warning to all first gen owners

[mrford60]

My brother in law went to work on his rear brake lines on his 97 expy and looked under and his spare was gone! not stolen but the cable broke and he lost it on the road somewhere. he never heard it or anything. so keep an eye on your cables or put a bicycle cable lock on your spare to give it an extra retainer. there was a woman killed nearby from a dropprd spare from a pickup a few months ago. i wouldnt be able to sleep at night if i lost my spare and didnt know where it went.

 

[Jay87LX]

That happened on my dads Navigator- fortunately it was pulling into the driveway. I checked mine last year, dropped the cable all the way and sprayed it all down with WD40

 

[splintrcel]

Where is this spare brake cable???

 

[Charly]

Same happend to my 99 f150 never saw the thing again

Sent from my VS910 4G using Tapatalk

 

[toms89]

Where is this spare brake cable???

Speaking about the retractable cable that holds the spare up. Has nothing to do with the brakes except while working on them is when they noticed spare tire missing.

I have had my spare in and out several times and my cable is greasy as hell. Might try grease....doesnt come off cept all over your hands, shirt, etc.

 

[Thermo]

Not to question when the tire was lost, but it was a common thing many years back that people would climb under the trucks, cut the cable to the spare tire and steal the spare tires. Since the spares are actual tires, not donuts, you get your hands on 4 spare tires, you have a free set of rims/tires that will be good for 50K miles. This would also explain why you never heard it drop off of the truck while driving.

 

[alaskanexpy]

no rust here so no worry!

 

[timberwoof]

We had a rash of part thefts. Mostly Ford truck parts such as tailgates, mirrors, and the like. Spare tires were a big item for the thefts and were hardly ever noticed by the owners until way after. One quick snip and the tire was gone. You would be surprised how fast it would happen. Got video of one of the thefts and from the time the guy got out of his vehicle, walked up to the truck and got back into his vehicle with the tire was abot 45 seconds.

 

[mrford60]

it wasent stolen i am sure, the cable was rusty and frayed. just a warning to others to keep an eye on it.

 

[panda24619]

my dads tundra's spare was stolen. but they lowered his spare and dropped it and took it. thats easy to do with trucks. mine is still there. it hangs just low enough for me to see it when i walk buy it. so i keep an eye out on it. and i also like to drop it and lift it every once in a while.

 

[JTKustoms]

happened to my buddy's f150 on the highway

 

[hades02]

Same thing happened to my 97. Was slowing down at an intersection and I heard a clunk and saw the tire rolling away. Luckily no one was around and I put the Expy in park and ran after the tire. Still looking for a new spare tire cable assembly. Any ideas? Have tried the bone yard with no luck. Don't want to pay full price at the dealership.

 

[Expedited]

All- this is definitely real and a known issue. My dad's 97 F150 dropped the spare, but luckily it occurred just as he was pulling into their garage- made a loud racket, marked up the floor, but no one was injured. These situations could be a LOT more dangerous, and seeing how many have experienced it, we're lucky among us the odds have been in our favor that no one was hurt.

I may be mis-remembering, but it seemed like within a few weeks of my dad's 'event', there was a notice for a TSB or something regarding that very issue... maybe it was just an investigation.