Rear Hatch change from lift to swinging

[skydondive]

I have been looking online for hours to see if anyone has come up with a mod to change a Gen-4 4runner rear door from a lift (swings up over head) to a swinging door (opens to the right or the left) I've seen online many Lamborghini and suicide door hinge kits for many vehicles. Someone must have come up with a hinge kit for the 4runner rear hatch. Anyone know of any?

 

[S p a r k y]

I doubt that has been on many minds for an SUV! But who knows! I will resist making smart comments. Other vehicles use the same mounting points for those different kits to change how the door opens. The 4runner hinge location would have to change, which is a whole other process with lights in the way, frame around door not strong enough! You can keep looking but your prob not gonna find anything!

 

[Synister]

Im not sure why you would want this but the Lexus GX 470 has a gate that opens left/right. Most people find this to be a PITA when loading curbside between other vehicles or in confined areas in general. Good luck.

 

[skydondive]

rear hinge

My thought was changing the door hinges vrs getting a new bumper when it comes to having a place for the over sized spare.

 

[kevinpt]

My thought was changing the door hinges vrs getting a new bumper when it comes to having a place for the over sized spare.

looks like way to much work

 

[MrTom]

I know of no parts being made for this conversion.
The cost of making parts and installation just might exceed the cost of something like the TireGate swing-away hitch mount.
Several options offered to suit your needs.

HG Series | TireGate.comTireGate.com

.

 

[Ukraine Train]

This would be a ton of fab work to do right. Your latch would have to be on the opposite side of the hinge to get a good seal. This would be a great mod, though. I use a fork lift to load stuff in my 4Runner at my machine shop sometimes and you can't get very close because the mast would hit the tailgate when it swings up.

 

[rinkman07]

Unless I was dreaming, I could have sworn someone did this by ordering a hilux rear hatch from overseas somewhere...

Edit: Never mind....the guy ordered the hilux hatch witch swung up and down I think but it had the side folding tire carrier and it was a 3rd gen

 

[BlackWorksInc]

The rear portion of the body would need to be re engineered some to create strong mounting points for the hinges & latches that would resist flexing/weakening over time particularly if you want it to hold a tire and such. Not to mention, re-routing the wiring, adjusting the weather seals probably, redoing the rear latch system, and/or other considerations that you may run into.

Over all the cost of the fabrication, painting, and research alone would probably exceed the cost of a fully loaded CBI rear bumper which is north of $2k.

The above design concept vehicle is deceptively simple looking in terms of what needs to be done. I wouldn't be surprised if the vehicle's hinges are not very structurally designed as that was a design concept vehicle and not intended as a production vehicle and it probably would not last very long under regular use. But basically the design seems to utilize the FJ Cruiser hinge set-up with a modified 4th gen rear door and some re-worked sheet metal on both the door and body.