Quite a while ago I remember seeing somebody selling a modified spare wheel carrier, I think it was for a Discovery Td5, to fit up to 35" tyres on the rear door and still clear the bumper, basically it was like the standard carrier but "swept up" so the actual mounting point was a bit higher.
I think (haven't checked) that the new Defender (02 onwards) carrier is the same bolt mounting pattern as a Discovery, so it seems to me that it might be a solution to carrying a spare wheel on the back door and still being able to use the NATO hitch - as everybody who has one will know, if you have a 32" spare wheel on the back door you can't open a NATO hitch if it is on the crossmember because the tyre touches the top of the jaw, so you have to open the door, open the hitch, put the rope in, close the hitch and then close the door. Not so bad with a rope but with a trailer it is a pain in the butt and "highly finger pinching", taking the spare wheel off every time is just as big a pain. I use the Sankey quite a bit now to cart fuel to the house and rubbish to the tip so I need a better solution.
So does anybody remember who made the carrier I am thinking of (I thought it was Devon 4x4 but can't find it on their site) is it still available and would it fit a new type Defender rear door?
ta