Rear Door Wheel Carriers

Do I need a spare wheel swing away carrier on a new Puma? I keep finding myself using it to balance on when standing on the ladder doing stuff on the roof rack and a bit concerned i might be putting undue strain on the door, but, equally a very small part of me thinks LR might have reinforced the back door at some point in the last 30 years?

Are they a pain in the arse if you go in and out of the back a lot?

I've had experience of two. A cheap one which was rubbish, you had to open it first and than open the door after, which was a pain.

My brother in law has a mantec one which opens with the door and it's excellent. No different to open than the standard set up.

jaygti said:

I've had experience of two. A cheap one which was rubbish, you had to open it first and than open the door after, which was a pain.

My brother in law has a mantec one which opens with the door and it's excellent. No different to open than the standard set up.

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Ouu the Mantec sounds like the bit of kit for me. Could you put all your weight on the spare wheel without a problem? I like the idea of one of these too...

I have got to agree the Mantec carrier is really good, all the weight is supported by the rear cross member. they are fairly easy to fit to, the only problem I had was the bottom hinge bolt only just fitted due to the rear NAS step.
I do remember reading somewhere that the Puma rear doors are 1 piece galvanised steel which are supposed to be a lot stronger than the older ones, saying that the weight is still carried by the hinges.

There are lots of different wheel carriers out there.

The Mantec one does not transfer all the weight to rear cross member. It requires holes drilling into the body work and has very short brackets.

The Safari Equip one also requires the body working drilling but has much larger brackets then the Mantec ones.

The only ones in the UK which transfers all the weight to the rear cross member are the Safari Equip single pivot one or the Nakatanenga wheel carrier.

The Nakatanenga one uses two ball and sockets to attach to rear door rather then the slider of the single pivot Safari Equip so is more tolerant of Land Rover build tolerances. The Nakatanenga one is also made from stainless steel so no rust issues.

Yes a range of prices, but you pays your money etc....


Brendan

Bought the britpart one fitted to mine second hand off a mate, fits well and seems pretty tough.
Reason I fitted it? the door just about fell to bits really **** idea!

I did a review of one here a little while back. You might find it with a search, if you can't let me know and I'll see if I can drag it up.

Mitch's review

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f16/defender-wheel-carrier-review-259067.html

Bought the same from Paddocks - in fact you can see it fitted in my siggy picture

Really good value, very solid.

Only slight hassle was having to redrill some of the door holes. Works well with the added bonus of stopping the door swinging shut by itself!

The one I bought of my mate has nipples on the pivot points, its approx 18mths old so maybe they have changed the design?

atm i have modulars with big tyres on the van but a standard wheel and tyre bolted to the back door -

i intend to get a proper spare and fit it to one of these:-

Nakatanenga Stainless Wheel Carrier- naked

big money - but nice

I've recently fitted a Mantec and am chuffed to bits with it. There's no more noise than when I had the spare wheel strapped down in the load bay.

I think I probably could stand on the wheel with no problems, but better safe than sorry. I have climbed on the hinges and have no problem standing on them.

ShreksKeeper said:

I've recently fitted a Mantec and am chuffed to bits with it. There's no more noise than when I had the spare wheel strapped down in the load bay.

I think I probably could stand on the wheel with no problems, but better safe than sorry. I have climbed on the hinges and have no problem standing on them.

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Glad they are good, I'm getting a mantec one as soon as I get paid. One question, I want my spare to be as close to the middle of the door as possible, where does the mantec one sit compared to standard?

Bump, does your spare wheel actually touch the rear door skin? If so this helps minimise flex in the door frame as the wheel itself will act as a brace and help transfer loads into the hinge points.

I stand on my door mounted spare all the time and I am errr... heavier.... than you

As to that stainless one, why would you want one out of stainless other than vanity. Stainless is a crap material!

I have the mantec with fairly big mud tyres very solid piece of kit lasting well and still looks good 10+ years or so old.

and yehup ive climbed on it and worse when in a few tight spaces with threes and its held up great

I've got a mantec and it's spot on, had 4 over the years, shop around I got one off eBay new and it was cheaper than mantec themselves, questioned it but was given the wall of ignorance, think they rest on their laurels cos they're so popular
The standard defender carriers on later td5 and puma suffer cracking around the wheel studs especially with bigger wheels and tyres
Seen a few spares held only by one stud,

Mine came with an already knackered door, a spare brand new door, and a Mantec carrier. I'm very pleased with the carrier. It's also got grease nipples so it seems to be built to last. However, one thing that bothers me is that the powder coating is flaking off in huge flakes. I guess I'll unbolt it one day and give it a once over with the rattle can.