Some years ago I berated the difficulty of access to a Fortuner spare wheel. My March 2005 2.7 Auto AWD L/R box model is one of my favourite cars in terms of practicality and reliability but the design of the spare wheel access is the product of a troubled mind.

Shorty after buying the car in March 2005 I tried to drop the spare wheel. The first difficulty is trying to align the hook end of of the crank rod with the slot in the winch drum worm drive. Two sections of the wheel jack crank have to be slotted together and a screw tightened but are such a sloppy fit that they continually come apart compounding the frustration. I solved this by throwing the joke screw away and drilling straight through both assembled sections and inserting a nut and bolt. Later, I got a local metalworking shop to make up a welded one piece tool.

Once the end of the tool is located in the slot you can be faced with a stubborn refusal for the winch to turm. I gave up the first time and took it to the Toyota agent where it took two strong men to move it. Since then the winch and chain have been kept lubricated with graphite grease with no re-occurrence.

My question is, have later models had this problem reworked? Hands up those who have never tried to drop their spare wheel!

It's the same system to-day 2 piece and it's same for Fortuner and Vigo also Mitsubishi not sure about other brands.

It's the same system to-day 2 piece and it's same for Fortuner and Vigo also Mitsubishi not sure about other brands.

Not directly related to this issue, but in BKK, I notice quite a few pickups and pajeros where the spare wheel is missing (and only the little bit of chain is left dangling). Anybody knows if there is a trend of stealing spare wheels here?

Sounds like a real good reason to rotate your spare in yes?