GHDirect Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 Hi All. My 2003 Connect 1.8TD van has a spare wheel that will not wind down. Therefore I suspect the wire winch assemble has failed which seems a common issue. I need advice on: 1/ How to get the actual spare off its mounting cable when it is high up underneath. 2 How do you remove/replace the offending winch assemble on my model as there are no tell tale rivets showing where its mounts. GHDirect Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDinNHandAZ Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 First are you sure it's not just stuck? I had to unwind it pretty far and then lay down on the asphalt and kick the hell out of the spare to get it to break free and fall down. The spare on my 2010 gasser is secured by both the cable from the winch and a safety cable. Both connect to a bracket inserted into the spare wheel and bolted through one of the lug holes. I believe you will need to cut that free of the wheel to drop the wheel. A 4” grinder with a narrow metal cutting disk would be my first attempt, then a sawsall with metal cutting blade. My spare wheel was so rusted that I had to replace it. The bracket you cut and the winch together are available from Ford but are $300. The part # is: 5T1Z-1K353-A. I’d try to salvage it somehow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrtn Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 That's rusted stuck and you can get it out by turning the bolt until the cable breaks. Then get a new cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GHDirect Posted September 2 Author Share Posted September 2 Hi All. Thanks for tips. Even using a pry bar I could not get my spare wheel to come down more than an inch. Its not rust just a failed and jammed mechanism. As all the lifting bits are above the actual spare wheel and can't be got at, major action was called for. I put the rear of the van on jacks enough to get under and give me a bit of head room. From underneath using a 4" angle grinder and steel chisel I carefully ground/chipped away the centre steel assembly that was holding the wheel up till it was smaller then the wheel centre hole. Be out of the way when the wheel and tyre are free as it will just drop to the floor. Once off I removed the jammed mechanism and replaced the whole assembly with a new one. Since the grinder was inches from my face spitting metal particles I wore a welding mask. Not the nicest job to do RDinNHandAZ and Fifty150 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fifty150 Posted September 3 Share Posted September 3 Glad that you got that solved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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