spare tire question

PJE wrote:

... The nylon "stem" of the wheel holder has a collar that gets caught by a spring latch inside the square tube protruding downward. This is the tube which the cable comes out from. The latch itself is a stamped piece of metal with two "claws" that extend into the tube through the slots on its rear-facing side. That piece is attached to the tube by means of a flat spring, whose one end is riveted to the latch and the other one to the tube, some 3" upward. To operate the latch, there is a rod which pulls it away from the tube (the claws have tabs on their ends so they cannot come out completely). The other end of the rod is hooked to a looped flat spring. The spring is shaped like a hose clamp with two long straight "ears", and the round portion is pressed onto the bottom end of the winch's main shaft. So, as you begin to unwind the cable, the clamp/spring should turn together with the shaft and pull on the rod, thus releasing the latch. And this must happen before the weight of the wheel transfers to the latch throgh the plastic holder (which would occur if the latch fails to move on the first few turns of the shaft). Apparently, when the latch claws get stuck in their slots due to dirt or rust, the shaft just slips inside the spring. It could be a fail-safe feature to prevent the parts from breaking, but it also easily prevents the latch from releasing ... If you can hold the wheel close to the floor pan, there's enough room to reach the latch with a finger, through the center hole of the wheel. If it's too difficult to hold the wheel up, you can insert a long screwdriver through one of the holes in the wheel and unhook the latch with it. It still helps to at least partially support the wheel so its full weight is not resting on the latch.

Frank Bartlett wrote:

I have owned a 2000 Dodge Caravan and now a 2003. Both had the spare tire problem. The cable will come down but the tire will not. There is a safety mechanism that will not release because of rust. Where I live the rust would be created after about two weeks from the new car lot. Bad design Dodge! Shame on you engineers for being so stupid!! Something so simple as a spare tire change is made complicated with the flawed design. I wonder how many people have been stranded on the road cursing the jerk who thought of that design. I eliminated the mechanism by cutting it out. There is so much friction when the tire is in the up position that it will never come down by itself. I have had no issue after that. You should send out a memo to all dodge dealers to ask their clients who own these vans to check the spare tire release. I checked my 2003 before I needed the spare. good thing I did. It would have never come down. without a flashlight one would never even be able to see what is holding it up. Once again I must stress the point that this design sucks!!!!!!!