Truck is spotless BUT I cant get the spare tire to release from underneath the box…it ratchets down about 2 inches and stops…no amount of winding it up and down will get it low enough to lift it off…did exactly what the book said to do but no luck…put jack under the wheel and lifted like the book said…no luck…this is a showtruck…whats going on with it
The safety catch has rusted up. The catch will prevent the tire from falling off the truck if the cable that holds thentire breaks. It is a very common GM problem especially on a 14 year old truck - show truck or not.
A long skinny screwdriver might be able to pry it loose. Lower the tire until just before it no longer drops, look for the latch and see if you can pry it loose. Look this up on YouTube, you should be able to find a bunch of videos showing the problem on ALL GM trucks and SUVs that use this cable crank mechanism.