius]

Has anyone tried this?

Haven’t tried this exactly but was able to reach up and undo the 4 bolts holding the tire anchor to the cross member. Tire was heavy but it worked.

 

[PabloCruise]

Haven’t tried this exactly but was able to reach up and undo the 4 bolts holding the tire anchor to the cross member. Tire was heavy but it worked.

With my spare tire cross-member raised for clearance, I thought I would drop the entire cross-member in order to delete the anti-theft.
When I got things unbolted, nothing wanted to move! I keep my spare fairly snug. I lay there, thinking about my next move and saw the tire stem sticking up! So I deflated the spare and that made all things possible.
Great thread, thanks all!

 

[PabloCruise]

PS: a floor jack under the spare makes things much less exciting when dropping the spare plus winch and possibly cross member.

 

[urist]

Bumping an old thread to improve its search engine find-ability. It took a bit of work a few months ago to find this thread when I realized I didn't have the key for the spare tire winch and, In my case, the cross-member bolts were rusted out a bit so I could not get the crossbar off. I had to get my arm above the tire and remove the bolts holding the winch in. The info below for how to get the spare tire down without removing the crossbar is spread across several posts, so I'm posting a clear guide here for anyone in the future:

1. Put jackstands under the tire since you are going to remove the winch from above and you probably don't want a concussion or a broke schnoz.
2. Let all the air out of the spare tire that you can.
3. You have to get your hand, with a socket wrench, up on top of the crossbar that the tire winch is bolted onto. This was quite difficult, but if your arm is long enough you can:
   1. put your hand between the spare tire and the rear bumper. I did this from the driver's side of the bumper, since I'm right handed.
   2. get your hand above the tire
   3. push your hand forward towards the crossbar, bending your arm at a 90 degree angle such that your elbow is pushed into the bumper and your forearm is laying flat on top of the spare tire.
   4. You will be able to reach the bolts on top of the crossbar that hold the winch.
   5. you did put jacks under the tire, right?
   6. saying "go-go-gadget extend-an-arm" will help
4. there are 4 bolts at the four corners of the rectangular mounting bracket for the winch. Photos of the winch are above. They are 10mm, I believe. back them out little by little on each corner.
5. eventually the tire will drop

Once the tire is dropped, you can remove that stupid gal-dern Lexus "security" key, as mentioned in the posts in this thread. I ripped the plastic off, got a pair of vice grips and got to work.

Some search engine friendly phrases, for anyone googling frantically from the side of the road:
How to remove LX 470 LX470 spare tire winch key
How to lower LX 470 LX470 spare tire without key
How to remove 100 series Lexus LX 470 LX470 spare tire winch
How to remove 100 series Lexus LX 470 LX470 spare tire crossbar
How to remove 100 series Lexus

 

[sinoman86]

Thanks @urist and @Pyrenees just finished this in my LX470 in no time.

 

[urist]

Thanks @urist and @Pyrenees just finished this in my LX470 in no time.

Good deal. I finally re-mounted my tire this weekend once I removed the security key and got a new lowering arm to run the winch. Great thread!

 

[cruiserbrett]

Thanks all to this post… I know it’s old but is it ever important!!!

Just(yesterday!) bought my first 100 series cruiser, a MY2000 LX470 and the damn spare tire was the first issue. Not on drive home, just on figuring out all the quirks of a first time ownership of a rig.

I took a few mins, and thankfully got the dumb anti theft bit out so no one is stranded with the poor design of the anti theft key thing. With a bit of corrosion, and some packed in road dirt, someone may be screwed on the side of the road.

Thanks all to this solution!

 

[Inukshuk]

Tonight I was the lucky one. When changing to my snow tires, I decided to check pressure in the spare. Shame on me for never having the spare off these past three years. I found I had the antitheft key. Fortunately, I was able to lower the tire. Using two flat screwdrivers to remove the plastic popped the key out. if you tackle this job, don’t fear. It may go easily for you.

 

[cmeha]

This is great thread, thanks to all the contributors. My spare tire winch set up worked for a long time, but recently I'm having problems cranking it up after letting it down. It "hangs up" somehow, it will make several turns just fine and then stops. Sometimes I can reverse it a little and something releases, then I can crank it down a few more turns and the process repeats. I'm thinking there's some sort of internal pawl inside it and age / corrosion has gotten to it.

Can the winch mechanism be disassembled / cleaned / lubricated? Has anyone done that? New OEM is $175, but I'd like to clean it up and reuse it if possible. If not I'll try it and post the procedure.