Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

My Patrol suffered from a ghastly clack-clack sound when opening the right hand side barn door at the back. It turned out that this was caused by the little bracket where the door stay attaches. This was supposed to be spot welded to the inside of the D-pillar at the rear, but had broken away. The clack-clack sound was produced by the edge of the bracket jumping over the edge of the sheet metal apperture it protrudes from. This seems to be a somewhat common occurrence on older Y61s, but is quite easily remedied.


This is what the bracket in question looks like. The door stay is attached to it by means of a roll pin.




In order to gain access to the body apperture where the little bracket is supposed to be attached, the dummy tail lamp cluster on the right hand side has to be removed.

The first step is to undo two bolts that are found inside the jack storage compartment:




Here they are:




Once both bolts are removed, the inboard edge of the tail lamp cluster will be free, but the outboard edge is still held by two clips.



Here is a picture of those clips. It is important to apply force in the correct direction (more towards the outboard side than the rear) in order to get the clips to disengage without damaging the tail lamp cluster:




Once the roll pin was knocked out to free the bracket from the stay and the bracket itself removed via the aperture where the tail lamp cluster used to be, this is what I found in the cavity behind the lamp:



One can clearly see where the two little spot welds on each side failed. The slightly deformed edge of the bracket aperture can also be seen on the right hand side. This is the cause of the clacking noise.

This is what the failed spot welds look like on the bracket side:





OK, now on to the fix: The first step is to drill two holes in the bracket. I drilled holes for M6 fasteners. Make sure that you use good quality, sharp drill bits: that little bracket seems to be made out of high strength steel.




Now try to place the bracket back in its correct place with the "puzzle pieces" where the spot welds broke out fitting together correctly so as to locate the bracket in its original location. Mark the correct position on the opposite (door side). I used masking tape to assist with this and my son provided the additional pair of hands needed (His slim 11 year old hands were also invaluable when I clumsily dropped the bracket into the bowels of the body below the light apperture...).




Here the holes have been drilled in the body:




The final steps are to take some rust prevention steps, both on the door side and inside the light apperture and to bolt the bracket in place. I used two M6 high strength set screws, washers and high strength Ny-loc nuts on the inside.




The door is now beautifully smooth and silent.

P.S. Please excuse the dodgy cell phone camera pictures...

I never trust these spotwelds

Always a good feeling fixing such an irritating noise / rattle.

Quick and simple.

Dit was seker die eerste ding wat ek op my eie Patrollie moes regmaak!

Aangesien my kar se laaiarea ge-"rubberise" is, kon ek nie die ligte uithaal en lekker van die agterkant van daai bracket af te werk nie want daar sit 'n lekker dik laag rubber oor die skroewe!

Dus het ek net die bracket mooi skoongeskuur om die stukke spot weld af te kry, toe die gate geboor en daarna die bracket bloot aan die buitekant vasgebout. Daar's heeltemal genoeg speling vir wanneer die deur toemaak. Na 'n laag verf oor die bracket & die twee boute lyk dit weer netjies en werk soos dit moet...

Very useful ,

dankie Gerrit

Gerrit skree as jy hulp nodig het om daardie kas GRANT'S Whisky klaar te maak

Jammer man, Jules. Daai kas is lankal op. Daar is nou net verfkwasse, verfverdunner en sulke goed in. Ek sal jou maar moet nooi vir 'n bier...