SnoViking

ok... so i was doing alittle thinking about a rear tire swing gate design. On my old pathfinder there was a tire swing which tied into the frame and hitch. my design is similar. I was reading alot of the previous posts and i heard acouple people saying that they do not believe the frame is designed for the added weight. But if that is so, what about towing, youre looking at hundreds of added pounds just in tounge weight. I was looking at it and if braced correctly thre should be no added stress. The very basic design i was thinking would be easily made with flate stock. Im not sure yet of gages of metal, but i was thinking 3/8 thick plates for the sides which run back against the frame on the outside. 5/16 thick plates on the inside of the frame for support. then using a long plate that would be against the bumper itself. from that plate i would attach the hinge and latch. The actual swing gate is a simple design which i based off the pathfinder design which was made by valley industries. the picture is below. I think i might make up some cardboard pieces and see how it looks/fits and take pictures and put them up. let me here some feed back here.

Pardon me for the poor picture

[IMG][/IMG]

6lug

so youre not actuall getting rid of your stock bumper?

SnoViking

nope... just adding to it

ROOFGOOF

Sounds interesting....especially if its alot cheaper than redoing an entire rear bumper... I might be interested too

6lug

you wont gain any rear ground clearance....but hey, go for it...lets see the pics..

JHupp

that sounds like an awesome idea. I have wanted a rear tire carier for soooooo long, but I hate ow the aftermarket rear bumpers look. Let me know how this works out, I'll be sure to mention it when I see you in Paragon.