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Tire carrier rattling!


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I have a 95 xe with the the carrier on it, and it rattles upon hitting the smallest bump. Its completely intolerable off road. Without replacing the bushings in the hinge, how can I silence this?

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is it latched completely? There are 2 catches. I had a period of time where the second would not engage so the carrier was latched but not tightly against the rubber stop.

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Back in to an X5, that'll stop the rattling. :lol:

 

Seriously though, by hitting it it bent the lower bracket upward a smidge pressing the bushing in place. It still opens and closes fine but that God awful rattle is gone. It was LOUD. So if you're cheap, take a BFH and give the outside edges of the brackets a good whack and it'll probably shut up for a while.

 

On mine the entire tire carrier has to be replaced because the bushings got seized and started turning with the carrier, tearing up the holes in the brackets.

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Thanks for the replies. And I don't really have a way of greasing it, don't you have to have a needle on your grease gun? Maybe I will try to bend the latch thing up or something.

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Filling the bushings with a stiff grease might help. IIRC Nunya drilled and tapped the grease holes on his to add Zerk fittings, and in the linked thread it looks like Kingman managed to fudge it with a regular grease gun and a straw.

 

Adding some kind of stop to the driver's side top corner would probably cut down a lot on the vibration (since it's the only corner without a support, and it lets the whole carrier flex... not one of Nissan's better designs). If you don't mind looking like a redneck you could just jam an old cushion between the carrier and the body. That should shut 'er up!

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Cut a small piece of thick-walled rubber hose like fuel line and stuff it in the hinge point. It should be just long enough to be pressed vertically in the U of the body mount so it stays put when opened. The carrier will compress it when closed and it will keep constant pressure on the hinge eliminating the rattle. Mine's been like that for years.

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I lubed mine with WD40, and although I was told it is not a good lubricant for this it worked and still works great, have to hold onto it when you open it or it will swing all the way over on it's own.

 

I would not go wacking the hinges on the body, you can try to loosen the mounts on the body and have someone lift up on the carrier than tighten the bolts. Lube the latch and the part the latch mates into also to make sure it is latching completely.

 

Check the rubber where it contacts the body and make sure the little plastic "ramp" is still on the top of the bumper that guides the carrier into the latch.

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No pics, sorry. I'm out of town this week plus I took the carrier off when I repainted the truck. I still need to get a matching rim and spare for the new shoes on it as well before I bolt the carrier back on.

 

There's not a lot of room, but you only need a small piece crammed in the hinge point. It should stop the rattle provided the rattle is from worn bushings or the pin.

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Just adjust the two nuts on the bolt on either side of the bracket that holds that big rubber stopper on, move the "inside" nut down or out a few turns (toward the bottom of the bolt), tighten up the outside bolt and that's it. I just went through this very same thing. I accidentally bent the crap out of the bracket holding the stopper. I had a jetski trailer hitched up and I opened up the rear hatch for some reason, and closed it, forgot to lock the tire carrier shut and I pulled forward, it swung hard and hit the front of the trailer and bent that bracket a full 90 degrees. I had to use a large wrench to bend it back so that the rubber stopper is facing the tire carrier light button / on / off switch when you close the carrier. Because of all this, my carrier rattled and I had to adjust those nuts to tighten it up. If you back both nuts down a little bit, it'll close tighter and the rattle will stop. I had to make this work so the rattling wouldn't drive my wife nuts cuz I didn't want her to find out I did something stupid and kinda messed up the latch! So, trust me, I know what I'm talking about!

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  • 7 months later...

i have a '94 wd21 without a tire carrier how do i shut the light off? i've tried looking in the chilton manual but can't seem to find any sort of switch or relay to take out to get the light to go off. it's kind of annoying i plan on getting a carrier when i can afford one but there's other issues in front of that. so until then can someone point me in the right direction to turning off the silly light in the dash? please and thank you.

 

-Travis

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Back in to an X5, that'll stop the rattling. :lol:

 

 

I rear ended lightly by a 4runner in my old truck and that made the carrier rattle! And then I've backed my current truck in to so many trees, the carrier will never be the same. But it still works!

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parts will run about $40.00 and about 2 or 3 hrs to replace the bushings,

lubing can be done with a needle fitting or you can tap the grease holes

and install zerks just remember to remove the zerks after lubing

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  • 9 months later...

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