I know most of us have Mustangs or other sports cars as our rides however, here is a tip for any of us who have Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge minivans for our other cars.
One of my neighbors recently had a flat on his Dodge minivan. The spare tire is outside, up underneath the rear bumper and there is a bolt you turn in the back compartment that lowers the cable that holds the spare. However, there is also a safety clip that prevents the tire from falling off if the cable breaks. With the mechanism being exposed to water/dirt/salt that the rear tires kick up, we found that the safety clip had rusted and would not release. You could turn the bolt as much as you want but the tire won't come down. I'd imagine many owners have had a flat on a highway only to discover this fact.
I told my neighbor he could borrow the spare from my minivan so we walked over to my house. Guess what? Yep. My safety clip is frozen from rust, too. Good idea, Mopar engineers.
Checking online, I discoved a wealth of info from people with the same problem. The way to get the clip to release is to stick a thin screwdriver up into the mechanism and manually get it to release. I tried it and it's not easy. The fix is to replace the entire mechanism for a couple hundred bucks. Of course, the new clip will also rust and freeze up if you don't work the mechanism a few times a year to prevent this.
So, anyways, if you have a Mopar mini van, try lowering your spare tire and see what happens. Better to find out if it works while in your driveway rather than have your wife find out while parked on the side of the road with the kids in the car and a flat tire.
One of my neighbors recently had a flat on his Dodge minivan. The spare tire is outside, up underneath the rear bumper and there is a bolt you turn in the back compartment that lowers the cable that holds the spare. However, there is also a safety clip that prevents the tire from falling off if the cable breaks. With the mechanism being exposed to water/dirt/salt that the rear tires kick up, we found that the safety clip had rusted and would not release. You could turn the bolt as much as you want but the tire won't come down. I'd imagine many owners have had a flat on a highway only to discover this fact.
I told my neighbor he could borrow the spare from my minivan so we walked over to my house. Guess what? Yep. My safety clip is frozen from rust, too. Good idea, Mopar engineers.
Checking online, I discoved a wealth of info from people with the same problem. The way to get the clip to release is to stick a thin screwdriver up into the mechanism and manually get it to release. I tried it and it's not easy. The fix is to replace the entire mechanism for a couple hundred bucks. Of course, the new clip will also rust and freeze up if you don't work the mechanism a few times a year to prevent this.
So, anyways, if you have a Mopar mini van, try lowering your spare tire and see what happens. Better to find out if it works while in your driveway rather than have your wife find out while parked on the side of the road with the kids in the car and a flat tire.
