So I have the RR XHD rear bumper and tire carrier. I've been happy for the year its been on but today I noticed the rear tire (a 33 on soft 8 rim) looked like it was held on by a spring, it was just bouncing all over! So I pulled over quickly because it looked like I was about to lose my spare, and saw that the mount had snapped in two! It wasn't even at a weld!



So..... does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this? Get ahold of RR and ask how much a new one is? Or trust it even? Or is there another mount that I can put on that bumper?

 

Call RR and see if they'll warranty it but my suggestion would be to weld and gusset it.

 

Send us a PM. We will go from there.. It is covered under warranty. We will also want to see about getting the bad unit back for inspection.

 

I've had to deal with Rugged Ridge on a few small issues (I have a bunch of their stuff) and they have always gone out of their way to take care of me!

RR - For the record I suspect this might me a result of the way your "rubber bumper" brackets are designed. The instructions for the tire carrier say to adjust it so that the tire presses up against the carrier to keep it stable. But that's impossible because the brackets that touch the rubber bumpers on the door would cut into the tire. I called about this about a year ago when I installed mine. I was told just to go ahead and not have the spare touch the carrier, which I did. But I noticed that when the tire doesn't touch the carrier it gets bounced around a lot and seems to put a lot of stress on that bracket holding it. Just my

 

I was worried about this to when I istalled mine but what I did was attached some rubber pieces that was trash that came with the bumper to keep it from getting damaged in transit to the bracket so that I could snug the tire up without damaging the tire. I will take a picture of my fix tonight. BTW I have had mine for a year and have had no problems thus far.

 

Yeah, I had my tire touch the rubber bumper mounts and it has worn into the tire. Pretty much ruined a brand new 33 inch tire. But then I moved it away (after the damage was done) and this happened.

So...... today I had a muffler shop weld it. I don't think its as strong as it was new, but it was only $20. I'm going to contact them as they asked above and I'll send it back if they are ok with it haven't been tack welded.

 

Installed a RR XHD w/ tire carrier 3 weeks ago, thanks Dave. Saw that if the brackets that bear against the tail gate rubber bump stops were installed as directed they would cut into the spare tire. Went ahead and installed them without the spare. Got them adjusted properly and scribed a cut off line on each bracket. Removed them and put them in a vise. A fresh hacksaw blade, a lot of sweat , 106 heat index, bench grinder, more sweat , and some black semi-gloss rattle can on the raw edge solved the problem . Was wishing for a chop saw. It was a pain in the ass over such a simple design element .

Still love the bumper and carrier though .

 

on mine i cut my rubber bumpers on the gate down shorter so i could move the plates away from the tire.... then can snug tire up against carrier.
worked out well... but i still don't like that mount the wheel attaches to... always seems like a weak point to me...

 

So Rugged Ridge has a loyal fan in me now! They saw this thread and asked for my address. And just a day or two after giving it to them I have a new bracket!

Thanks RR! I'm once again in love with my XHD Bumper!

 

That's been my experience with Rugged Ridge in general. They stand behind their products and will make it right if you have an issue.