After having to put our truck up on vehicle hoist to be able to get at the spare tire hoist, I would call this defect a SERIOUSLY dangerous one. You cannot get the spare tire down unless you remove the entire assembly. There was no way to reach the spare tire hoist bolt with the truck on the ground because your arm is just not long enough. You need to stand under the truck to be able to reach over the the spare tire. If you actually had to change this tire at the side of the road you will be in real trouble and out of luck! You would have no choice but to drive on your flat or your rim to get to a shop to get help. It took two hours of our time and a You Tube video to finally get the spare tire off the truck. This should most definitely be a recall issue as this cannot be done at th side of the road and driving on a flat or your rim could get you killed!! Also, if you are a woman just forget it, you will not have the brut strength to loosen that bolt even if you got your truck off the ground.

Upon learning that a tire was defective, I instructed the tire mechanic to put the bad tire in the back bed and use the spare as a temporary replacement. As he attempted to crank down the spare, the chain holding the tire came down but the tire did not. The mechanism holding the tire was locked up and would not free the tire. The spare tire, though new, was useless.

In talking with the tire salesman, he said my problem is a common problem with chevy trucks. The only fix is to buy a complete hoist system for $100+ and to expect a high labor bill since the old hoist may have to be cut/torched off the truck.

This is obviously a very bad design that GM should step up to by recalling their trucks and repairing or replacing the hoist mechanism. If anyone has had a similar problem and/or experienced a satisfactory solution through GM, let's hear it.