I purchased a Hilux Surf Tire Carrier from Ebay.co.uk, it came off a junkyard vehicle and included the license plate light, rear latch, pressure switch, complete tire carrier and the plastic tailgate valence that replaces our license plate valence. I haven't read of anyone doing this retrofit so I thought I'd share what I have learned. The body panel on the Surf is recessed underneath the taillight to fit the bottom hinge of the carrier. The bottom hinge goes into this recessed area about 1/4" so instead of recessing the sheet metal I added metal to the hinge so that it is flush with the body. The factory mount has the tire offset on the passenger side, I raised and extended the factory tire mount so that my spare was centered in the back of the vehicle. Toyota added a little bit of reinforcing of the D-Pillar for the Surfs, I was surprised how little reinforcing was added by the factory. I went above what Toyota did and tied the whole D-Pillar together where the hinge mounts. This supports the added weight of the 35" tire and the extra leverage of centering it very well. The latching mechanism on the carrier is a double latch like the vehicle doors. I still have some work and I may change a few things but until then enjoy the pics!




Here you can see the handle to open the carrier and the rubber isolator that goes into the tailgate latch.


I mounted the license plate lower than a stock Hilux Surf. The new stuff on the tailgate is the hole for the rubber isolator and the latch and the diamond piece is the pressure switch to indicate if the latch is fully closed.


I took a piece of 1/4" steel rod and welded rod around the lower mount instead of recessing the sheet metal. Otherwise there would of been a 1/4" gap between the body and the lower mount.


This is tubing added between the outer skin at the upper swing mount and the d-pillar.


Inside the d-pillar at the upper mount.


This is inside the tailgate where the latch bolts to. I still need to enclose this with sheet metal. You can see the black box to the left of the two shiny bolts is where the rubber isolator goes in.


d-pillar. You can see one of the lower swing arm bolts that I used. It had to be 6.5" long in order to tie the whole rear assembly together.

 

none of the pics are showing up for me but I'm really interested...

 

x2. Also interested in what you learned about shipping times/price, etc. regarding buying online from overseas.

 

I was all gung-ho about doing this a couple years ago but I could never find anyone willing to ship, or if I did it was going to cost $1000 or more. Great job and thanks for posting the pics. One thing though, could you post a little description of what the pics are? In some, it's not really clear what the picture is of or where. More pics when you have time or make changes, especially of the reinforcement in the quarter panel. Great job!

 

That's awesome! I've ALWAYS wanted the factory Hilux tire carrier but never saw one on ebay, plus I have no fab skills so what you have going on is "flippin' sweet"! X2 on pic description though, helps to have a bit of detail on what was used/done to that area and what perspective the pic was taken at. ROCK ON!!!

 

Oh, and I LOVE that style of rear wind deflector too! Not a fan of the one with the rear backup mirror, too bulky and kind of lame. But that one you've got, classic styling!

 

You know I saw that too but didn't realize it doesn't have that mirror part so I didn't pay much attention to it. I'm with you on it, very nice.

 

Nice work, always wanted to do this but ran into the same problems as Pattycakes. May have to start looking again, thanks for posting!

 

I like it!!!! I have been on a look out for one but...no luck as yet.

 

nicely done sir-as you can see there are quite a few of us that covet such an upgrade.

You could likely make some fair coin retrofitting others in the manner you have done for yourself.

Appreciate your sharing of the photos and descriptions of what you encountered in doing this.

 

My rear hatch is due to be delivered this week! Would you have any more pics or helpful hints and tips in advance of my install?