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Rear Tire Carrier?


joshrichard
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I was just roaming around the internet looking for smaller replacement parts for my car and came across parts for a rear tire carrier for a 2004 Pathfinder. Is this a thing? I’ve never seen a 2004 with a an OE tid5a53044690536666d34d1ce361413f1.jpgre carrier?

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Yes, there was an OE rear carrier for the 01-04 models, but it was very rare here.  The main body was slightly different from 96-00 ones, but shared all the same hardware and latch components as far as I could tell.  I’ve only seen a few pics of it. @TowndawgR50 saw one on the road in his neck of the woods just the other week. He scrambled to get some pics, but it was like trying to catch Bigfoot, lol.  

Edited by hawairish
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Friend of mine has a 2003 Pathfinder and he put the tire carrier off a 1997 (similar to mine) on his and if I remember right the only real modification he had to make was the plastic trim pieces against the body.

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Yup, I saw a factory equipped facelifted R50 on my commute not too long ago. Assuming it was from Canada but I didnt see its plates, scrambled to try and catch a photo and failed. The swing gate is subtly different from the early R50 units. 

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I've seen one R50 with a rear tire carrier.  The part numbers you listed are for the underbody carrier though not the uber rare swing arm.

I wonder why they didn’t make more because when i went under the actual swing gate parts they are all unavailable f9b5e78a6119a1a9de364459ce9e5173.jpg
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  • 3 weeks later...
Yup, I saw a factory equipped facelifted R50 on my commute not too long ago. Assuming it was from Canada but I didnt see its plates, scrambled to try and catch a photo and failed. The swing gate is subtly different from the early R50 units. 

fd461486ad4e7e9a862e9878dc2fd265.jpg
61b15c916cde3fe1bffb2bdb9ebf1c1c.jpg9dc0d9202e40853773b8e95e67fbe0c1.jpgdd05087b0188443940c5231628759ada.jpg1d1b9bed58bcab34631afb6cd0ad386a.jpg792a9bb54dbbb37c73afd43d5bf59dff.jpg
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The second gen r50 had one, theres a local around here that I see every few weeks with it. It's a little different though, the tubing for the 2nd gen isn't black or round, It's more of a rounded rectangle tubing, and I've only seen it in grey.

 

Also, if I recall correctly, the 2nd gen carrier doesn't have a rounded end on the driver side, rather it's cut flat (don't quote me but for some reason I think I remember that) 

 

I think the 2nd gen doesn't have the same latch lever as the 1st (also don't quote me, but when I opened one up a year or so back I think I remember it being a little different)

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2 hours ago, AlabamaDan said:

I would assume it has something on the inside of the quarter panel for reinforcement don't forget to get that.  I know I'd love to have that on my QX4, I think it looks so cool. 

 

From what I've read it's permanently in the vehicle, when others have done this job in the past that I've seen they either just ignore the bracing or fab up something kinda ghetto that's better than nothing.  Haven't really heard stories of it not working out without support as long as you don't way overdo the weight on it.  There's another thread specifically on this topic, I'll try to find it.  Pretty sure it was another one of @hawairish's famous tutorials, I know @CDN_S4 followed it and it worked out well for him.

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Thanks @mjotrainbrain.  I feel like that one ought to be stickied.

 

Not sure the current count of people who've followed my approach, but I think it's somewhere around 6-8 so far.  Mine has held up fine, noting a minor indent on the quarter panel where I allowed the carrier to open too quickly/hard, and the need to reinforce the latch attachment area with an aluminum angle piece riveted in.  It's been on several trails and washboards, has held up well.  In a few weeks I'll be taking off for bedlining and I'll see how the bracket rivnuts have held up.

 

I've also reinforced the same latch area on @Jax99's truck, though we needed to replace one of the rivnuts the other week, too.  I know @TowndawgR50's carrier took damage coming down on the trail, but I suspect even an OE-braced truck may have taken similar damage in that scenario.

 

All things considered, it works.  This one isn't perfect, but there's not really any other better option, short of a custom bumper, in my opinion.

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Yup. Love my carrier. Given that it wasn't reinforced like the earlier R50's I'd say it held up extremely well. I came off a ledge and the entire weight of the truck, rear axle at full droop and tires off the ground, landed on the hitch and tire carrier which shock loaded it. Almost the whole rig was supported by the rear carrier. It damaged 1 rivnut and bent the surrounding sheet metal.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I’m really tempted. Junkyard quoted me $30. I even disassembled it and put it in the trunk to protect it from further weathering. It’s in great shaped and the same color as my trim. I just have to think it over and decide if it fits my budget and the direction I want to/am able to take the truck

Edited by PathyDude17
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That's what I was thinking. Even if I can't get it mounted or a good spare for it until 6 months down the road, at $30 Its hard to turn it down if I have any interest in going that route. Although it had a weird lock on one of the bolts through the spare tire attached to it that I couldn't figure out. Probably pretty normal (security lock of some sort?), but it wasn't something I'd seen before. Ya I also disassembled the latch mechanism and threw that in the trunk

Edited by PathyDude17
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Yeah, jump on that.  The style alone is hard to find.

 

As for the lock...there's an integrated slot on the mount to put a padlock through it and one of the wheel stud holes.  It was Nissan's way of locking it, as opposed to a simpler lug-nut lock.  Given the design, you'll need to remove the "carrier" (tire mounts to it) from the "frame" (carrier mounts to it) in order to access the backside of the padlock to cut it off.  Presuming the carrier didn't change much from the prior design, 4 nuts hold the carrier to the frame but you might have to get crafty reaching them around the tire.

 

Edit: pic below of prior carrier model.

 

IMG-3573.jpg

 

Sorry I don't have the means to mark-up the image, but you can see the 4 nuts on the carrier between the vertical tubes of the frame.  That oval-ish hole on the carrier is where the padlock inserts and comes through the little hole to the right, which lines up with a wheel stud hole.

 

For anyone wanting a lock, I used a Rugged Ridge 16715.22 M12x1.25 wheel lock (http://a.co/d/1BPsRfC).  If I could've found a set with 5 wheel locks, I would've gone that route.

 

Edited by hawairish
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18 hours ago, hawairish said:

Yeah, jump on that.  The style alone is hard to find.

 

As for the lock...there's an integrated slot on the mount to put a padlock through it and one of the wheel stud holes.  It was Nissan's way of locking it, as opposed to a simpler lug-nut lock.  Given the design, you'll need to remove the "carrier" (tire mounts to it) from the "frame" (carrier mounts to it) in order to access the backside of the padlock to cut it off.  Presuming the carrier didn't change much from the prior design, 4 nuts hold the carrier to the frame but you might have to get crafty reaching them around the tire.

 

Edit: pic below of prior carrier model.

 

IMG-3573.jpg

 

Sorry I don't have the means to mark-up the image, but you can see the 4 nuts on the carrier between the vertical tubes of the frame.  That oval-ish hole on the carrier is where the padlock inserts and comes through the little hole to the right, which lines up with a wheel stud hole.

 

For anyone wanting a lock, I used a Rugged Ridge 16715.22 M12x1.25 wheel lock (http://a.co/d/1BPsRfC).  If I could've found a set with 5 wheel locks, I would've gone that route.

 

 

My friends old wd21 had 5 wheel locks. The one on the spare was even marked "spare". You're damn right I grabbed those before he sold it haha.

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