The Black Jeep

Has anyone modified their smittybilt oversized tire carrier to fit on the teraflex hd hinge pictures comments did the teraflex get rid of the rattles how is it holding up etc

The Black Jeep

Ok I finished it last night write up coming soon

scafootballpro5

Subbed! I have the Smittybilt carrier and am looking into the Teraflex. Curious as to how compatible they are.

The Black Jeep

Ok so start this off I did not want to junk my $130 tire carrier and spend $250 more for the tire carrier itself from teraflex and I certainly wasn't going to buy the stock one again I first searched all over the web and only found one person who casually mentioned they had modded their Smittybilt oversized tire carrier to fit with the teraflex hinge but no write ups so here I go cant be that hard right? this would also apply to the best top oversized tire carrier since they seem to be exactly the same
SO I found a local classified guy that had a few of the teraflex hinges with slight blems for a discounted price (one of the benefits of having teraflex right here in northern Ut) I recieved the hinge in perfect condition I couldn't find the blemish but the box was marked "slightly scuffed on front"



Yes that is the light of god shinning around it and im pretty sure I heard angels AHHHAA AHHHAA when I opened the box
So straight to work after paying approproiate homage to the jeep gods of course

Take tire off



Ok this is what im dealing with before of course so take all that crap off too but don't lose any bits
Notice my teraflex cb antenna mount that was previously modified to fit with the carrier it had to be notched to allow the bar that the tire presses against to fit

please refer to the teraflex video for the install of the teraflex hinge as im not trying to show that install more how to modify the smittybilt or best top one to fit.
before I attached it to the jeep I figured it would be easier to test fit my carrier to the hinge with it laying down instead of on the jeep
first thing I noticed is the hump that sticks up from the hinge right in the middle so I marked it aprox and measured the depth against my carrier I used an awl and my square to attempt straight lines

^^ Hump

^^ marked notice it is right in the middle of the 2 bolt holes
and 2 3/4" deep from the right side to the left as seen in the pic

The Black Jeep

Thread only allows 5 pics so lets try this
after cutting with the dremel and then the much faster grinder
I test fitted the carrier turns out the notch for the hump fits great but the outside edge top and bottom need to be trimmed

yes that's my garbage can that I clamped my work to its portable in the sun and I don't care if I accidentally hit it with the grinder
Sorry for my total disrespect for the can (I am a garbage man its in my nature)



^^ marked with the grinder where I plan to trim less than 1/2" both top and bottom diagonal sides

that was the perfect amount of trimming cleaned it all up with the grinder and shot the bare metal edges with some rustoleum bed liner
watched tflex video on youtube took mental notes mounted hinge

there is a small lip on the hinge stopping the carrier from sitting flush so I located like 20 thick washers I had around and one washer would fill the gap perfectly
don't forget that you would also need one on the left side to even them out in addition to the supplied metal shim plates from tflex hinge


I also had to add a washer to each of the spacers behind the bars as pictured above to get the bar to not touch the hinge on the top where it is thicker

continued next

The Black Jeep

So basically if you have all of your black spacers that came with your smbilt carrier you will need to add one washer on all 4 of those bolts that go trough the bar to get your clearance from the hinge to the bar


So lastly I had to sit and ponder what to do with my cb antenna mount
oh and the tflex cb antenna mount doesn't fit with the hinge until I pondered long enough I found 2 spacers that I had from another project and used it on the left side of the mount and removed one from behind the bar because the mount is as thick as the spacers to get enough separation between the hinge and the mount and still sit behind the bar im sure that doesn't make any sense if you need more pics please ask I will be happy to take better and more


here is the final sorry the pics aren't as great as I thought they were


so in all its not a real hard mod if you aren't scared to use the grinder and think it all through as you assemble
and best of all the hinge looks great and all the rattles are gone my spot welds were separating and causing the popping noise it is now silent

scafootballpro5

Looks great! I'll have to consider this since I got the Smitty for Christmas! Or since I still have the stock one lying around I wonder if I can get that to work with my 35 and resell the Smitty?..hmmm

The Black Jeep

Tflex says the stock one will work but I guess it probably depends on the off set of the wheel and tire width
Honestly the sbilt carrier seems to be really strong and designed well.
Much better than the tflex or stock one the only downfall of them all is the weight on the gate which is what tflex has solved with the massive well engineered hinge

scafootballpro5

Exactly, the Smitty is probably the best $130 I spent on my Jeep as I have a 35" general grabber spare and rim which are a little over 100lbs together (I know heavy). So, I just wanna take the weight off the tailgate now to avoid messing it up.

The Black Jeep

yea I have a bfg mud terrain 37 on a 17 rim back there its heavy really heavy and it is only a matter of time before you get the rattles
pm me I will give you the info for the guy with the tflex hinges if you are looking to buy soon it was an unbeatable price