[brettm]

My Mantec carrier has been feeling a bit loose lately - pulled it apart to investigate. First sign of trouble was a wet rear door card.

Pulling the card off, I found this crack in the backdoor letting in water:

Removing the swing arm, the plate where it mounts has failed and cracked:

I didn't install this carrier - so am curious if there was meant to be a backing plate between the exterior Mantec plate and the inside of the door. Seems like it would have helped prevent it cracking.

Sadly Mantec is no more, wish I could get parts for it.

 

[xplorUtah]

Pretty sure I have always fabricated a plate for the ones (3) I have installed. Never seen that before.

 

[Roverlab]

I'm pretty sure that plate was supposed to be on the inside of the door....

 

[southernoverlandco]

Second for the plate inside

 

[sonoronos]

IIRC Mantec did not include a plate for the inside of the door. Not with their tire carrier. Whether Mantec intended for one to be used is unknown. As others have stated, a backing plate dramatically improves its reliability.

Those big holes in the aluminum door panel are for the original tire carrier, which did have a backing plate.

Most likely whoever installed your tire carrier did it straight out of the kit.

 

[rover4x4]

I always thought the point of the mantec was to transfer the bulk of the weight to the rear cross member and the rear tub, was the install completely botched?

This is one of the first Mantec tire carrier issues I can ever remember..

Anyone care to elaborate on the backing plate?

Makes the Td5 door even more appealing..

 

[sonoronos]

I always thought the point of the mantec was to transfer the bulk of the weight to the rear cross member and the rear tub, was the install completely botched?

I doubt the installation was botched.

That assumes the design was perfect. The design is not.

The bulk of the weight is on the rear crossmember and tub, but that's only two points. Think about a two-legged stool. The attachment to the door sees movement because the entire carrier flexes.

My guess is that it was lots of miles and a rough life, plus some play in the tub and crossmember brackets that ultimately led to the demise of your door.

The good thing is that a backing plate should simultaneously fix and cover up your issue. The backing plate should be cut to fit in the rectangular framed space surrounding the nuts attaching your carrier front plate to the inside of your door. This clamps against the frame of the door and therefore creates a rigid connection.

 

[Uncle Douglas]

I'm not there and cant see anything other than the pictures but dealing with these regularly and looking @ the pictures, it looks like the door frame failed (like usual) and the resulting flex has cracked the exterior plate, not the other way round.

Slamming the rear door will break the frame and the tire carrier.
Many on this site will say that the 2003 and up rear door is better superior to the original.
Its not. The frame is juts as susceptable to stress cracking from the weight of the spare on a door being closed hard.

 

[roverman2010]

One thing I noticed is the plate is fitted with self tapping screws, suppose to be bolted and Mantic install has the plate on the outside as mine is per their fitted instructions. AND here I thinking the plate was designed to cover the big bolt holes as well?

 

[brettm]

thanks for pointers. spent the afternoon on it - and got it fixed up - the exterior mantec plate had a big stress crack in it across two bolt holes and then another stress fracture going out. i just welded the crack together as best i could, ground it all down to remove the powder coat and then re-painted it. installed with a steel backing plate on the inside and a little bead of silicone around the outside plate just in case. feels more solid when closing. i don't see anything obvious in the door frame/rails to suggest they are failing at this point.

agree with those above - the rear door get slammed several times a day with kids getting in an out of the back; so it's certainly sees a lot of horizontal action / stress even if all the vertical weight it taken care of by the carrier.

 

[xplorUtah]

Went and looked at mine. The plate provided is too wide to fit inside the door without cutting. So it goes on the outside. The first inner plate one I did was on my red one, we fab'd a plate. I used the original door mounted plate that fits inside on my last two, a ROW 110 and a NAS 90. I simply cut the studs off. Pretty robust way to do it, if only even incrementally better. IMHO. Good luck!

 

[brettm]

bit of a bandaid - only bit of steel i had lying around. hopefully the raw steel doesn't cause galvanic corrosion on the back door....

 

[sonoronos]

good start - the most effective backing plate is one that overlaps the steel frame.

this prevents the tire carrier from pulling the door skin away from the frame.

 

[WK2Burner]

looks like you need this, or just the template at least. happy to send the measurements if it helps you out any.

 

[brettm]

@sonoros - ah - that would be much stronger! i'll swing by home depot and get more steel at the weekend.

 

[Sanbornc]

WK2Burner,
Did you ever end up making a template of your original wheel carrier? If you still have the email with the measurements would you be willing to forward it to me? I'm working on installing a Mantec Wheel Carrier and I'm lacking a backing plate on mine also.
Thanks
Chris

looks like you need this, or just the template at least. happy to send the measurements if it helps you out any.

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------ Follow up post added June 4th, 2019 06:49 PM ------

Brettm,
Did you ever end up fabricating a backing plate? I would be curious what you ended up making. I'm in process of installing a carrier and I don't have a backing plate. Where are you in Seattle?
Chris

@sonoros - ah - that would be much stronger! i'll swing by home depot and get more steel at the weekend.

 

[WK2Burner]

WK2Burner,
Did you ever end up making a template of your original wheel carrier? If you still have the email with the measurements would you be willing to forward it to me? I'm working on installing a Mantec Wheel Carrier and I'm lacking a backing plate on mine also.
Thanks
Chris

Sorry, I no longer have one of those plates at my disposal. I switched door types and sent some rear door parts to Mike (mffoster), he may be able to help you get it sorted.
Francis

 

[Sanbornc]

No worries. Thanks for getting back to me

Sorry, I no longer have one of those plates at my disposal. I switched door types and sent some rear door parts to Mike (mffoster), he may be able to help you get it sorted.
Francis

 

[Davis]

I just cut mine to fit. I figure the push into the rear door will be absorbed by the exterior mantec portion and the interior bracing should be as large as possible and overlap the steel frame to absorb as much pull as possible. Off reading receives a lot of push-pull and although the mantec is connected to the bumper, it is also solidly connected to the door and this needs to be accounted for— more so than they supply IMHO.

Since I overlap the steel frame there is a slight ridge to overcome on the lowest right hand side. The overlap was pretty big so I choose for that one bolt to just use a large plate. All the metal is about 3/16” aluminum plate. If my last plate was wider, I’d of liked to overlap the far steel frame member... I may swap this plate before I close up the back...