A Lucky One

[Turbo]

I was driving through a local hamlet last week & I felt a bump under the van. I thought I'd run over something on the road & in the mirror I could see a wheel sitting on the road!
That's strange I thought, I didn't see that in the road.
Then it clicked, was it my spare wheel?
Pulled over & sure enough my spare wheel was missing!
Went back & rescued the wheel & threw it into the van. Then I looked to see how it got loose.
It lives under the van in a metal frame pivoted at the front & secured by a hook that is tightened by a long bolt from inside the van. Looked under the van & the hook had managed to unscrew itself & was missing!
When I got the van the hook was seized onto the bolt & it took a lot of heat & swearing to get it separated. I cleaned it up & refitted it with lots of copper grease but I was really surprised it had unscrewed itself!
Luckily the hook was lying on the road so I could at least get the wheel cage lifted into place again.
It was really lucky that this happened where it did,with no traffic around!

I've now added a short security chain from the wheel carrier to the tow bar frame so it can't drop if the hook fails & I'm going to put a short roll pin on the end of the bolt so that the hook can't unscrew completely.

 

[Danez]

Exact same happened to the spare wheel hook on my 205, thankfully I caught it before it fell off!

Still...rather that than a space saver or foam!

 

[Danez]

Mate had exactly the same with his French piece of sh*t and we secured his by making a securing strap with a piece of square welded onto the securing bar and this sat in the bolt groove and was hinged at one end and held with a wingnut at the other end, few weeks later the rear wheel bearing nut unscrewed itself.

I know the French pride themselves on their screwing abilities, but unscrewing......................................................................................

it adds character

 

[500e]

A lot have a short Bowden cable with an eye that hooks on carrier as safety.
They rot as well

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Wish mine was mounted underneath. Currently bolted to the inner side wall on a manufacturers bracket. Takes up a chunk of space in the van.

 

[DSR]

Any chance it could have been the local scallywags after a wheel for their van ?

 

[keithski122]

When I was young and driving a knackered old mini to work I saw a wheel go zooming past me, only to realise it was my back wheel. I ended up chasing it down the road before it ended up in the canal borrowing a pair of mole grips off a fisherman (I had no tools) and taking one bolt out of each other wheel so I could bolt it back on and carry on to work.

 

[Cobbler]

I lost a front wheel of my Triumph Vitesse years ago. Saw the wheel hit the verge, jump the wall & end up in the field. Managed to get it off the road into a gateway on 3 wheels & a brake disc, found the wheel complete with the nuts in the hubcap, refitted the wheel & carried on.

 

[BarrieJ]

Any chance it could have been the local scallywags after a wheel for their van ?

My immediate thought too. Our daughter lost the spare off her Peugeot 306 to local scallywags.
I adapted the fastener to prevent a repetition. Poor design effort by Citroen/Peugeot.

 

[Bobupndown]

Always thought they were good, as long as you didn't let them seize up, bit of grease every so often helped.

 

[Melvyn Best]

The old Skoda Estelle had the spare mounted underneath at the front , if the carrier dropped it could lift the front wheels off the deck!

 

[Turbo]

Any chance it could have been the local scallywags after a wheel for their van ?

The head of the bolt is inside the van & it would be virtually impossible to unscrew the bolt from underneath using mole grips on the bolt shank as access is very limited due to its location.

Besides which, where I live wheel theft is virtually unheard of.

 

[Turbo]

Always thought they were good, as long as you didn't let them seize up, bit of grease every so often helped.

They are good as long as you didn't fit a tow bar. The steel bar on the tow bar that runs across under the bumper restricts the clearance to the ground. So now there isn't enough room to get the spare wheel slid up into the cradle! I've tried every which way but there's no chance!
The only way to get it in is either jack up the van by 2" or drive the rear wheels onto blocks.

Funnily enough they don't mention that in the sales page of the tow bar!

 

[Turbo]

Wish mine was mounted underneath. Currently bolted to the inner side wall on a manufacturers bracket. Takes up a chunk of space in the van.

I carried the spare in the load space while I painted the wheel cradle. It takes up a lot of room & I was so glad to get it back under the van again!

 

[Bobupndown]

They are good as long as you didn't fit a tow bar. The steel bar on the tow bar that runs across under the bumper restricts the clearance to the ground. So now there isn't enough room to get the spare wheel slid up into the cradle! I've tried every which way but there's no chance!
The only way to get it in is either jack up the van by 2" or drive the rear wheels onto blocks.

Funnily enough they don't mention that in the sales page of the tow bar!

Had towbars on 3 Peugeot 405s, no issue with their spare wheel carriers.

 

[nickk]

The old Skoda Estelle had the spare mounted underneath at the front , if the carrier dropped it could lift the front wheels off the deck!

Very convenient,so lifts the car ready for a wheel change .

 

[Eric the chicken]

I had a Renault 4 back in the 70's with a similar system. The bolt to secure the cradle was inside the rear hatch. There were lots of urban legends of spare wheels being stolen by cutting the wire cradle, it wasn't that thick about 6/8 mil.

 

[Turbo]

I had a Renault 4 back in the 70's with a similar system. The bolt to secure the cradle was inside the rear hatch. There were lots of urban legends of spare wheels being stolen by cutting the wire cradle, it wasn't that thick about 6/8 mil.

205 Gti's came with 5 alloy wheels & theft of the spare was quite common. Quick snip with a pair of bolt cutters 4 times & you had a set of alloys!