Mr. Man
08-07-2012, 09:23 PM
So today I was futzing with the '03 and decided I should check the air pressure in the spare and as long as I was at it check for dry rot and inspect the overall condition of the tire.
So first up is to see where the air nozzle is. It turned out to be in the back and I assumed the pressure would be low as I figured no one ever checked. I tried to spin the tire in its resting area with no luck so I say to self just loosen the hold down thingy and spin it till the air nozzle thing is accessible. Yeah right! Who ever the CAW guy was who put the spare in the car must have been a steroid abuser as it took all I could to loosen the plastic hold down. There isn't much room to begin with between the tire and the trunk so getting a good grip on the hold down and enough torque to spin it was a challenge. Trying to slip my beefy arm between the spokes of the wheel to turn the plastic thing was equally difficult.
Finally after giving it all I could muster the plastic hold down moved and began to unthread. At this point I am getting pretty annoyed and sweaty as it was warm today in the Garden State and removing the spare shouldn't be such a PITA. So I loosened it up a bit and tried to unhook the J-hook that holds the tire in place, no go, loosen it up almost all the way and pull the tire forward a bit and it came free. Now I'm peeved and soaked in sweat and cursing like a sailor but I lift out the tire and inspect it. It looked brand new with no dry rot and surprisingly still had 33lbs of 2003 air.
So now to put it back. The J-hook has a specific direction it must go in as the dopey engineer who designed this ridiculous set-up realised the tire hits what I believe to be an amplifier hanging from the rear speaker deck. Trying to center the tire over the hook slot gets you nowhere. Why they didn't weld the hookinsky thing a few inches to the right is anybodies guess. There seems to be room before the trunks hinge comes into play :shake:
Realising this is an asinine set up I tried to put the tire in upside down with the air nozzle hanging into the truck area so as to not damage it and still give me access, though be it awkward. No go this way either. The J-hook doesn't have enough thread to tighten all the way down. I'm fuming at this point. :mad2:
Flip the tire back over to the way it came, point the air filler nozzle at the rear of the car and attempt to put it back in. J-Hook in the now off center position (J points to the left). I now can start to thread it down and slowly begin to center it front to back over the hookinsky thing. I was able to snug it down with just enough force to keep it steady...Done, soaked and pissed I need a beer and Ms.D has a chicken pot pie in the oven, yum, slowly calming, I puzzle over the complete lack of thought that went into this design.
The '04 mini spare is in and out in two minutes. We assume that the mini spare is there to off-set the cost of traction control but I'd bet it's there because someone at Mercury figured out their design mistake and the mini spare was the easiest way to fix it with out expensive re-design.
My advice to all of you who own a 2003 Marauder who have never experimented with the spare tire do so now while the weather is warm. If your spare is installed the same way mine was you will thank yourself for experimenting in the warm weather because when you get a flat it will be dark, snowing/raining and cold and you will have a devil of a time trying to change your flat. Remember the trunk lite isn't that bright either so if your first time trying to remove the spare is at night all I can say is good luck.
It is also a good idea to check your spares air pressure when you check the other 4. I know it is easy to forget the spare as it is out of sight but you'll kick yourself if it's flat when you need it. :)
So first up is to see where the air nozzle is. It turned out to be in the back and I assumed the pressure would be low as I figured no one ever checked. I tried to spin the tire in its resting area with no luck so I say to self just loosen the hold down thingy and spin it till the air nozzle thing is accessible. Yeah right! Who ever the CAW guy was who put the spare in the car must have been a steroid abuser as it took all I could to loosen the plastic hold down. There isn't much room to begin with between the tire and the trunk so getting a good grip on the hold down and enough torque to spin it was a challenge. Trying to slip my beefy arm between the spokes of the wheel to turn the plastic thing was equally difficult.
Finally after giving it all I could muster the plastic hold down moved and began to unthread. At this point I am getting pretty annoyed and sweaty as it was warm today in the Garden State and removing the spare shouldn't be such a PITA. So I loosened it up a bit and tried to unhook the J-hook that holds the tire in place, no go, loosen it up almost all the way and pull the tire forward a bit and it came free. Now I'm peeved and soaked in sweat and cursing like a sailor but I lift out the tire and inspect it. It looked brand new with no dry rot and surprisingly still had 33lbs of 2003 air.
So now to put it back. The J-hook has a specific direction it must go in as the dopey engineer who designed this ridiculous set-up realised the tire hits what I believe to be an amplifier hanging from the rear speaker deck. Trying to center the tire over the hook slot gets you nowhere. Why they didn't weld the hookinsky thing a few inches to the right is anybodies guess. There seems to be room before the trunks hinge comes into play :shake:
Realising this is an asinine set up I tried to put the tire in upside down with the air nozzle hanging into the truck area so as to not damage it and still give me access, though be it awkward. No go this way either. The J-hook doesn't have enough thread to tighten all the way down. I'm fuming at this point. :mad2:
Flip the tire back over to the way it came, point the air filler nozzle at the rear of the car and attempt to put it back in. J-Hook in the now off center position (J points to the left). I now can start to thread it down and slowly begin to center it front to back over the hookinsky thing. I was able to snug it down with just enough force to keep it steady...Done, soaked and pissed I need a beer and Ms.D has a chicken pot pie in the oven, yum, slowly calming, I puzzle over the complete lack of thought that went into this design.
The '04 mini spare is in and out in two minutes. We assume that the mini spare is there to off-set the cost of traction control but I'd bet it's there because someone at Mercury figured out their design mistake and the mini spare was the easiest way to fix it with out expensive re-design.
My advice to all of you who own a 2003 Marauder who have never experimented with the spare tire do so now while the weather is warm. If your spare is installed the same way mine was you will thank yourself for experimenting in the warm weather because when you get a flat it will be dark, snowing/raining and cold and you will have a devil of a time trying to change your flat. Remember the trunk lite isn't that bright either so if your first time trying to remove the spare is at night all I can say is good luck.
It is also a good idea to check your spares air pressure when you check the other 4. I know it is easy to forget the spare as it is out of sight but you'll kick yourself if it's flat when you need it. :)