Bill

I don't like my spare mounted underthe rear. I plan to mount a swing away carrier from a '91 onto my '92 4Runner. I found this article about it: tire carrier

I bought a carrier from a guy in town today, I got the carrier, and the (really beat up) tailgate shell.

From the article, it says there is brace that needs to go inside the quarter pannel. However from talking to the guy I got the carrier from, he said that when he took it off, there was a built in brace, that seemed to go up into the (I want to say D?) pillar around the window. We both figured that seeing that Toyota didn't really change the design during the whole Generation, that my 92 may also have that brace.

Has another torn into the quarter pannels of both a 91 and a non-91 2nd Gen?


Final point, how exactly do you get interior pannel off the rear? I didn't have a lot of time to poke around it. I undid as many screws as I could find, but it didn't want to come off, and I didn't want to break anything.

Any help you guys could offer would be great. I don't expect this to be a bolt on project, but I still like to make things as painless as possible.

BUNYKLR

I have no idea about that. But that's exactly why I bought a pickup instead. I'm going to build a flatbed with roll bar and spare tire mount.

Elvota

There are only a few obvious screws, the rest is a pop style fastner. Most auto parts stores sell a long tool that looks almost like a weed puller. Helps the fastners pop off and not break. Need to undo the upper seatbelt bolt (14mm I think), take off the cargo threshold (5 screws or so), pop off the cargo light assembly and just start peeling away the side panel as lightly as possible.

Not sure what you'll find. My '91 came with the carrier, so I guess I was lucky. The tailgates I know are different, and to me that actually might be where you run into more of a problem securing the mech.

My rig carries a 35" tire and a HiLift back there, so I know they are strong from the factory... hopefully you can duplicate the mount on your vehicle.

I'll be interested to hear how it goes.

Dublin

If your rig didn't come with the swing arm carrier it won't have the reinforcement cages. They are basicaly a spot welded trapazoid with a captive nut. The gauge metal didn't seem to be different than the normal sheet metal. I made inner brackets for mine out of 1/4 inch steel 3 inches wide and 8 inches long, and reshaped it to the contours of the inner piller. I predrilled the holes for the swing arm on the pillar and held the fashioned brackets inside to mark the holes for drill and tapping. I know they should probably be welded in but by comparing mine to my neighbors his has some flex when swung open and mine does not. Had no problems going on 2 years now. You should be able to attach the rear door mounting pieces to your exsiting door but you won't have back up lights, I was lucky and got both the tire carrier and good rear door.

Bill

hmm...bueno. Were the brackets you made just on the inside of the quarter pannel, or did you extend them up along the window or...where ever. I was just a bit concerned about the twisting effect on the rest of the sheet metal. But if that's not an issue, excellent.

And you did yours with no welding at all? that would make this project a whole lot quicker.

Is there any reason you tapped your braces rather than just using nuts on the inside(or did you use both).

Thanks tons for the input

Dublin

Bill, I ran them horizontal inside of the quarter panel from the back around the corner. The reason I tapped them is it's a PITA to get my fat chubby fingers in there to hold the nuts. I wasn't too concerned with a twisting effect mainly because I don't open my swing arm like a shopping mall car door opener (I really hate thoses people, open the door and fling as far as you can). I think the main concern is while opening one might think the downward weight could do some twisting, but that is where I saw a more noticable body flex on my neighbors factory installed one. I have no movement at all. Wish I would have taken pics at the time, but I was doing it as I went and it all fell into place so quickly that I didn't think of it. Also the portion that wraps around the inside rear needed to be cut down a bit to slide snuggly in place (about 2" wide) Ikept the remaining with larger just for moer surface area/less flexing.

Bill

Good to know, thanks tons.

And my main concern with was also the downward force when the carrier is swung out, but if you don't have any problems, good enough. Mabey I'll just make the braces a bit bigger(or at least as big as possible).

I'll try to remember to take pictures when I get around to building mine.

Now I just need to figure out how to mount the tailgate latch. But based on the inside on the old gate, I don't think that should be too tough.

jmagnuss

Did you ever get yours done? Any chance of pictures? I'm debating doing the same thing, but I don't have any experience fabricating, so I'd like to see what I'm getting into.

Thanks

AUYota

man this seems like a whole bunch of work for somewhere to mount the spare tire... While you are sweating it out doing this just keep thinking, "I'm doing all this work for a SPARE TIRE." Spare tire.... Spare tire.... not more horsepower, or towing power, but a SPARE TIRE!!!!

go get a roof rack and mount it up there.

lol just messing... good luck.