Anyone notice a chain hanging from their spare?

i was under my DCLB '14 the other day and there is a chain hanging out of the middle of my spare tire. I tucked it up on to the top of the rim, when I checked the next day it was hanging down again. I'm assuming that is a part of the spare tire lift but my combined ownership of 195,000 miles with Tacomas, I've never taken a spare tire down. I assume this is normal??

 

Normal. It's part of the tire retention setup. If you ever drop your spare, you'll see why it's there.

 

Yeah, it's the lowering system. All is well. I winch mine down once a year or so to put air in the spare. Some year I may try flipping it to see if it will go on with the air nozzle pointing down so I don't have to keep lowering it.

 

yes, the spare will fit normally under the vehicle with the valve stem pointing down. not sure why Toyota insists on putting it the wrong way from factory.

 

They did that to protect the valve stem from road debris. It can actually be damaged pretty easily and thus leak air making your spare useless. I know a few guys that have flipped their spares with no problems over several 10s of thousands of miles over various terrain, but just a heads up...

 

That does make sense. It's really not a bad thing to remind myself how to do occasionally. The last thing I need is to try to figure that pulley shit out on the side of the freeway or some dark dirt road. Oh and don't trust the "checked spare pressure" check box from the dealer. Last time I got service I checked it on a whim when I got home and there was 17 pounds in it.

 

Yeah its normal, they changed from a cable to a chain.

 

It's normal but I'll just leave this here

 

I bot my 2013 in 2013, the first time I checked the air in the spare I flipped it. The factory valve does not high spot when the spare lies flat on the ground. When I put it back up I positioned the valve stem as close to the differential pumpkin as I could figuring that anything I ran over would contact the pumpkin first somewhat protecting the valve. Have had no problems doing a mild off roading in AZ.. It is much easier to check the spare tire pressure which I do 2x per year, figure flipped is a lesser evil than never checking the spare pressure, which I would not do if I had to lower it every time. Has anyone had a problem with the spare flipped?

 

They changed from a chain then to a cable and now back to a chain.

For you youngsters they were using a chain way back.... My first had a chain in 1980.

 

I was just sticking with 2nd Gens, my 08 had a Cable and my 15 has a Chain, but your point is well taken too.

 

Not a bad idea to lower the spare at each oil change to check it's tire pressure. In my case, tools are under the bottom cushion of passenger rear seat.

 

My 02 had a cable and they recalled it and replaced it with a cable. Cable was rusting out. Must have got a deal with the frames. My 2015 has the cable.

 

The mount--the brace between the frame rails that held the spare and cable up--that was rusting out too. One second you have a spare, the next it drops and you're dragging it behind, then the whole thing breaks off.

 

Are you sure your 2015 has a cable and not a chain?

 

My 2015 has the chain while my 2010 had the cable.