Ford F150 - Spare tire lock

OK, I owned two F150's that both needed a spare tire "key" to raise or lower the spare tire.(2000-2004 heritage) If you lose or misplace your ford key (the thingy in the glove box) there is a procedure that works 100% of the time and is easy to do. 1st look carefully for the factory key as after this process the key is not usable anymore. Take a 14mm 12 point socket, 3/8" drive and a long 3/8" extention and insert it into the plastic tube- where the jack handle would go. Seat or try to fit the socket center on the extruding roller part (not the real name, but ya get it) with a hammer hit the end of the extention with moderate force and the socket will fit itself over the extrusion. then use a racket to turn the tire up or down. It it easy, but you do lose the socket after this (it stays in place). (I use a cheap one) In future just use a extention and racket to operate it. Done this apox 10 times, works everytime. also you can grind the jack handle-just a bit to fit the square part of the socket and yes it will still work in the jack. Jack from Texas