Technical Spare wheel carrier stuck

[iansl]

Hi all,

My wind-down spare wheel carrier under the back of my 2014 250 ducato is stuck. Having done loads of googling, I am resigned to the fact that the mechanism is knackered and seems to be a design weak point.

However, I need to get the wheel off that is stuck under there. There are rumours that if the cables are cut that the wheel will drop. Can anyone confirm this is definite? I don't want to cut the cables and the wheel to stay stuck underneath, only to drop off on the motorway a few weeks later.

The mechanism looks something like this...

Link to mechanism

I can get to the point where the cables leave the winder with an angle grinder but they then disappear behind the tyre so that's my only real point of attack.

Thanks all,

Ian

 

[jackwhoo]

Yes if you cut the cable to the wheel it will fall out. The other cable just holds the spare cable when wheel up.

 

[jackwhoo]

With this spare wheel carrier think of the inner cable like a bicycle chain and the up down mechanism as a cog that engages with the chain. The chain doesn't coil up around the cog , the chain is just pushed or pulled by the cog. When up the spare chain is pushed into the storage cable outer.

 

[jackwhoo]

When you get the inner cable out you will see it has teeth along it's length

 

[iansl]

When you get the inner cable out you will see it has teeth along it's length

Thanks Jack.

I am just in the process of moving house so I don't want to attempt it just yet in case something goes wrong but I will have a go in a couple of weeks.

 

[cornishsurfcampers]

Ditto. This has just happened to me… in France..
Thankfully made it to the campsite, only to find the wretched spare wheel carrier stuck..
Bloody vans, its only a 2017

 

[iansl]

How did you release the spare or is it still stuck?

 

[jackwhoo]

Cut the outer and inner cables between the winder mechanism and wheel, as close to the wheel as practical. If wheel does not just drop.....give it a good kicking.....be careful wheel is heavy ....don't let it drop on any part of you or anyone else.

 

[jackwhoo]

Ah memory that The wheel will need pulling toward rear of vehicle before it will drop...use a rope

 

[iansl]

Thanks Jack,

After we've moved house and I'm not so dependent on the van I will cut the cables. Thanks for the tip on pulling the wheel backwards.

 

[jackwhoo]

Sorry I didn't remember wheel needs pulling rearward after cutting cable in my first posts....when you get wheel out you will see reason pulling back required to complete releasing of wheel.

 

[cornishsurfcampers]

How did you release the spare or is it still stuck?

I borrowed an angle grinder and cut through the cables.
I tried taking the gearbox apart first, just to check if there was something I could do, but 2 of the screws were rusted and rounded.
So we have the rest of the holiday with a spare wheel as a guest in the camper!

 

[jackwhoo]

When you get a new wheel winch unwind the cable fully smear cable with lots of grease when winding cable back in.

I have found the problem to be the cable rusts badly in the winch jamming it.