Elroy is fortunate that the spare tire hoist was not seized. I had to use the cutoff wheel on a few in the past.
With the price of new and used trucks today I know my 2005 F150 will need to last me for the foreseeable future.
Fortunately there is zero rust because there is usually very little snow and limited treating of the roads. My usual means of transportation is a motorcycle so it only has about 130k on the clock and runs great. For those of you who know... yes I did change the plugs in the 5.4L 3-valve Triton at about 90k and only had two break but the Lisle extraction kit worked great.
About three months ago I noticed what seemed to be excessive road noise. Diagnosis eliminated front wheel bearings, tires, road surface so I raised it on jack stands, ran it and used my stethoscope to determine it was the differential. What I could not determine was whether it was the pinion or carrier bearings. Not wishing to do it myself, my neighbor's family owns a local garage so I took it there. They found the carrier bearings shot so I had all the bearings replaced - pinion, carrier and axle so it is essentially new.
Yea, it cost some but where can I find another these days?