R50 Tire Carrier Mod: Let's settle this!

[hawairish]

Thanks man. I'd still really like to get an OE piece to free up that area on the carrier (thought about mounting the thing to the door, but the stamped steel door pattern makes for too uneven of a surface). This was a <$25 solution. I also considered an extender bracket to just relocate from the OE location...that way I'd also have access to the lighting, but I think it would've rattled too much.

 

I started looking at some off-the-shelf Jeep options, because you know there's going to be a few...yep, I found a few, and they all start at $70 for some stamped steel centerpiece with laser cut spiders and spider webs and maltese crosses and chrome and gaudiness and flamboyancy that Jeepers need. Nissan: no frills.

[hawairish]

Update update update...

 

So as part of a seemingly not-stop weekend overhaul on another member's truck, we installed the 2nd tire carrier on his, and it also turned out just fine. Amazing how much faster it goes finally having help! Didn't do anything different, everything felt very solid. He also put his own weight on it.

 

Small observation on his...he has a 2002 SE that did not have the wiring pigtail for the door switch. Completely missing. I didn't take a look at his gauge cluster for the icon, mainly because it didn't matter.

 

If you're planning/wanting to use the door switch, you just need to pull up the plastic sill piece (with 6 Phillips-looking plastic screws that aren't really screws at all) and look for the large circular grommet a few inches to the right of the striker. If you see a hole...you're missing the harness. If you have a rubber grommet, pull that up and the pigtail should be there.

 

So I guess the real question is why an 04 SE would even have it?

 

Other side note...because of the heavier-duty/replacement hinge pin (bolt), we couldn't install some taillight guards between the carrier hinge brackets. FYI in case anyone has or wants taillight guards that might be for sale very soon...

[ferrariowner123]

 

So I guess the real question is why an 04 SE would even have it?

 

My guess is nissan finally got smart and started to see the logic of just plugging/taping harness ends rather than CUSTOM MAKING a harness for every single car they make.

 

Still bugs me that the don't make one body harness for ALL the ranges and regions that they would well there vehicles. Sure would save us alot of time.lol

 

Does the cluster not even have a spot for the useless light? Because my 96 still has all the AT Trans stuff in the cluster just not wired or containing bulbs.

 

Maybe yours could have been sold in similar countries where a swing away was an option and it was easier to leave the harness and for some reason his 2002 doesn't.

 

For what it's worth, I've had on my rig since day one (5 years). and I think that light has actually been helpful is 2 maybe 3 times. With only one of those being I completely forgot about it and left it open. You'll soon realize how much of a pain a swing away is, can't open it when backed into a parking spot (most atleast). Even if you parallel with a wall on pass side, it won't open enough to get tailgate open. If you put a rim with a halfway decent fitment, it will wobble at every speed. And it's heavy! I throw everything in the back seat unless I absolutely have to put something in the back cargo.

 

I keep it because it looks cool. I understand why the previous owner of exbrit's deleted the swing away, it gets old. Lol

 

Sur was nice of you to help a fellow member with the install though, who was it?

 

-Kyle

[ferrariowner123]

Thanks man. I'd still really like to get an OE piece to free up that area on the carrier (thought about mounting the thing to the door, but the stamped steel door pattern makes for too uneven of a surface). This was a <$25 solution. I also considered an extender bracket to just relocate from the OE location...that way I'd also have access to the lighting, but I think it would've rattled too much.

 

I started looking at some off-the-shelf Jeep options, because you know there's going to be a few...yep, I found a few, and they all start at $70 for some stamped steel centerpiece with laser cut spiders and spider webs and maltese crosses and chrome and gaudiness and flamboyancy that Jeepers need. Nissan: no frills.

I would get a plate holder, and figure out a clever way to get the holes drilled. I'd be willing to take some measurements for you.

 

-Kyle

[hawairish]

Well...

 

Nissan was probably using up inventory since they knew the R50 was reaching end-of-life.

 

 

I don't think the dash light is any more or less useless than the door-ajar light. Are you saying you wouldn't want to know if you were driving around with a door ajar?

