5th wheel factory spare tire carrier

[Dayle1]

I needed to lower the spare tire on my Cruiser this week (not due to a tire problem) and the crank only lowered the tire about 8 inches. Fortunately, I was still able to get the tire off the cable and see the problem. Part off the steel cable was off the drum and wedged between it and the frame. Additional strands of the cable were on top of the loose one and keeping it jammed. Apparently this is the way it left the factory.

While I fixed the problem, here are some things I learned.

1) The cable is much longer than it needs to be, maybe 6 ft long, and barely fits on the drum. Wind it up loose, and it will likely come off the drum. When I was ready to raise the tire, I placed it on the ground probably 4 ft in front of the storage compartment with the cable fully stretched out and then used the crank to drag the tire across the floor and then lift it up.

2) Doesn't seem to be an ez way to shorten the cable length, but on the other hand, I wasn't impressed with how well the cable end was secured to the drum, it might come loose.

3) The screw securing the drum shaft was very ez to remove. Maybe too ez and another risk for dropping the spare tire and causing real problems at 65 mph.

I think I'm going to add a safety cable to keep the tire from dropping to the road if the hoist mechanism ever fails.

[Lloyd]

Larry, the worry of the spare dropping prompted me to add safety chains. I crisscrossed a set of light weight chains and fastened them in the middle with a small turn buckle.

[Pull Dog]

I also crisscrossed a set of chains as a safety device just in case this plastic winch decides to head south.

[socoguy]

Once again I am impressed with topics on this forum. It is like getting a free education. Thanks Larry, Lloyd and Pull Dog