Reviews for Smittybilt 2843 SRC HD Pivot Rear Tire Carrier for 07-18 Jeep Wrangler JK

The carrier itself is solid, absolutely ZERO complaints about it, however as others have said the instructions are the absolute worst. Something that should take 2 hours at best to install took me about 5. I am mechanically inclined, I can figure stuff out, this carrier was about to get sent back. Smittybilt should take the time to document the installation properly so that the guy that wants to do it himself but soesn't have common sense can out it on. SO FRUSTRATING that a big name in the off-road industry can't provide good instructions...

I'll never buy another Smittibuilt product again! Everyone says the instructions are a disaster- I figured they couldn't figure things out- but geez just toss them. I am proficient in repairs and things like this and it still took 3 hours to install. You instal, set position, then take off again to tighten everything to install again. Everything was smooth until you get to the 3rd brake light - have to take the entire carrier off again - no mention of doing this in the instructions- it's 4 pieces, and not possible to lower the brake light enough to properly install it with 35" BFG ATs. Its too high and interferes with mounting of the tire the way it is bent. Hardware is a joke- cheep and I mean cheep bolts. Everything is a different size, they mix metric and SAE, and Phillips and Torx.

If time is important to you buy Terraflex. It's $200 more, but your'e done in 30 minutes. If you are having a shop do the install, Terraflex will be the same with labor as the Smittybuilt with labor installed.