[Eugene13]

THE HARD PART IS OVER! Today we finished the plates that will sandwich the sheet metal. These are 4 separate plates that go on both sides of an internal brace in the rear quarter panel. They are threaded so no need for nuts to hold it in but we may put a nylock nut just for safety.

Bottom hinge:






(This top bolt was too long so I trimmed it about 1/2")

Top Hinge:







I then found a 1/16" piece of rubber to put in between the sheet metal and the hinges to act as a gasket and not to scratch the paint.



Overall it seems very strong. The original plan was to create more bracing that would come off the inside plates like an "L" and then sandwich that inner brace. But now I'm not sure that its necessary as it seems plenty strong. What do you guys think?

[Eugene13]

Here's more pics of the tire carrier when its hung up. Didn't want to add the tire yet as I'm not done with the bracing yet.







Got nice and close with the latch! Thought I was going to have to us a spacer, but I don't think so now.

[Eugene13]

Got it all together and super happy with the way it turned out! Finished all the internal bracing in the taillight housing. I'm gonna add more bracing on the tailgate as its a little too flimsy for my liking. All I need to do now is take it all back apart and give it a nice coat of gloss back paint!

[Chuckles89]

That looks great! Nice work! Please post some pictures of the inside after you finished!

[Eugene13]

@Chuckles89 Thanks! Will most likely post tomorrow when I take them apart to paint them.

[Redthies]

That looks awesome Eugene! Very OEM look to it. Carrier was off a Pathfinder, no?

[Eugene13]

@Redthies Thank you! That was the goal. And yes I got it off an early 90s pathfinder from a junkyard, like this.



And here's pictures of the inside bracing.

Inside taillight top:



Inside taillight bottom:



Inside quarter panel top:



Inside quarter panel bottom



And the inside of the tail gate is just a 2"x6"x1/4" piece of steel bent to the contour of the tailgate.

The paint is currently drying on the carrier and I still need to do some finishing touches on the hinges like sanding and filling pit holes.

[Redthies]

Originally Posted by Eugene13

@Redthies Thank you! That was the goal. And yes I got it off an early 90s pathfinder from a junkyard, like this.

At least Nissan did SOMETHING useful!

[Dropzone]

Nice job! Tight fit getting stuff up inside the corner isn't it?

[Eugene13]

@Redthies I actually like these old pathfinders, really clean ones are hard to come by but they're nice when I see one.

@Dropzone Thanks! And yes it took really carefully planning and trial and error for everything to cooperate together in there

[Eugene13]

Well with the tire carrier the rear is now sagging from the weight and I was thinking of ways to fix this. Would say a rear 1" block work? 1.5"? Has anyone had experience with this before?

[Redthies]

Originally Posted by Eugene13

Well with the tire carrier the rear is now sagging from the weight and I was thinking of ways to fix this. Would say a rear 1" block work? 1.5"? Has anyone had experience with this before?

People do the “zuk” mod which seems to consist of putting a coil spring between the frame and leaf spring. This seems to be the accepted way to deal with sagging rears, instead of putting appropriate leaves in... A 1” block might work, but I believe people seem to blame broken leaves on lift blocks.

[NG51T]

Nice looking build!

[Chuckles89]

From what I've seen, stock 3rd gen 4Runner rear springs work great for the ZUK mod

[4runner_kid]

Tire swing out came out trick.