Spare Tire Carrier

I think its a great idea. Bit of a far drive from NC to CA though.

I would be interested.

Strange that there is room for a spare tire and Nissan opted not to included one? Weight i Guess?

I recall seeing in some early literature that the Leaf would come with a spare tire.

And cost.

GPowers said:

Strange that there is room for a spare tire and Nissan opted not to included one? Weight i Guess?

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Yes, the spare tire was excluded from the North American market. Certainly, weight and cost were the primary factors, but the actual Nissan LEAF spare is available outside the USA/Canada (I've even included the part numbers and prices in this thread).

I don't believe Nissan intended for the spare to go where I'm putting it. More likely is in the bottom of the trunk/boot. Actually, most cars put it there.

In addition, that area is intended for inductive charging.

myleaf said:

I recall seeing in some early literature that the Leaf would come with a spare tire.

Click to expand...

It does... just not in North America.

Thought you might like the naked shot. You can see the cabin pressure outflow valves and bumper crush mounts. Inside the trunk, you can see the top of the charger heat shield.

With the under-pan fully installed, the LEAF's minimum ground clearance is apparently 6.4 inches.

What is the ground clearance on a flat surface under the rear pan?

The stock tire (and rim), inflated, is about ?? inches wide?

How wide is the Altina tire and rim (probably an inch less wide)?

Thanks, Gary

garygid said:

With the under-pan fully installed, the LEAF's minimum ground clearance is apparently 6.4 inches.

What is the ground clearance on a flat surface under the rear pan?

The stock tire (and rim), inflated, is about ?? inches wide?

How wide is the Altina tire and rim (probably an inch less wide)?

Thanks, Gary

Click to expand...

Altima spare wheel / tire is about 26 inches in diameter, on a 16"x4" rim, with a max width (inflated) under 6 inches. My mount assembly is 27 inches in diameter.

The rear of the car, where the tire assembly exits, is far greater than 6.4 inches, but I don't have a measurement. From the top of the spare tire mount assembly to the bottom of the rear axle is about 6 inches (in other words, it's flush, just like the plastic rear pan is).

The stock wheel is 6.5 inches in width, for about 8 inches in overall width (guess here; I didn't measure). Stock wheel / tire diameter is about 25 inches. The stock wheel assembly would hang about 2 inches below the rear axle when mounted. Should there be a clearance issue mounting it, it could simply be overcome by driving the rear two tires on simple 2 x 4 x 5 or 10 inch long wood pieces. Instant more ground clearance.

Sounds like the narrower Altima wheel is much better suited (sized) to being used as the under-cargo-area LEAF spare.

In countries that have an official LEAF spare, is that spare a substantially smaller "Temporary-use-only" wheel?

I suspect that the official LEAF spare is substantially the same size as the Altima (2002-present).

What's different is the price.

Installations won't start until I can make a batch of conforming beta models in the next 2 weeks. Install would be in San Diego.

I have now modified the assembly to work with the rear underbelly plastic fairing, and just for Gary, I demonstrated the lift with my Makita drill powering it. It's an electric lift now. :mrgreen:

There will be an upcoming bike rack receiver (aka "trailer hitch) that will be compatible will the spare tire assembly.

Please email me at: TonyWilliams at LoveMyLEAF dot com to order.

Thanks,

Tony

Thanks, Tony, you're a good man!

Compatble "trailer hitch" ... how do you say? ... much frost.

I await some details:
2" Receiver?
handle several hundred pounds?
drilling not required?

Cheers, Gary

garygid said:

Thanks, Tony, you're a good man!

Compatble "trailer hitch" ... how do you say? ... much frost.

I await some details:
2" Receiver?
handle several hundred pounds?
drilling not required?

Cheers, Gary

Click to expand...

I don't have an idea for price yet on this. Like the spare tire carrier, it will be light weight, and built using aerospace benchmarks like aluminum alloy 6061, hardened to T6 specs. It will be more expensive than others on the market.

Yes, a 2" (inside dimension) receiver is the standard tube that you see on the back of many SUV's and pickups. Then you can slide in your 2" outside dimension accessory, or use an adapter for 1" accessories.

While this may be able to handle a quite robust weight, it will be weight limited to something far below its ultimate load. Probably 50 pounds. About the weight of 2 bikes. Or a cooler full of ice and drinks. Or a can of gas for your lawn mower. Or a 50 pound bag of fertilizer for your lawn. Or that smelly trash can you wanted to haul out.

It will never be approved for trailer use.

Mounting will be with bolts, some of which will require drilling. Because the spare tire carrier uses space that others are using for their bike rack / trailer hitch mounts, mine mounts significantly differently (and a bit more challenging to design!)

Just an empty cargo-carrier rack is about 50 pounds. Of course, a bike rack is much lighter.

To be useful, it really needs to safely support a cargo-rack plus about 200 or 250 pounds.

So, perhaps 300 pounds overall, I suspect.

With road shock, one probably needs to design for 3 or 4 times the anticipated static weight, right?

garygid said:

Just an empty cargo-carrier rack is about 50 pounds. Of course, a bike rack is much lighter.

To be useful, it really needs to safely support a cargo-rack plus about 200 or 250 pounds.

So, perhaps 300 pounds overall, I suspect.

With road shock, one probably needs to design for 3 or 4 times the anticipated static weight, right?

Click to expand...

What somebody actually does with such a product, and what I will approve it to be used for might vary greatly. We design airplanes to 150% of design load to ultimate load (failure), and it is rare that an airplane structure fails. Very rare.

Nissan specifically does NOT approve the towing of trailers, therefore, neither would I. Nissan has a load limit in their published data as to how much it can carry. My design will not exceed that limit. Any weight or load placed in or on the car in such a manner, or quantity, that can render the car unsafe, will not be approved.

I do not foresee an approved design load of greater than 50 pounds for all the above reasons, and other reasons not stated. Injury or DEATH could result from exceeding the published limits. Damage to the vehicle, and other physical property may result from improper use of the product. Loss of value to the vehicle may result from the product's use, whether used properly or improperly. The state of California may determine this product can cause cancer.

Clear enough?

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I get several inquiries about this, so here's a status update:

I have contracted with a shop to cut these in bulk on the water jet.

I'm still waiting for the cable hardware, which I hope will be here any day.

It's a reasonably simple task to assemble the parts.

Second request
Hi Tony,
Please don’t forget to include me in you next batch of Spare Tire Carriers as well as the trailer hitch when it becomes available. Please email the kit cost and the best way to pay for it (i.e. Pay Pal, credit card, or Check).
Regards, Bill Brauneis
Oak Park, IL 60302
[email protected]

Just got back from Italy, and will working on it this week.