I need to take the rear tire carrier off to replace one of the bushings on it. I have the e clips off and the pins don't want to budge. Do I just need to hit them hard from underneath with a hammer or am I missing something?

 

I'm pretty sure that's it, just add lots of penetrating oil.

 

I tried taking it off when its on the truck, it didnt seem to work that well, have you tried taking it all off and getting it out that way? I just replaced mine with another unit I found on eBay for 30 bucks, got tired of trying to remove the pins.

 

Detroit muscle - do you mean by taking the actual brackets off instead of taking the pins out?

I'm just trying to get the pins out since its making a bunch of noise over bumps with the tire on there, but doesn't when its off, I can see a gap in the hinges, so i wanted to just replace the bushings