OK, the next item of business is my spare tire carrier. One day I'm driving my son to Little League (last summer, truth be told), I go over the road gutter into the parking lot and I hear a loud "THUMP". What the heck was that, I say to myself. I look in the rear view mirror and what is laying in the parking lot...you guessed it, my spare tire. Fell right out of the carrier from the underside of the vehicle. Upon inspection (I found the part that actually holds the tire up) I discover that the end of the cable had rotted and the tire carrier (plastic part) broke away. I threw the tire in the back and went on my way.

I went to the junk yard and got a "new" tire carrier assembly, from a wrecked Bravado. Discovered that the Bravado carrier was 1" SHORTER than the Blazer carrier and doesn't fit in the Blazer...Damn! Anyway, I decide to fix the Blazer carrier. I couldn't find an elegant way to terminate the end of the steel carrier cable (the end that rotted off had a factory installed ball terminator on the end of the cable), so I took a 1/4" rod coupling and welded it onto the end of the cable (placing the plastic tire carrier on the cable BEFORE I welded the cable end). That worked out nicely and has held the tire securely ever since, however, while taking the tire out during the fuel pump replacement project I noticed that the end of the carrier wire is fraying again and it doesn't look like a very secure situation. Sorry for the long background scenario, but sometimes it pays to know the history before you look for a future solution to a problem. Anyway, can somebody dream up an elegant way to terminate the end of a steel cable cleanly? You have to remember that the cable itself is getting shorter with every repair so I'm trying to maintain as much cable length as possible. Is there some "terminator" that can be clamped / pressed / mashed onto the end of the cable? Thanks for your thought and / or ideas.

FYI: It wouldn't hurt to occassionally drop your spare tire and lube the cable as you reel it back into the cable housing. Preventative maintenance goes a long way to preventing future headaches.

 

if you could hit us up with a pic that would help visualize it alot.

 

I'd say just buy a standard U-joint coupling for cable, and then double the end of the cable back through the coupling before cinching it down. You will then have a loop at the end of the cable that won't fray and will provide enough bulk to keep the coupling from sliding down and off the cable. If you REALLY want it to be solid, insert something like a short bolt and nut through the loop and tighten the nut.

 

I thought about using a standard cable clamp BUT like I said previously, I'm trying to maintain as much cable length as possible. Looping the cable and clamping it will shorten the cable considerably, and the last thing I need is the spare tire hanging in mid-air with the cable fully extended. There isn't a whole lot of room under the vehicle to wrestle the spare out if the cable is short and you can't get the lifting block out of the tire.

So, now that I've been pondering this problem for awhile, 2 possibilities have come to light: First, I'm thinking that I can use a 1/4" rod coupling nut, drill a whole through the side of it, then pass the cable through the hole and jam the cable between 2 - 1/4" bolts tightened in from both sides of the rod coupling. I'll end up with a upsidedown T arrangement. The second thought is that I've found that you can buy cable terminators for steel cable, but of course they should be "pressed" on with tremendous pressure (much more so than you can apply with human hands even using a tool, light duty wouldn't be so bad but this is a high stress, constant downward force location, subject to severe thumping, so I'm not leaning in this direction). I have however thought that I could do both things, first the bolted T idea with the crimped on cable terminator on the end of the cable as it passes through the coupling nut (as a little extra insurance). I'd hate for the tire to fall out on a highway, could cause a major accident if it ever let go at high speed. You probably wouldn't even hear it go, just a lot of screeching behind you.

 

What about checking out an electrical supply store? I would think that they would have some sort of heavy duty cable connector that could work to either terminate or lengthen your cable.......or both.
I don't know, just an idea.