Herald on Transit, Spare wheel mechanism.

[fofeg101]

Hey Guys, As anyone got a Herald on Ford Transit? Today I decided to wind down the spare wheel to check it over. At the rear of the Van is a hole which you thread a handle through to reach a kind of winding mechanism, there's a socket in the end of the handle which I think is supposed to locate over what looks like a 13mm bolt head which, I assume, if turned (which way?) lowers the spare wheel. I'm not sure how it works but nothings happening, I'm not sure if the socket is engaging the bolt head. Perhaps the mechanism is seized, rusted, up, it appears to have never been used since 1998, thankfully I have long arms so I was able to spray a load of WD40 over it, but I had no idea what I was spraying. Has anyone any ideas please?

 

[no1kaili]

I would imagine without seeing it, that you'd turn it anti clockwise to lower the spare.

If you do manage to undo it, clean the rusty thread with a wire brush & apply some Copper Grease to it, that way in the future it should wind up & down with ease!

Steve

 

[fofeg101]

Thanks Steve, Having given it some more thought I think the mechanism works along the same lines as the one on my VW Sharan, the initial push on the tool pushes a spring loaded safety catch which has to be held in until the whole of he cable is released. Tomorrow I'll jack up the van and crawl underneath, it'll give me more working space.

 

[mitzimad]

most transits have a wind up cable to lift the spare like most things below a van very prone to corrsion ive had to cut a few to release the spare

 

[fofeg101]

Thanks Guys, Jobs done. I blasted the mechanism with a load of WD40, left it stand a day or so, went to it today and it's now working!!. I've now blasted the inside of the mechanism with Spray Grease. It was a useful exercise, I'm glad I was working on my Drive and not on a busy main road somewhere. One thing I've found is there's no way I can get the spare wound back up under the van without crawling underneath to fix the bracket on the bottom of the cable into the wheel, so I'll keep a polypropylene sheet and a boiler suit in the van just in case.