Mk2 Spare Wheel Carrier

[SirToppamHat]

MkII Galaxy 1.9TDi GHIA 130PS.

 

Been having a problem with my spare coming down. I won't bother you all with the reasons behind by needing it off, but I've been looking at various threads for a couple of wks now and finally decided to have another go this morning. FWIW, the current price of a new carrier from Fraud Marlow is about £105, but they are available for £90 inc delivery of various Ford dealers through EBay (go figure).

 

Symptoms for me were that the wheel would lower about 3 ins, then simply stay there, wobbling around. No amount of weight on the wheel would help, so I'd decided to have a look at whether I could undo the 2 allen bolts holding the box to the underside of the cross member running under the luggage area/boot.

 

As it was, I couldn't reach them, so was thinking about cutting through the cable, but there was no cable visible. The following picture (borrowed from Suzuki91's excellent post) shows both the white piece at the end of the cable and the steel casing/tube which descends below the winch box:

 

 

The white piece was actually still partially inside the steel casing/tube and there was a VERY good reason for this.

 

Over the last couple of weeks I had wondered exactly what the lever (L-shaped) mechanism was that hung beneath the winch box and fed into the casing below it. For those new to this it is a safety device so that if the cable snaps, the wheel cannot just drop off the car. This has a kind of flat fork which is held inside the hanging casing by a leaf spring. It catches against the top of the white section once the winch has lowered the wheel about 3 ins. When you undo the main bolt which lowers the wheel, there is a white plastic surround which you are forced to press down to get the socket onto the bolt. This should pull the fork out of the long casing and allow the plastic piece to drop all the way down. In my case, the fork had become slightly rusted into the casing and could not be pulled out in the normal way. I took a long screwdriver and placed it into the end of the fork (through a hole in the spare wheel) and levered it. Suddenly, there was a crack as the for released and the wheel fell free from the car. It might have landed straight onto the driveway, but fortunately my head stopped it, thereby preventing any damage to the rim or tyre. I removed the wheel in the prescribed manner and only then was I able to see what had been the problem (the seized fork). I moved it in and out a few times, then greased the grooves within the metal tube in which the sides of the fork slide. I then extended the cable almost all of the way out (it extends well beyond the rear bumper) and re-attached the wheel before winding it up without further difficulty, and saving myself about £180 in the process!

 

There are some lessons I wish to share:

 

1. Check you can get your spare off ASAP. Don't wait until you get a puncture on the M4 in the middle of the night in the pissing rain!

 

2. If the wheel stops lowering, stop undoing the main bolt - I suggest that many of the cable tangling problems people have shared across the web are caused by the fork sticking and then the cable just unwinding into the winch box and 'knotting or jamming' when it is rewound.

 

3. If it hasn't been done recently (and no it's not part of any service schedule Fraud of Marlow recognise), then take a couple of minutes to grease the 2 grooves I mentioned earlier - it will be really obvious when you are under the car. You do not need any special tools and you don't even need to jack the car up (unless you have an absolutely massive head or a ton of stuff in the luggage compartment!).

 

4. I had my wife come and look at the mechanism to see exactly how it works and satisfy myself that she knows how to get it down. She has satisfied herself that she cannot change a wheel on our car, but she can at least tell the roadside assistance chap how to get the wheel off and, hopefully, not cut through the cable!

 

Thank you for your time.

 

Toppam

 

(PS I tried to post this in one of the other threads but was unable to. Perhaps it might be merged?)

Edited January 2, 2012 by SirToppamHat

[antzatgalaxy]

I found on mine that if the wheel wasn't lowered vertically down, or wound vertically up, the winch didn't move (but the socket bolt went into free wheel). I assumed that when wound fully up, the winch is disengaged (possibly by white plastic bit?) and this was happening because the cable was also pulling against the mechanism when not vertical.

 

Found this out while lowering spare wheel and pulling it toward the back of car while dangling - and getting no where.

 

Am I wrong? did you really manage to winch wheel up from behind the car, winch dragging wheel under car before raising it? If you did, I may have to take a closer look at mine (and reassess my thinking) as all might not be well....

 

Anthony

[suzuki91]

i winched mine up from the bumper of the car and just helped it into the location to make sure the tension was kept on the wire at all times.

glad my photos helped...

[Bigjeeze]

I repaired mine twice - so far it has stayed fixed!

[antzatgalaxy]

i winched mine up from the bumper of the car and just helped it into the location to make sure the tension was kept on the wire at all times.

glad my photos helped...

 

So does the winch go into freewheel, when the wheel is in position? so you can't over tension the cable?

 

On my Astra, it was just a straight forward bolt down to the carrier - a lot stronger, a lot more secure and a lot less to go wrong...

 

Anthony

[davec]

Informative and amusing post,if you will excuse me saying that :lol:

[suzuki91]

if i remember right, you can winch when wheel is fully up and rhis may over tighten the cable?

[SilverBeast]

if i remember right, you can winch when wheel is fully up and rhis may over tighten the cable?

 

...or just break the nylon gear wheel inside the mechanism as it did with mine!! :lol: