I tried to recreate this problem last night since I had dropped to spare to fix a busted shock bolt. I could not get the spare to get close enough to the break lines to hit them. I even lifted it as high as my 6 ton stands would go and jacked up each wheel one at a time as far as they would go while kicking the spare around. The only thing I can think of is if the spare was loose (really loose) it could swing and hit the rear axle. But it was so loose that it would have been bouncing around under there like crazy.

So Lloyd, I think this was a pretty freak occurrence that you had happen.

My spare had the same sort of marks...



But these aren't rub marks, they are compression marks from the tire being cranked up so tight against the chassis.

I found this when installing my hitch. My fix was to turn the tire 90 degrees, and re-install... but not so tightly.

Looking at my differential & brake lines, you can see there are no rub marks:



Your tire must have been out of position when they cranked it up. Even with the hitch installed, I still have plenty of clearance with the stock sized spare.

Point is it wasn't a design flaw. Others aren't seeing the same issue. Might have been an assembly screw up. Any damage to the brake lines should be quickly addressed by the dealership, and they should be replaced, no questions asked.

Damn man that is clean under there!

I prefer the spare tire in its current location, low CG and no extra rear overhang, and if I have a flat off road I just expect to get dirty, that is the fun of 4x4ing, getting me and the X dirty. I don't mean to be a jerk in my first post, but it would be very hard to install the spare tire correctly and in a way that could damage the brake lines and the rear diff. If it was loose maybe I can understand, but how could you not notice the noise that would create. And to call this a "design flaw" is a pretty poor choice of words especially given that you should have heard (and probably felt) a banging coming from the spare tire way before you could have done any damage to the brake line.

I agree with everyone! I ordered a rear bumper w/carrier. But with an 285 75 16 I am not hitting anywhere. You can lay a sponge on tire where it hits to avoid the marks. Even better is a cut up foam garden knee pad, it don't absorb moisture. Get busy!

MC

When I tell him he's wrong, I'm a dick. And then he 1 trucks me. Cool, turnabout is fair play.

And I never felt sorry for an engineer before, or even a Nissan press guy, excepting of course, the ones that Lloyd wouldn't leave alone for the entire day that they were out with us. And even when they were eating at Zack's that night. Geebish dude, let up a bit!

I had my '05 Frontier at the same time you had your X, and I didn't hound them guys (and one hella nice lookin' woman too) as much as you did (well, except to explain to the Nissan guy in the Nismo Frontier what the blinking locker lite was, but after that, he got it going good).

My point is that Lloyd likes to be 'the guy in the know', the one that he thinks Nissan is letting them in on all the good stuff he thinks they want to know. But he's not. Not even close. "Shhh, quiet everyone, Lloyd called, and here's what he's got..."

He messed up while mounting the spare tire back in place, and wants to blame Nissan for it. Couldn't have been him, no way.

Pulease.

It is not a design flaw, but a design decision. Putting the tire underneath has advantages/disadvantages as does putting it on the tailgate.

For a trail rig, I prefer it on the tailgate; with big tires it's a necessity.

Regardless, it's as ludicrous to call that a design flaw as it is to call the tires a design flaw. It just doesn't fit your use of the vehicle. So call Calmini or Skid Row and get the problem solved, man!

.......

Now back to my design flaw..

Those b@$tards put IFS on my Xterra.....

It's gonna cost $5K to fix!!!

YES, as I mentioned before THE TIRE WAS CRANKED UP OFF CENTERED IN THE DINGLE BERRY! YES, I DID THAT! And I fixed it myself as I mentioned before.

The point is it is such an easy mistake to make, that many others will. And that, is a problem.

Attention to detail will save your ass everytime when working on a something.

Again I am sorry but in order to have the tire stored correctly and tightly the assembly will be centered correctly in in a way to not cause damage. The spare area is flat and the chain and hoist mechanism will draw the assembly to the correct position, by design the center of the wheel will be taken to the center of the storage location, even if you were to store this while the vehicle was not standing even.

QUOTE]Again I am sorry but in order to have the tire stored correctly and tightly the assembly will be centered correctly in in a way to not cause damage. The spare area is flat and the chain and hoist mechanism will draw the assembly to the correct position, by design the center of the wheel will be taken to the center of the storage location, even if you were to store this while the vehicle was not standing even.[/QB][/QUOTE]

I wonder if something else is wrong then. When I repaired the line and cranked the tire back up at home it still wanted to go in crooked and get against the line. Maybe something is not manufactured right? Have to check it out closer...

Or many you broke something. Drop that tire and look up under there.

I had mine out a few times to do things. i ordered a Shrockworks rear bumper so going to be a gone deal. But I thought, this would be hard for the wife to do. But, with it on the rear it will be impossible. I'd say it is easy to put it on wrong... And that the top of the Axle would be a better place for the brake line. But maybe with the weak leafs, they were afraid it might bang the floor! Ha ha.

MC

i had a crv with the rear tumor spare...as with many things there are + and -'s.

The -'s that I remembered were:

1. crash damage (as others mentioned) it is well known that a rear end on a crv can collaps the trunk well (good space on the crv under the picnic table) which results in $$$ repairs. I will mention that it would take a good hit to do this, because i got tapped at about 10 mph and the spare actually saved the back of the crv...the car that hit me took all their damage on the hood from the spare tire and a bit from the hitch

2. extends the overall length of the car, which makes it hard to put into my shorter garage

3. Looks a bit wacky...works for some, not well for others...I didnt mind the look.

Personally, I like the tire where it's at. There's no question that it might make it a bit more difficult to get to the spare when you're off-road, but it saves so much space that it's well worth it. Even off-road it should not be too difficult to get to the spare; after all, you do cary a hi-lift don't you?