Spare tire rack how to’s?

[Deb Mac]

Just pulled the wheels to get new tires installed and spent almost as much time getting the spare off the rack as I did getting the trailer up on jack stands and the other two off!

Very hard to pull out. I laughed when I read in one other thread “sit on the ground with your legs on either side and lift and pull”. Mine was not budging. I had to stand and do a sharp pull up and back just to get it off of the bracket. I don’t think it had ever been moved before.

Not knowing how far this thing should pull out, I erred on the side of caution and ended up using my breaker bar to pry the tire off of the lugs and onto the ground. It was still completely under the trailer but I could get it out.

“Sliding” the rack back into place entailed using my rubber mallet on the curved grab bar and whacking it back into place. And that’s empty! The telescoping “slide” tubes are bowed down, but not too bad.

So 2 questions
1: how far out should I be able to pull that rack? I would think it should be a good 3’ - 4’, so that I can lift the tire off of the lugs on the rack.

2: any suggestions regarding lubricating the tubes so that I don’t need to use a mallet to get it back into place?

3: yeah.. just thought of #3…. Tricks on lifting and “sliding” the rack back into place once I get the spare back? I am a 70 yr old 150 lb woman and have managed to deal with everything else on my own. But unless there is something I’m missing, I will Not be getting that spare back onto the rack and stored.

Can I completely remove the rack and pull the tubes apart? Maybe clean, straighten and lubricate them? I’m not going anywhere for a while, so I have the time.