I had to check mine yesterday after hearing some loud noises coming from
my van. At first I though, a Texan Cat, but this is New England not hot
enough or flat enough. Turns out some squirrels were trying to put up an
unauthorized settlement under there. One thing I noticed is that the
plastic ring used to release the hook breaks rather easily, it almost
seems to be at an odd angle where any type of undue force will break it
(I pulled it real fast not knowing what was going to jump at me)

Anyway, just thought that for how anal German Engineers are this seemed a
rather botched set-up

Note to PETA: I don't mind providing shelter for any animal except when it
might pose a hazard to the drivability of an 18 year old vehicle already a
hazard to drive!

Jorge

'85 Weekender  Betsy a.k.a "Plan B"

On Fri, 20 Jun 2003, Germain wrote:

> Ouch!!!
> Did you have any damage on your van? Must be very scarry.
>
> I have checked my spare tire this afternoon . I had though time to unsrew
> this d#?& bolt. It is true that my wrench was a bit short but good thing I
> have tried it (imagine a real flat tire). I was using a wrench with a 3/4"
> (a bit too big) didn't have any metric. My spare tire was only at 20 psi, I
> put 38 psi in it. It was a bit hard to hook the latch. It looks like the
> tire is doing some compression on the different pipes above the tire. Sorry
> not answering your question.
>
> Take care
>
> Germain
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Shawn Luft" <Shawn.Luft@COMPLETIONS.BOMBARDIER.COM>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Friday, June 20, 2003 3:40 PM
> Subject: Spare Tire Bolt Size Req'd
>
>
> > Can someone please tell me the correct size of bolt for the Spare Tire
> > Cover, under the front of the Car on an '86 Vanagon.
> >
> > My spare tire fell down on the highway yesterday!!  Apparently the bolt
> > came loose, and somehow the latch un-hooked.  Anyways, I need to try and
> > bang the metal back into shape and secure it well with the new bolt.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Shawn.
>