Has anyone had their spare tire fall out from under their truck? I have and it happened just after I left the interstate in my 99 F-150. When I came to a stop I felt a bump and thought the car behind me hit my truck but it turned out the cable holding the spare up broke (clean brake at the wedge) and tire fell out. I'm just glad this didn't happen while I was still on I-40 doing 75 MPH-scary! To the best of my knowledge, the spare tire has never been removed until the day the cable broke?

 

I've heard the stories and removed my spare tire last year (I went to 33" tires so it was doing me no good anyways). My cable looked new, and was even covered in a white grease.

 

Mine had before i bought my truck. It had broke right the end, so i went to tractor supply, and bought like 4 cable clamps. Since i didnt have the org. end piece i had to make it out of a piece of angle iron. Then i put all those clamps on the end of the cable.
Its been about a year now since i fixed it and nothing has happened(i check it about every oil change).

 

Perhaps the spare tire cable and assembly is one of the most neglegted parts on a vehicle, I check mine spring and fall, just so this type of thing does not happen. I always put some grease on the cable and wedge to keep the salt away from it.

 

Yea, my 2001 fell of when I pulled away from a stop sign. Put two cable clamps on it and it has been fine for about two years now. I have checked it a couple of times.

 

Hasn't happened to me, but it did happen to my uncle when he had is 99. Luckily it happened in town and not on the hwy while towing his boat. I really don't check mine. I think i'll try greasing it every so often.

 

unless you take it off every other day and lube it, they will fail. I'm on my third one right now...luckily it's never broken while driving. $104 each time.

 

This happened to me on my three previous trucks. Clean break everytime. One driving down the highway, another over railroad racks, and I never found the last one.

 

Both were replaced on both the '01 XLT, and the '02 King Ranch.

Had a flat tire, and the one on the XLT would NOT retract, and the one on the KR, did the same.

I may be wrong, but I "thought" there was a TSB out on these.

 

mine fell apart on my '01 luckily it was when I was changing it and not when I was driving. I had to look at the cable dangling under my truck most of the winter, once it got warm enough to get under there and check it. I found the housing split open and the cable jumped the track and the powdered metal for the handle to seat into split apart as well.

A few bolts, removed it, and threw it in the trash. Appears to be one of the worst parts Ford ever put on.

 

Where do you get your new units. Ford dealer? Does it just bolt on?

 

I would just fix it, i took mine apart when it broke to check the inside. I just ground down the rivets, greased it up, then put bolts back in when i was done.
When mine broke the cable at the end, i just got some cable clamps to fix it.

 

99 F150
<BR>
CABLE ASSY SELL $65.64 SHIPPING $9.50
<BR>
HAVE ONE IN STOCK
<BR>
Ed

 

The cable didnt break on mine, but the reel did. One day last winter my brother was raising the spare tire with the hand crank and all of the sudden he felt a, "POP" and you could no longer raise or lower the spare tire.
I got a new one for $60 from the dealer.
My father works for a Ford dealer and he told me that its fairly common for these to fail and that most people just cut the cable and throw their spare tire in the bed.
I thought about doing this, but I use my truck for hauling firewood, so putting the spare tire in the bed greatly reduces the amount of wood I can fit in the bed.
If I had an extended cab I might have just put the spare tire inside the cab, but being that my truck is a regular cab thats not really an option.
Its pretty to scary to think what could happen if that cable suddenly snapped and your spare tire hit a pedestrian.

 

When I try to crank it down (or up ) the handle slips out real easy. I have to push in very hard to keep it in the slot. Don't know if it's worn or full of dirt. I did try to hose it out and it worked a little easier but not much. So is the carrier the whole deal, cable and all? 4 bolts to replace it?