My tire blew out on the interstate a few days ago. I got the spare tire on and a new tire; however the tire place didn’t put the spare back under the car. I’ve tried, but it won’t raise with the tire on! Is there something i have to do? Or am i going to need a new winch? 😪

 

I would suggest stopping by that tire shop and ask them to put it back, and to show you how it is done.

If they did not put it back, because they couldn't, they should have told you about it.
I personally would not be surprised if the mechanism has seized up though. I used to work in a tire shop and do road service, and we ran into a lot of those under vehicle spare winches that had seized up.
Lots of companies used them too.
We would often have to cut the cable to get the spare tire out for people, but they were always told up front about it.
It may just have been someone at the shop who had no idea where the spare was supposed to go. They often hire kids just out of high school for that job.

If you get it fixed, make sure it gets greased and run up and down at least once a year.