 

Having a swing out carrier will never grow old on me. My Jeep had it, and I loved it. Not because it's looks cool, but because it makes sense. The thought of putting a tire under the vehicle on any SUV (or worse, inside the cargo area) is ridiculous. Hated it on my Frontier, hated it on my Pathy. It's undeniably far more work, and this is just to get the tire back onto the truck:

1. Flop flat tire on the ground. Watch your toes.
2. Lay/kneel down with it. Sweep away all the rocks where you'll lay/kneel, because it's about to get awkward.
3. Push-drag the tire (with some exponentially-higher coefficient of friction) under the vehicle, scuff up sidewall. If it the tire is flat enough, scuff up rim.
4. Oops, tire not centered enough for the chain to reach the center bore, push-drag again, scuff up sidewalls/rim some more.
5. Oops again, you're truck is lifted now so chain isn't long enough anyway. Tilt 50-lb tire up a little with one hand without blowing out back while you're laying/kneeling under a truck. Use second hand to put hoist cradle into center bore. Use third hand to support body weight and prevent blowing out back.
6. If the chain reaches on first try, congratulations: you aren't lifted and you have small OE tires (but it's still heavy and you have less space to work in).
7. Avoid burning face and/or hair on muffler. If you've left the truck running so your wife and or kids don't suffer from the heat the way you're suffering from the heat, avoid carbon monoxide poisoning (optional; perhaps less painful than continuing at this point).
8. Bump head on the tow bar and/or bumper trying to get out from under the truck, even though you know one or both are there.
9. Crank some silly rod hoping the chain doesn't jam like it usually does (and then reverse crank, jiggle it, try again)
10. Kick/punch the tire to make sure it's seated properly before giving it one more snug-crank.

If the stars are aligned, you get to do all this on clean, flat ground that's as cool as the other side of the pillow (or perma-frozen, like for all our CAN owners). Other options include an uneven, gravel-and-rubber-ridden 125°F highway shoulder with semi-trucks flying by at seemingly 100-mph while you're playing crouching-tiger-hidden-dragon under your truck; in mud; in dirt; in other (Mexico). Oh, and the area underneath can barely accept a tire bigger than stock, which you now have because you're lifted...and it's heavier.

 

The rear carrier alternative:

1. Pull pants to natural waistline, roll up sleeves (or tug shoulders of shirt like those rappers do), flex biceps for nearby females (or males), followed by the classic "hey ladies/guys, watch this" head nod and wink.
2. Lift tire (use your knees, not your back)
3. Give a little rotation (or with simple planning, line up the holes before lifting...picture the Y-shape of the lug nuts)
4. Tighten three nuts, prove you've got two more where it counts.

Terrain: irrelevant. Crawling: unnecessary. Process: no different that just changing a tire. At least, that's how I approach it. I can squat 400, and can leg press a half ton...lifting a tire is trivial to me. Swinging a carrier open, also trivial.

 

Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't follow your logic. I don't live where anyone needs to parallel park, and in the few spots downtown Phoenix where it might be necessary (and where I seldom find myself), the parallel spots are twice as long as they are in Chicago (where I mastered parallel parking anyway), which are twice as long as they are in Paris (where it's literally le-bumper-to-le-bumper...and I've seen this first-hand and talked to locals/co-workers about it). If I've parked too close to a wall on the passenger side, then I'll probably re-park. If I know I'm going to be loading/unloading things from the rear (like when grocery-getting or mall-crawling), then I know enough to not back into a parking space. Otherwise, I know to leave ample space...if someone decides to consume that space (like passenger drop-off at an airport), I'll give them 5s to back their POS up before I open the carrier into their hood for encroaching on space I was already about to occupy and that they should expect me to be unloading from. Two of the three carrier bracket pieces are adjustable, designed specifically to prevent rattling/noise, of which I have neither a rattle nor noise, and have tested for this in both mine and my buddy's truck (duke90). I plan to keep OE wheels, so clearance is, well...stock.

 

I hope the above is good for a chuckle and doesn't come off as being d!ck!sh, but I didn't do this to be cool, different, or to prove a point (well sorta, I was growing tired of the hearsay about it being some sort of ordeal). I did it because this is how it should have come stock. I mean, did I buy a Pathfinder or a RAV4? Oops, bad example because even RAV4's have rear mounted tires...and seemingly tons of flex and aftermarket support:

 

 

("Dude, rollin' on 29.5" and dubs, brah! But my brakes suck and that's why I'm in the hilly brush of...Florida?")

 

 

I can only assume a RAV4 owner has enough muscle to open these doors, let alone the competency to change a tire (let alone tow anything). And are these FL owners on drugs or something?

 

I would get a plate holder, and figure out a clever way to get the holes drilled. I'd be willing to take some measurements for you.

-Kyle

 

Eventually I will, and it will be OE. It'll only fit in one spot (it contours the lift gate), but your license plate holder is different than the one for mine (lift gates are different). I've already put 16 holes in the exterior of the truck...I can handle a few more when the time comes.

[duke90]

Having the tire under the rear was a pain. I run 31s now and it was a tight fit..I'd have to readjust the tire several times so that it wouldn't be pressed against the PHR let alone having to lay under the truck to lift the spare onto the chain. Having the swing away carrier is much easier and takes a fraction of the time to mount or remove.

