Tacoma Spare Tire Lock

This post is for those that have encountered the spare tire locking mechanism on the first generation (1995-2004) Toyota Tacoma pickup truck. The lock resembles a wheel or lug nut lock that requires an adapter with a special pattern that engages the lock.

Here's what the lock looks like from the back of  my 2001 2.7L extended cab model showing how the spare tire is lowered by a cable:

and here's a closeup of the lock:

Here's the attachment that should be in the bag with your rods used to crank the jack. Mine was buried at the bottom ... I didn't even realize it was in the bag.

The jack crank end hooks through the attachment and snaps into place. Here's a closeup of the end.

Finally I should mention that if your truck has a modified rear-mounted tree detector (a.k.a. bumper) that's jacked up thereby closing the gap where you would normally insert the full crank rod, you can still lower the spare. Just use the last section of the crank rod (the jack end) with an 11mm square female pipe socket and a ratchet, a wrench, or even pliers. I used a "Sunex 214fp 1/2-Inch Drive 7/16-Inch Female Pipe Plug Socket" available from a certain on-line store.

Note: Wonky formatting courtesy of Blogger upgrades.