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Spare tire carrier install


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You CAN install a factory carrier onto a non-equipped Path without cutting any sheet metal!

 

This is on my 88 XE, though im sure others should be similar. Total work time was at least 8 hours, definitely not a quick easy job. Total investment $120, $30 for the carrier and $90 for the shipped brackets. And what a job it was… I would never do it again, but I sure am glad it’s done.

 

I bought a used carrier from a pick a part about 2 years ago, and bought the kit from 4x4parts.com around the same time. When the brackets came in I saw the size of them, looked at the car, and I got discouraged and the parts sat ever since. Well this weekend I finally got tired of hauling that 32” tire onto the top of the truck every time I went out camping.

 

The Kit NISSAN supplies is for body shops that have the quarter panel off, It is not an add on kit. This job is impossible without an angle grinder or some kind of metal cutting tool. For the rear latch and support bracket, Nissan was nice enough to hide captive nuts behind the body. All you have to do is drill the holes, they even dented the metal where you need to drill. Though mine were not centered and it took quite a bit of filing to make them fit, still much easier than the rest of the install. I don’t understand why Nissan didn’t do the same thing for the rest of the brackets. How much more money per vehicle would it have cost them to install all the brackets so all you had to do was drill holes.

 

One carrier bracket bolts in just as is, the other two need to be modified, One slight, one heavily! I was able to bolt the two top brackets into the factory supplied locations with little modification. They place all their weight on the factory supports inside the body like they should. The lower bracket, underneath the tail lamp is another story…

 

I had seen another post on NPORA back in the day about someone who did this job by cutting the floor of the hatch. http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=6680&st=20 I was willing to do that if I had to, but it was my last resort. I did manage to cut the S#!t out of the bracket and get it to fit. It was a trial and error thing but when I was done there wasn’t much left of it. The lower bracket no longer attaches to the inside of the body the way Nissan intended but at least it is a thick piece of metal that braces against the outer body so it doesn’t tear a hole in the body work. Besides, the latch and the rear mount seem to hold most of the vertical weight while the carrier is locked, which is 99% of my time.

 

Below are some pictures of the before/after and the aforementioned bracket. I had to cut off even more than you see in the picture, I drew the red line to illustrate. Even with as much as I cut off I still had to pry it into place using a hammer and a small pry bar. Any questions just ask I’ll be happy to share my experience.

 

I posted this over at 4x4parts as well to spread the info.

 

pathfinder2.jpg

 

pathfinder4-1.jpg

 

pathfinder3bracket.jpg

 

pathfinder3bracket2.jpg

 

pathback1.jpg

Edited by Ninetyfivehatch
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The "cutting sheetmetal" is when removing brackets from a doner vechile... I swapped one on that way. The 4x4parts kit is the easy way, a few people here have used it, you want to go the route I did, I suggest a labotomy first :lol:

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I don't know that I would call it the easy way, maybe the easier way...

 

When I first started this project I did a lot of internet searching. The only post I really found was from here on NPORA, and ADAMZAN had some pictures of his install. It showed him cutting the floor of his hatch to install the lower bracket. This scared me off, as I think it did some of the other posters. After two years I finally decided I didn't care if i had to cut my floor, I was getting this carrier out of my back yard and onto my Path. I was tired of it just rusting in the corner.

 

I'm glad to hear some other people have ventured down this road too. Its well worth the effort, but there is lots of effort involved.

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I don't know that I would call it the easy way, maybe the easier way...

:lol: proably a better choice of words. Yea, I belive adamzan added carriers to 2 trucks actually and remembet him sending a template or 2 out to people for drilling purposes as iirc the 4x4parts kit don't come with one anymore.

Definatly a worthwhile "upgrade" to internal mount trucks as it clears up a nice area in the back and gives you something else to mount crap to!

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  • 3 years later...

Know this is an old thread, but would like to add that my 1990 2 door does not have the captive nuts behind the indentations on rear panel. Just keep this in mind when doing the installation. I'll be cutting the top section out now,adding steel plate behind with captive nuts then rewelding the panel back on.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The mounting point on the Pathfinder is actually very solid, and the latch is as good as any door latch.

 

It's the hinge busing that wears very quickly with anything larger than a 30" tire. Has anyone come up with a modification to the to the mount and replacing the OEM bushing set up, and retaining the OEM mount?

 

I'm thinking about welding a piece of DOM to the OEM mount and using either poly bushing or larger oil impregnated bronze bushings. Does anyone know if the OEM mount is cast iron (i.e. not easily welded to?)

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  • 6 years later...

Hey guys, i know this thread is old AF, but i have an 89 pathy xe 4x4 and need to find a site to buy the brackets for the hinges for the tire carrier, i got a really good one from a u pull it yard for 35$ and i have always been told whether the vehicle has a body accessory or not they always put in the mounting points, you just have too uncover them and good to go, so i didnt even bother too look at getting the brackets from the junkyard truck, BUT once i got home and i pulled the tail light and the panel off inside cargo area and found, TOO MY SURPRISE NOOO BRACKETS INSTALLED, you can image my heart sank, i felt defeated then that quickly turned to rage, since i was so excited to have the carrier and get my 32x11.5 at out of cargo area and onto the rear of the truck, if anyone can please help i would be extremely and eternally grateful

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The diagram on nissanpartsdeal shows the bolt plates (#s 57284 and 57214E), but those aren't full part numbers and they don't list those below for some reason. You might find them elsewhere (maybe they're in another diagram?) or one of the tire carrier install threads here might have the part number. If all else fails, check out how the R50 guys install theirs.

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