We hit some road junk on I 79 near Waynesburg, PA and blew out a rear tire. A local good samaritan pulled over, helped us unload the whole car (which was filled to the roof with our daughter’s stuff), and put on the donut, which is suspended just in front of the rear bumper. He put the dead tire in the back of his car, and had us to follow him to a tire store in Waynesburg. However, I neglected to crank the cable mechanism back up under the car. I could hear it dragging, but I didn’t want to stop because I thought I’d lose him, plus we’d have to unload the whole car again to get at the nut that raises and lowers the spare. By the time we got to the tire place, the cable had frayed and had to be cut off. Once we got back to Chicago, my local mechanic (a good guy who doesn’t try to gouge you) says that he can’t just replace the cable…the mechanism is sealed, and a replacement costs about $200 for parts and labor. Now that the car is going on nine years old and has 130K miles, I think twice about putting any more money into it, although it’s been a great car that’s held up under a lot of ill-treatment. If any of you mechanical geniuses has a notion, let me know. In the meantime, the donut rests behind the third seat in a big plastic bag.
I would get it fixed for the $200 amd move on. This Quest is likely to give you another 50K+ miles of good service, so my skimp now?
Salvage yard part?
Modern boneyards should be able to locate one for you. Most now have inventories and many are networked.
I don’t know what this mechanism looks like. I guess it just holds the wheel and tire up there. If you can not find a salvaged one and are handy, you could probably fabricate something yourself. for 200 bucks, you probably could not pay someone else to do it so you are better off just buying the replacement.
Another vote for fixing it properly, either with a new part or one from a salvage yard.
are you mechanically inclined? the junk yard replacement part is the cheapest way to go, with a couple of nuts, it should be a done deal.
I would guess that all those things are similar enough to find in the junk yard. Happy Hunting.