[hawairish]

Ha, yeah, I forgot about that. This was the pic you sent prior to having to adjust it a little...

 

 

Can barely fit a 31" tire underneath...

Edited June 12, 2018 by hawairish

[CDN_S4]

Patrick, where did you get your blind nuts from? I can't find any locally. I will have to order online. I just want to make sure to get the same ones as you have. I found a carrier on a JY and picked it up for $40 CAD. All I need is the blind nuts.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Crapatalk

[hawairish]

Awesome! You may also want to grab the license plate holder and wiring, just to make thinks nice and simple.

 

I've bought some from various places, but McMaster-Carr was the best option. Avoid Fastenal if you can.

 

http://www.mcmaster.com/#95105a199/=10lgnoe

[CDN_S4]

Did you require a special tool to insert the rivets? Their website talks of a "tool" which links to a variety of tools. Can you just run me through the actual hole drilling and riveting process? Seems simple enough but I don't wanna mess anything up.

 

Also, can you insert the link for the other rivets, the 8mm ones for the 3 bumper pieces?

 

Thanks buddy!

Edited January 8, 2016 by CDN_S4

[hawairish]

Yes, you definitely want a tool. Scroll up a few replies for the one on August 1st...There's a link for the tool and rivet/blind nut p/ns. The 8mm ones were for the strikers IIRC. The tool comes with the dies for setting 5/6/8/10/12mm blind nuts.

[CDN_S4]

Currently, my thought has been on drilling holes directly to the inner metal panel. The OE reinforcement essential ties the quarter panel to an inner layer of steel. If I use longer bolts, I can anchor to both layers of steel, and could easily reach the hardware from the back side. I'd still use blind nuts, at least on the quarter panel; I'd have to check the angles of the interior panel. This approach might negate the need for any filler for the upper mount. I'd still fill the lower mount cavity regardless, since it needs to resist compression.

 

Did you end up using longer bolts or did you reuse the OEM bolts? I was planning/hoping to reuse the OEM ones. They came out completely rust free, still covered in locktite from the factory.

 

So far I've ordered the 10M and 8M rivet nuts, the rivet nut tool and grommets. I am planning on locating the license plate to the trunk as those that have the carrier from factory, but instead of the big bulky OEM frame, I will just use a spacer in the back to make up for the uneven surface and use an LED license plate light that I bought for my spare carrier where it is currently mounted.

[hawairish]

Nah, I never got around to using longer bolts...it's held up well so hasn't seemed necessary. It seems to have held up well for the other truck I did the swap on. Last week in UT, he actually hung the tire up on a rock and didn't notice any damage. Then, just yesterday he got rear-ended. He says the carrier is a little firmer to latch, but I don't think there was any quarter panel damage. The strip of metal under the hatch where the brackets bolt to is pretty thin, so I wouldn't be surprised if it bent inward a little. It's probably also an easy fix. As you've probably already observed, the striker brackets are pretty solid, so I doubt those have bent. In his case, it may also be harder to latch because the latch assembly is designed to move inward/outward for adjustability, and maybe it moved on him.

 

You won't be able to able to re-use the OE bolts that hold the carrier to the quarter panel...they are 10mm x 1.25 bolts, which is uncommon for blind nuts (and is a metric-fine pitch). Instead, 10mm x 1.5 is what you'll have to go with (it's what the McM p/n is for). The latch/striker bolts are 8mm x 1.0, which is common and you'll be able to re-use those.

[CDN_S4]

Oh ok. Is there a specific grade of bolts I should get?

 

 

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[CDN_S4]

You won't be able to able to re-use the OE bolts that hold the carrier to the quarter panel...they are 10mm x 1.25 bolts, which is uncommon for blind nuts (and is a metric-fine pitch). Instead, 10mm x 1.5 is what you'll have to go with (it's what the McM p/n is for). The latch/striker bolts are 8mm x 1.0, which is common and you'll be able to re-use those.

 

My understanding was that was for the rivets, didn't quite read it to also get the corresponding bolts. All good, I'll place another order with them. Are these bolts a specific grade?

[hawairish]

Class 8.8 will suffice, and is a Grade 5 equivalent.

 

The quarter panel is the weak link here, as the blind nut could be pulled from the sheet metal under the right conditions. So when bolting the carrier to the quarter panel (after the blind nuts have been set), be sure to properly support it at all times until everything is bolted securely. The easiest way I found was to open the hatch, put the carrier in the closed position, support it with a block of wood on the bumper, and install as many bolts as you can. Then open the carrier and put the remaining bolts in.

