Spare tire carrier on a 94 pathfinder

mgw_300e · Dec 28th, 2006, 06:29 PM

The hinges, especially the top hinge, on my spare tire carrier rattle like crazy. The hinge itself rattles as I have checked the bolts that hold it to the body and they are tight. Has anyone else had this problem? It's so obnoxious that I'm thinking of deleting the whole damn carrier and sticking the spare inside the cargo area. For those of you without the carrier, where does the spare go? Is there a stock location?
Thanks.

NPath · Dec 28th, 2006, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mgw_300e

The hinges, especially the top hinge, on my spare tire carrier rattle like crazy. The hinge itself rattles as I have checked the bolts that hold it to the body and they are tight. Has anyone else had this problem? It's so obnoxious that I'm thinking of deleting the whole damn carrier and sticking the spare inside the cargo area. For those of you without the carrier, where does the spare go? Is there a stock location?
Thanks.

Someone had this problem before but can't remember how it was to be made rattle free. I think the pin has to be changed as it could be worn.

As for having the spare in the cargo area, it'll have to be like the LE model. From what I can remember, a bracket is bolted down to the floor and that's what holds the spare in place.

mgw_300e · Dec 28th, 2006, 07:53 PM

How is that pin replaced?

**88pathoffroad** · Dec 28th, 2006, 09:14 PM

I believe it has to be drilled out, but repeated pounding may work as well. You can also just open 'er up, then pinch a small piece of folded towel or cloth in the upper hinge when you close it and that should keep it from rattling too much.

mgw_300e · Dec 29th, 2006, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NPath

As for having the spare in the cargo area, it'll have to be like the LE model. From what I can remember, a bracket is bolted down to the floor and that's what holds the spare in place.

Does anyone have a pic of that, or a link to a pic?

mgw_300e · Dec 29th, 2006, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 88pathoffroad

I believe it has to be drilled out, but repeated pounding may work as well. You can also just open 'er up, then pinch a small piece of folded towel or cloth in the upper hinge when you close it and that should keep it from rattling too much.

So then the new pin would be pressed in I'm guessing? Does that require anything more than a hammer?

Thanks for all the info everyone!

littlefish · Dec 29th, 2006, 09:13 PM

A friend of mine had that happen on his 93, but the root cause (we believe) was he pulled the standard 15" spare and mounted a heavy 16" steel rim with a 36" 10 ply tire that was way more weight than the standard spare. It also loosened up the pins on the rear hatch. If the wheel/rim combined weight is that heavy, bouncing around on the back is not going to do it a lot of good. Mount the tire on the inside if that is the case. Lots of luck...

CraigMc · Jan 1st, 2007, 06:35 PM

My '93 rattles like a hot damn. I do have a stock rim on there with a full size spare but it started rattling before I put it on. I believe its the pin on the bottom hinge that is rattling( thats how it seems when I close it). Also there is a tiny weld on the bottom pin that appears to have broken. I'm going to giving it a small shot with a mig and see if thats fixes it.

silver97ex · Nov 6th, 2007, 06:25 PM

I am having the same issue with my 95 SE. It is pretty damn annoying. Any other suggestions or did the OP figure out a solution?

mgw_300e · Nov 6th, 2007, 06:53 PM

I never figured out a fix. I sold the truck back in July.

**88pathoffroad** · Nov 7th, 2007, 01:57 PM

The fix is to grind the heads off of the pins and pound them out, then pound in new ones.

guinnessmike · Nov 8th, 2007, 10:50 AM

I have the same problem on my 95' (plus I hate having to swing that thing out of the way ever time I want to use the lift gate). The previous owner mounted the much heavier stock XE tire on the chrome rim and the whole assembly makes noise whenever I go over a bump. I had an idea to try mounting to the spare to roof. I designed two cross members that I will mount to the roof rack and pick up the bolts on the inner spare tire mount bracket (and just scrap the rest of the side mount rack). Hopefully some day I will have time to try it out. I will try to put up some pics when I do.

**88pathoffroad** · Nov 8th, 2007, 03:33 PM

I've seen people mount a 33x12.50 on the stock spare rack with no problems. It's not the tire weight, it's the hinge bushings going bad over time.