Changing the Orientation of the Rear Door

[William]

My WD21 does not have the Spare Tire Rear Swing door anymore.

I removed it long time ago due to the constantly annoying squeaking

noise that came from it.

 

Nowadays, I need to free up my rear cargo area and move the spare tire

outside again. However, this time I am considering using a fixed

rear tire carrier like the ones used on Nissan Patrols and Hummer H3s.

 

The only problem is that our pathys come with a vertical swing rear

door vs the horizontal swinging doors on H3s (for example).

 

My question is, how big of a job would it be to transform our WD21 from

a VERTICAL rear-door swinging to a HORIZONTAL rear-door swinging?

 

I will surely need to:

 

1. Relocate the Rear Door hinges

2. Re-route the door opening handle to a more suitable location (either side)

3. Probably dump the rear door shocks altogether.

4. ...

 

Can it be done? What parts will I need?

 

William

Edited March 12, 2012 by William

[Precise1]

I wouldn't even try. Put the carrier back on with new bushings or put the sapre in a roof basket.

 

B

[Slartibartfast]

You would obviously have to move the hinges... probably to the side of the tailgate, with the joint sticking out from the panel gap a little. I suspect they're not well braced on the sides, so you'd have to shore up the inside of the panel and the door jamb to keep the door from sagging/deforming. Then you'd have to hack up the other side for the latch/striker, and re-configure the linkages inside if you wanted the lock to work... only other thing would be re-routing the wiring for the locks/hatch popper/defroster.

 

So, a whole lot of work, just to have it swing out oddly.

 

I'd be inclined to chop it down the middle and hinge it from both sides, like a delivery van. That'd be a whole lot easier to open/close in tight parking spots. Of course, you'd have to cut/reframe the glass... the hinges would probably hold up a lot better, though.

 

Or, you could just throw the tire on the roof and call it close enough.

[MY1PATH]

I think that much weight (tire + door) on a single rear pillar is enough to make it fold in on you meaning after the first few times of opening and closing your rear door will no longer line up.

At this point its pretty much like designing a whole new rear-body and less like modifying the one you have. So really your best options are.

!) do like B said

chop the whole rear section, pillars, light, door and all off of an H3 and splice it into your PF body

3) get an H3