VWal

Hey guys, new to the forum. Got a 15 JKU Rubi im working on.


Bought the Smittybilt Gen2 Rear with the tire carrier.


Bumper went on without much issue other than those terrible instructions...


Tire carriers now on but when I mounted the spare tire and torqued down the lugs I feel the tires being pressed against the tire carrer pretty decent.
Has anyone else whos mounted the stock rubi wheels noticed this.


Ive got the adjustable mount out as far as she will go.


Anything to consider? Wheel Spacer perhaps?


Any thoughts or ideas would be great. Thanks!!

tgoss

You want the tire against the carrier. That way no excessive rattle or movement will break the carrier .

Gman*2007

Welcome to the forum.

VWal

thanks for your response.

this is true but its so tight that the tire is being pushed in ever so slightly.
im figuring throw a wheel spacer in there for an extra 1 1/2" of clearance. torqued down the tire should still be stable enough.

tgoss

My tire starts touching the carrier frame with probably 1/2" gap between the hub plate and the back of the wheel, then I tighten and torque it until flush.. You'll be fine, the tire isn't going to explode off the bead if that's what you're concerned about.

larry0071

I fabricated my own carrier, and I purposely designed it with 1/2" of tire compression to the steel tubing so that as you pull the lug nuts tight, the tire sidewall is being mashed inwards a half inch around the tube. In my opinion, you don't want the tire hanging in mid air from the flange on the carrier.

Smudgeontheglass

I have had the gen2 tire carrier for a little over a year now. The overall function of it is okay but I have a few gripes with it.

The first being like you mentioned, on stock backspacing is very tight on the mount. This is both a good and bad thing. The bad part being that the rotopax tanks don't fit when the flat part of the brake light / rotopax mount is facing the tire. The tire does not fit on with the flat part of the mount facing the rear window because the "frame" of the brake light/rotopax mount pushes on the top of the tire. The rotopax mounts also interfere with the rear window wiper which can be annoying.

I fixed the tire fitment issue by adding a junked wheel spacer (was part of a set someone had broken studs) that I had gotten for free from a local forum. Once I upgraded to 35s I got wheels with 4.5" backspacing so they still fit tight to the "frame" of the light bracket but there is plenty of threads on the studs.

My other major issue with the carrier is that you have to cut out the vent for the door backplate. Without the vent, the heater doesn't work with the hard top. I had installed it with my soft top on so I didn't notice the issue until November when I switched back to my hard top. I cut out a hole to fit the stock vent (good thing i didn't throw it out) and everything was fine.

I do have some squeaking and a couple rattles from the back, I've been thinking about switching the cam bolts out for properly sized shouldered bolts but otherwise it has been okay. I really wish Smittybilt would make a cheap Jack mount made for this tire carrier that looked like the Warn and Teraflex ones.