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spare tire winch and cable?


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My spare fell off because of a rusted cable a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately it was 15 feet from my garage. I have read how others fixed the broken cable.

 

But has anyone looked for a later model vehicle with a similar/adaptable cable lift mechanism? Would be nice to find a 2005 vehicle I could get near new parts off of to fix this.

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I modified a winch assembly off a chevy van to work. It was free, so I made it work, in my experience with that you can make any other vehicle that has an actual winch mechanism work. The van part was not even similar to the mj part, but all it has to do is be secured to the truck, and have the hole pointing at the factory spot for the spare tire tools to fit in, and you're good to go.

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  • 1 month later...

I have successfully rebuilt my tire winch. it's not too bad to do.

1. drill out the rivits.

2. take the peices out one at a time. they will be gooey with old dried grease. that is part of what binds them. They will be all stuck together. Make sure the c shaped springs on the very bottom don't take off on you. Also look for the tab with the slot in it. remember which side it goes to. it goes back and forth like a sewing machine feeder foot.

3. ckean all parts, I used MEK to disolve all the old dried grease.

4. re grease everything generouslly, used NAPA sylglide as it is weather impervious.

5. cut out old cable, replace with new 1/4' cable. don't forget to really crimp the cable ferrell. I used 36". you'll end up cutting of a little bit after all assembled.

6. reassemble in reverse order. I used 1 1/2 stove bolts and nuts to clam it all back together.

 

now I can spin it by hand. silky smooth. the whole process took about an hour! cost me less than $5.00 a whole lot better than modding a different one :)

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When I had my spare tire under there, I still put a couple of ratchet straps on it because I thought if the cable snapped, that would be trouble.

 

I recently bought an MJ tire winch from the junkyard for $20. Not for me, but for a friend who was looking for one. This thing was in perfect condition. It didn't look like it had be unspooled in 20 years.

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I got a new to me winch off a C4C long bed, to install it on my short bed I needed the mounting bracket. I un-spooled the cable to have a look and it looked brand new, no grease, no rust...the connection at the holder was a little sketchy though so I fixed that (just cut about 2 inches off and pounded on a new stop) and greased the whole thing as I re-spooled it.

 

I do like the rachet strap idea though, a little more secure.

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