Technical problem with spare tire.

[veteranvmb]

Was with one of my children and his 2007 nissan xterra. Great truck.
We were going to pm all our vehicles at once this past Friday. So one of the last things we do, is psi all the tires, including the spares. We do the spares every 2 months.
Well on this truck, the spare is underneath in the rear, and comes down on a chain, when cranking it from a cut out in the rear of truck, using tire jack.
A lot of you , have the same exact thing.
Well it went down a few inches, and then got real tight and wouldnt come down any more.
We cranked it back up, and then tried it again, and no luck.
And its funny, we had just watched a day before that on motoweek magazine t.v. show, discussing that, and says to do the pm work in the owners manual.
We looked through all his manuals and no mention of any pm work to be done.
We tried lowereing it again, and this time I really put some pressure into it, and heard a crack, and it started releasing. Sounds like I busted a rust spot or something, but chain looked good.
I know the mechanism is a sealed mechanism.
Anyone have this problem.? I told him since it is under warranty, next oil change bring it in for change to dealership, and have them check it out.
I just dont want to slop some grease on chain, as that could do more harm.
The motor week site, says something about cleaning the secondary catch by spraying it with rust penetrate and then white lithium grease.
I dont know about this method.
So anyone have this problem??

Much regards Jerry