wheel carrier ?

[Arkamelis]

hi to all
thinking of changing to underbody wheel carrier and getting rid of the swinging back door carrier,just wondering if members have done this, i have seen another thred that shows a winch for the underbody,costs around £70 and one slight mod needed. wanted to know where it is best to disconnect the swinging arm from ?

cheers Matt

[POPEYE]

I did it the other way round, I guess to do it properly you would need to unbolt the swing out from inside the quarter panel after removing the trim, this will leave you with bolt holes so your choice of how to deal with those, also you'd need to swop tailgates but again depends how authentic you want it to look, might be possible just to change over the latch plate, not sure what the exact difference is between the tailgates,

[Arkamelis]

re

thanks for that popeye, wondering whether it can come apart from the hinge its self and leave the two bits in place then look at what can be done at the lock side of things and whether that can be left inplace swell

[POPEYE]

Thinking back (it's been several years since I did mine) I'm pretty sure the main outer skin of the tailgate is the same for both versions, difference is the underslung one has a unit there that has the number plate, two reversing lights and the no plate light all sat in a nice chrome surround, gives the arse end a smooth look,
the swing out has a plate carrying the latch, you mat get the light and plate unit from a breaker but these guys tend to want to flog the gate as a complete unit, failing that a sheet of alloy painted will do, (what I did as the c##t I bought my carrier from would not break up the gate and sell me the latch plate so I had to make my own),
as for the main hinges I am pretty sure they are produced as a complete unit, so anglegrinder may be the best/ easiest way to get round that, got some pics of when I did mine if they are any use to you, let me know,

[Arkamelis]

re

hi popeye
been out and had a look at it today, once the swing is pulled away from the tailgate looks good to leave the tailgate the way it is ( leaving the locking side of the panel in place ) so i just need to rid the swing arm and like you say i have to get to it from the inside to undo the bolts ( shame tho i couldn't do it from the hinge joint ) cant see anyway to dissemble it unless I'm missing something. anyway thanks for your help.

cheers Matt