3rd Gen - Check Your Spare Tire!!

Getting ready for a 3K mi trip and decided to check the spare to be sure the tire hoist is working as well as the jack. First, same on my Tacoma when it was new, the spare tire is hung upside down (if you ask me) No way to check its pressure or fill it with the stem on top. Drop it out and flip it over with the stem to the rear of the truck. 2) If you bought the spare tire lock, same thing happened on the Tacoma, BillyBob the installer failed to insert the female side of the lock key into the hoist so it fell out and was just sitting in the spare tire rim bouncing around. Just line up the drift pin and fully insert it into the hoist crank. Good 'ol BillyBob couldn't figure that out in 2016 or now in 2023. (( Sorry, should have taken some pics ))

 

I don't know for sure if this is applicable, but in a 2.5 gen I can (barely) reach over the spare and get a PSI reading using one of this type of doohickey. It doesn't require an air hose to get a pressure reading. It's a slight PITA but nothing like dropping the spare.

$28 AstroAI Digital Tire Pressure Gauge with Inflator(3-250 PSI 0.1 for Display Resolution), Heavy Duty Air Chuck and Compressor Accessories with Rubber Hose and Quick Connect Coupler, Blue

https://www.amazon.com/AstroAI-ATG2...fix=tire+inflator+digital,aps,123&sr=8-5&th=1

 

I just flipped it and now can get the Costco Nitrogen line straight onto it.

 

Cool, I will do the same. I wasn't sure if the mount would work with it "upside down".

 

I'm one of those lowly gen2.5 guys, but I lower my spare twice a year to check the pressure. I figure by using the hoist a few times a year it is less likely to be seized up when I need to lower the spare on the side of the road at night in crappy weather.

I thought about flipping the wheel over, but figured it would encourage me to be lazy and not exercise the hoist.

 

Either way we are probably a minority that even checks it at all.

 

You're not wrong.

 

I checked mine for the very first time only just a couple months ago, with six years and over 200K on the clock. Better late than never, or so I'm telling myself. The tire had about 26 pounds in it.