help getting spare tire out

[crause]

I am about to leave for Cruisin the Coast and decided that I should check the air in the spare tire. I thought that the trouble would be getting the lock off but it came off without too much effort. I tried to unscrew the long shaft but it wouldn't come. I was afraid that I was going to break it. Then I couldn't decide if it was suppose to turn or not. I don't have an owners manuel to explain the operation. Any help here? I could see two bolts on the top where the shaft is attached to the bottom of the car and thought about taking those off and take the whole assembly off but then thought that may open a whole can of worms.
I am leaving in the morning so please reply quickly.
Andy

[joe1975]

I had to unscrew the whole thing, then I painted it all is there gonna be a corvette corral or anything down there?

[GaryS]

ONce you have used your lug wrench to loosen the bolt, you then lift the tire carrier off of the bolt head, and then pivot the bolt head out of the way. If you will get down on your back and look up at the way that the carrier sits on the bolt head you will see that you must raise the carrier just a bit and then it will slip off of the bolt where the neck is reduced. Once you look closely, it becomes fairly intuitive.

[crause]

I see how the thing works I guess that it is all frozen/rusted together and will not turn or pivot. Say a prayer that I don't get a flat tire on the trip. Thanks for the replys.


Andy

ps. joe 75, there is going to be a corvette only event on top of one of the parking garages on saturday. I think rain told me about it.

[75DropTop]

Crause,

I had a similar problem, but my lock was frozen up so I could not get to the spare. I finally decided (after 20+ years) to replace that spare. Goodness, was that old firestone dried out!

The two bolts to the left & right of the shaft at the top can be removed to lower the tire and carrien. Just hold or prop the tire up before losening that last bolt.

Those bolts are 9/16 and about an inch long. Easy to remove.

I then had to cut the old lock off the shaft and replace with a new one.

For those who made need to cut the lock off, here is how:

On the rounded end of the housing diagonally opposite of the lock, there is a small 1/4 inch hole. Take a Dremel and cut outward and up (toward the shaft if it is still on the car) to enlarge the mouth of the lock. The the lock will rock off the bolt head.

Took a lot less time than I was expecting.