Photo Essay - Falcon Ute Spare Wheel Winch

[PhilMeUp]

The Falcon BA XR6 Turbo ute that I bought recently didn’t have a spare wheel. I bought a suitable wheel but the winch jammed up when I was trying to wind it back up again. Time to pull it apart and see how it works.

I started by drilling out the four rivets on the outside of the casing - only those four outer rivets. I then used a flat-blade screwdriver to force the two halves apart.



Once I had the casing halves apart, I could see how the cable had jammed up between the pulley and the casing.



I had to use the flat-blade screwdriver again to lever the pulley from out of the casing. Then it was obvious how the cable had not gone into the pulley groove and had instead jammed up between the cable and the casing.



I unwound the cable from the pulley, but was unable to wind it back on because of some damage to the end of the cable, where it clips in to the pulley.



A photo of the empty pulley. There is a ridge on one side of it that helps to prevent the pulley from being unwound the wrong way.



I took the cable to Flexible Drive Agencies in Welshpool, Perth. They said that they could get it repaired, but that it would have to be sent to Melbourne. They then suggested that I try a a nearby place called The Lifting Company.

I went there and someone was able to cut the end of the cable off and put a new end on within a couple of minutes.

There is a spring-loaded piece of plastic that prevents the pulley from unwinding too far. It doesn’t drop into place until the cable is fully unwound, which is why it only does its job then (ie the cable in the groove keeps it outward).

If you’re ever trying to find a place to repair or replace a cable like this then start with places that deal with trailers with winches (eg boating places). They’ll be able to direct you to whatever place builds their trailer winches.



Once I was able to tinker with the winch to see how it works, I could see why it jammed up. Lesson: keep some tension on the cable when unwinding and winding it up to prevent the cable from going loose and jamming between itself and the casing (ie keep it in the grooves on the pulley).



When the cable is would up there is a piece of plastic that ensures that it goes into the pulley groove.



A photo showing how the cable feeds into the bottom of the winch before going on to the pulley.



A photo showing the cable fully wound on to the pulley. On my winch there is some room left for a longer cable. I’ll do a test run when I put the winch back on the ute to see if the cable is long enough, and get the cable replaced with something a bit longer if required.



Another photo showing the cable wound on. This also tested the winding mechanism before I put the casing cover back on.



When putting the casing cover back on, make sure that it slides onto the plastic part that guides the cable in.



There is a plastic surround on the winder that needs to line up with the casing cover.



I got the winch back in one piece, and then wound the cable back and worth a couple of times to make sure that it wasn’t going to jam up again.



I got some stainless steel M6 x 16mm bolts from a hardware shop to replace the rivets that I had drilled out. They are too long, but they were the shortest ones that the shop had. I chose the stainless steel ones so that they wouldn’t rust (in case I need to pull this thing apart again). With 10mm bolt heads and nuts, I can dismantle the pulley and possibly fix it if it ever jams up whilst changing a wheel.

I used a 6mm drill bit to drill the holes out to fit the M6 bolts. I also put a spring washer on each bolt.



Then I slid the plastic tube back on over where the winder goes. This plastic tube goes between the winch and the back of the car, and guides the winding rod into place.



And then I had a complete winch, ready to be bolted underneath the back of the ute.



To re-fit the winch, I reversed the ute up on to some wheel ramps. I got these ones from SuperCheap Auto, along with the extensions to allow for a car with low ground clearance to get on to the ramps.



The winch attaches to four bolts that are underneath the back of the ute.

Note: If you haven’t changed the diff oil for a while then now is the perfect time to do so. You’ll need to make sure that the car is level, so use a jack and some axle stands to raise the front of the car. I fitted this diff to the car two weeks ago, along with Penrite Pro Gear 80-140 diff oil. The photo doesn’t show it, but there was a slight leak at the filler bolt so I removed it and put a new fibre washer in there, and then cleaned off the leaked oil with brake cleaner aerosol spray.



There is a hole in the back of the chassis for the plastic tube.



I fed the plastic tube into the hole and then tightened up the nuts with a 17mm socket. These are lock nuts, so I didn’t need to use Loctite (although I was tempted to anyway). I don’t want this thing coming loose when driving.

[PhilMeUp]

I fed the plastic tube into the hole and then tightened up the nuts with a 17mm socket. These are lock nuts, so I didn’t need to use Loctite (although I was tempted to anyway). I don’t want this thing coming loose when driving.



The winch bolted into place.



I then got the winding rod and began to unwind the winch. I also held the end of the cable with one hand to keep some pressure on the cable to ensure that it would unwind properly.



Despite losing a bit of cable length, it was still plenty long enough to come out far enough behind the ute to attach to the spare wheel. Once I had fed the end into the spare wheel centre, I pulled the wheel backward toward me so that the cable would be kept tight when winding the winch back up.

This is where having an extremely low car might be an issue - you would need to make sure that the wheel will actually fit under the back bumper. If not then you’ll need to carry a second jack to raise the car up high enough to get the spare wheel in and out.



When winding up the winch, it still required enough force to break the end off my brand new winch winder. Not impressed. I tried a few different sockets, and found that a 16mm impact (ie six-sided) socket fitted perfectly, so used a ratchet to continue to tighten the winch. I tried using multi-grip pliers but it was taking forever.

I might go to a metal fabrication place and see what it would cost to get something similar made out of steel instead of the too-soft aluminium - having something with a 21mm hex-head end would be ideal (ie same as a wheel nut, so that I could use a ratchet and wheel nut socket).

Note: Make sure that your spare wheel clears your brake calipers. This wheel is from a BA XR8 and will clear both six and four piston Brembo calipers.



I finally got the wheel raised up, but had to keep pushing it toward the front of the car to get it past the towbar. Part of the towbar is still pushing into the tyre, so some other time I’ll climb back under there with an angle grinder and grind back the square corners.

[Gussa]

Good work mate - I am sure this will be useful to someone!

[PhilMeUp]

Good work mate - I am sure this will be useful to someone!

Yeah.... me, if I ever get a flat tyre in the ute!

[MattyP]

Haha your posts are epic

Very well written

Keep it up

[arronm]

Nice, I would have just thrown the spare in the tray.

[PhilMeUp]

Nice, I would have just thrown the spare in the tray.

- Too easy for someone to grab and steal the wheel.

- It would slide around the place when braking and cornering (unless secured with a rope or tie-down).

- Gets in the way when putting a bike (and other stuff) in the back.

- Risk of it sliding out the back and going missing when I've got a bike in the back and the tailgate down.