 

That all said, you also want to make sure the hole for the blind nuts is as tight as possible, to the point where you need to tap it in gently with something. It's worth doing a practice run on some scrap steel. I also used a silicone adhesive on the blind nut before compressing it for a little waterproofing. The setting tool is pretty good, just don't over-compress it, otherwise the threaded part can go off-center a little.

 

The tool doesn't come with instructions either, but it's easy to figure out: Install the desired die, spread the handles apart, twist the blind nut on so that the handles stay apart, insert the blind nut into the hole (I put silicone on it right before), squeeze handles together. Keep it steady and perpendicular to the mounting surface. After closing the handles together as much as they can, I do tighten things up just a little more and give it one mini-press. Then use the knob to unthread it from the blind nut. Rinse and repeat.

 

Also, the best way I find to determine hole placement is to set the carrier in place as described above, and look for the position where the curved parts of the bracket sit nice and flush. There's a sweet spot where there's an even gap where the bracket meets the quarter panel. Protect the entire area with some painters tape first. I think I actually did one blind nut first before drilling the 7 other holes, got the carrier in place and bolted to just that one blind nut so that it could help support things, then marked the other 7 holes for drilling. You'll notice on the each bracket 2 holes are round, and 2 are elongated. If you trust your drilling, you can mark center on the round hole...but if not, mark center on an elongated hole, since that will give you a little bit of play to set the carrier correctly. Take your time here!

[CDN_S4]

You won't be able to able to re-use the OE bolts that hold the carrier to the quarter panel...they are 10mm x 1.25 bolts, which is uncommon for blind nuts (and is a metric-fine pitch). Instead, 10mm x 1.5 is what you'll have to go with (it's what the McM p/n is for). The latch/striker bolts are 8mm x 1.0, which is common and you'll be able to re-use those.

 

Are these the right ones? Which length did you go with?

http://www.mcmaster.com/#metric-class-10.9-steel-bolts/=10lyyuz

[hawairish]

Yep, those will work. I don't recall the length, but I think I went with a bolt 5mm longer than OE, maybe 40mm? The length is dependent on how you want to do the hardware...i.e., the OE bolt has an integrated washer, so you can go with just a bolt and washer and go with OE length; I went with bolt, washer, and lock nut, so I went a little longer. You could also go with a flange bolt at OE length:

https://www.boltdepot.com/Metric_flange_bolts_Full_thread_(DIN_6921)_Zinc_plated_class_8.8_steel_yellow_10mm_x_1.5mm.aspx. If you go a little longer than OE, it's not a problem since you'll have some space in the cavity.

 

And don't get the serrated flange bolts...they'll just promote rust as they work through the paint on the bracket.

 

Also, one more note: the metal at the rear of the vehicle, underneath the taillight, has a pinch weld behind it where you'll be drilling into. Definitely start with a smaller drill bit and work up (the steppers are great). You may also want to use a rat-tail file in the hole, because any metal from the pinch weld may interfere with the surface metal that the blind nut needs to compress on.

[FriedEGs]

If you're anywhere near the Denver area there is a 96 SE with a carrier, in good condition. (Mostly surface rust)

 

Located at the Littleton U-Pull. (South Denver)

 

 

[greenda3]

These things are like unicorns! !

 

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[ferrariowner123]

^^ Ah man, now your gonna make me take a pic every-time i see one!! GREAT I feel like i use to see early models all the time, but more often than not, im seeing late models. Probably because they are getting cheap enough to make them into "beaters".

 

-Kyle

 

 

[CDN_S4]

It's finally all done. See my build thread for more details.

 

 

Sent from my Pathfinder

[sleeper00]

I gotta do this! I'm a little on the nervous side not reinforcing that corner though. Any updates to the guys running these? I'm planning to run heavy 33's on stock 17's and I want to be sure this will not cause headaches down the road. Any advice is appreciated.

[CDN_S4]

I carry my 33 on it as you see in the pic above. I've had it stay open for hours while I was working on lighting in the trunk. Absolutely no issues. When it's closed it is also supported by the latch system under the trunk so most of the time the weight is not focused on the corner alone. But like I said, it holds a lot of weight without any issues.

[hawairish]

I still don't have any concerns for the hinge area, but I did notice last weekend that the panel where the latch hardware is bolted did flex outward a little from my last off-road trip, which was enough to keep my gate-open light on. I was able to hammer it back to being flat, but I do see some cracks to the paint, so I have a concern for pull-through. If that comes loose, and the gate flies open, that could be very problematic. So take a look at that...I never did originally check if that area is also reinforced (it's completely closed off too).

 

I plan to rivet a strip of aluminum or steel over the rivnuts for exterior reinforcement.