Dang, guess it was just the cables time to go.

Was cruising down the road today, luckily only about 35 mph.
I had my daughter and one of her friends in the truck, we saw a huge plume of smoke in the distance, and I was driving towards it so we could see the fire.

So I felt a little thug and a clinckclinckclinck sound, I was thinking WTF, I looked in my rear view and I saw a little chunk of metal rolling away from my truck in the street.
At that point my daughter said TIRE!, apparently she saw it in the right side mirror. I looked in my drivers side mirror and saw my spare tire rolling randomly down the street ,,, It took a sharp right, causing oncoming traffic to slam on their brakes ,,, I saw it hop a curb, then I lost site of it.

So anyways, I turned back around and recovered it sitting lamely on a lawn, luckily no damage done.
Recovered the metal piece also.
Just glad this wasn't on the freeway or major road though, someone could have got hurt.
I always liked the spare setup, but I guess you never know when the cable has had enough. Probably should be a backup built into that system, some sliding metal tabs or something just to prevent it from falling out like that if the cable gives out ,,, That would also greatly reduce the stress on the cable in the first place.
As it stands, that cable is the only thing holding it in, 24/7.

You can see the sheared cable dangling out of its housing below.
No damage at all to my truck, must have fell out cleanly, and my truck was clear before it bounced up and away.
Anyone know if a new cable can be run into the works there, or do you need to get a whole new retaining setup ?

 

Holy crap! Glad everybody is ok. I hada spare on my boat trailer come off one time, caught between the trailer and the ground......heard a screaming noise, smelled burning rubber, and finally saw the smoke. Pulled over real quick and pried out a badly beaten rim, and some smoking hot molten rubber that used to be a tire!

 

Dang! I'm so glad I don't live where my truck gets rusted like that just from normal use.

 

I just keep mine in front of the bed with a ratchet strap. And by the looks of it, I would say the cable rusted through.

 

Thats actually in great shape, rust wise, for a 13 year old Michigan vehicle.
Rust most likely was not a factor, as these cables are stainless, correct me if I'm wrong - In any case, I would think they can snap just about anywhere, any time - thats alot of weight to be holding 24/7 for a decade +, with all the various heavy bumps, dumps & jumps stressing it more and more 100's of times a day in an average vehicle.
Metal fatigue ,,, And cables sure are not immune.
I think it was a very bad idea to have this cable alone securing it to the vehicle, and against gravity yet.
I have thought that exact thing every time I have let the tire down, and spooled it back up.
Nice system, but completely lacking redundancy - In fact, if god forbid I had killed a motorcyclist or something with my tire, I think I'd have good odds of putting the blame on Chrysler for a design defect.

I will leave the spare sitting in my backyard and take my chances before I carry it in the bed, not an option.

 

I'll second that. That's why I wont live anywhere that gets enough snow for them to use road salt. I can't stand to see my vehicles die from cancer (rust).

 

Is there any reason that you would risk being stranded? I can see nothing wrong with throwing a tire in the back of a truck.

 

Just a pet peeve of mine - Plus I am often using the bed, and lugging a tire around full time would be an unacceptable hindrance.
Maybe I'll toss it in if I'm taking a 50 mile drive or something, other than that, I got AAA with full towing, in case the need arises.
+ side, my mileage will slightly improve for a while from not lugging it around.

Seems to me that metal box houses a little reel, with the cable spooled in.
Should be repairable, unless it is rusted to the point where I can't access its innards.

 

That is understandable, I would look at the local salvage yard, I would bet that any cable set up would work.

 

We get enough here that there is road salt down all the time. Because of that, I'm the idiot that stands out in freezing weather with a pressure washer blowing the salt off.