315 on stock rack for a while? Also, what rear tire carrier to keep factor hitch?

zimm

zimm

Caught the Bug
After reading for 2 hours on the "other" forums about how great the $700 teraflex HD hinge is, I found the 86 page thread here about them breaking. Crap. So now I'm back to thinking about a rear bumper/tire carrier. But my budget is blown with the lift/tires/wheels for now. I don't want to ruin my tailgate and blow rivets, but will it hold up on the street for daily commuting for now? If I offroad before the bumper is on- I can always put the spare inside.

As to rear carriers- I want to retain my factory tow hitch. So I'm thinking ARB or JCR offroad? I'm not convinced I need the carrier tied to the tail gate if it complicates mounting and rattles. For those of you guys running carriers- what do you recommend?
 
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MR.Ty

MR.Ty

Token East Coast Guy
zimm said:
After reading for 2 hours about how great the $700 teraflex HD hinge is, I found the 86 page thread here about them breaking. Crap. So now I'm back to thinking about a rear bumper/tire carrier. But my budget is blown with the lift/tires/wheels for now. I don't want to ruin my tailgate and blow rivets, but will it hold up on the street for daily commuting for now? If I offroad before the bumper is on- I can always put the spare inside.

As to rear carriers- I want to retain my factory tow hitch. So I'm thinking ARB or JCR offroad? I'm not convinced I need the carrier tied to the tail gate if it complicates mounting and rattles. For those of you guys running carriers- what do you recommend?
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As long as you extend your tire isolation stops to the tire so that it fits snug on your carrier it should be fine. I am coming up on a year of running a 35X12.50 on mine. As far as aftermarket carriers, personally I'm looking at either Hanson or Crawler Conceptz body mounted tire carriers and running without a rear bumper.
 
F

Flynlo

New member
Smittybilt just came out with their Pivot HD Tire carrier. Same idea as the Teraflex; basically a copycat, but anything after Teraflex's design can be considered a copycat. It MSRP's at $499 and if you talk to a rep you can get it cheaper.

I'm in the same boat. I just got 35's and a new lift to replace my BB so the $ is tight. I want to keep my lightweight factory bumper so the options are limited.

Teraflex has great customer service and they improved on their original design so I have no doubt its a strong carrier, and if it breaks they'll replace it.
The Crawler Conceptz is priced well and has great reviews. It lacks any additional mounting points (you could drill and tap your own if you wanted) and it doesn't come powder coated or painted, that's extra $$ depending if you have it powder coated or rattle can it.

I'm very close to buying the smittybilt one, I know they aren't the best quality but you can get the hinge and adjustable carrier for about $200 less than the Teraflex, might be worth a shot.
 
zimm

zimm

Caught the Bug
So is the teraflex carrier "fixed" now? I'd be okay running it for good if it won't break on me.

I won't be doing rock drop offs like the videos show that break the tire off. I do like the idea of not having to open two things to get in the back. In the end, the 315 duratrac is only 12 pounds more than the stock rubicon tire.
 
Speeddmn

Speeddmn

New member
zimm said:
So is the teraflex carrier "fixed" now? I'd be okay running it for good if it won't break on me.

I won't be doing rock drop offs like the videos show that break the tire off. I do like the idea of not having to open two things to get in the back. In the end, the 315 duratrac is only 12 pounds more than the stock rubicon tire.
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Yeah it's "fixed" they "fixed" it years ago.....

I wouldn't run it, I wouldn't recommend it, but it is your jeep, your money, and your conscious when it falls off and lands in the lap of a senior citizen in a Buick rolling down the interstate.

In other news, if you call/email/PM the Northridge 4x4 guys, I'm betting you could get a sweet hook up on a quality made in America! bumper/carrier combo that wont explode when looked at funny.

Your choice, save a few dollars and maybe kill people on accident, spend a few dollars and support freedom!

:beer::beer:
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Flynlo said:
Smittybilt just came out with their Pivot HD Tire carrier. Same idea as the Teraflex; basically a copycat, but anything after Teraflex's design can be considered a copycat. It MSRP's at $499 and if you talk to a rep you can get it cheaper.

I'm in the same boat. I just got 35's and a new lift to replace my BB so the $ is tight. I want to keep my lightweight factory bumper so the options are limited.

Teraflex has great customer service and they improved on their original design so I have no doubt its a strong carrier, and if it breaks they'll replace it.
The Crawler Conceptz is priced well and has great reviews. It lacks any additional mounting points (you could drill and tap your own if you wanted) and it doesn't come powder coated or painted, that's extra $$ depending if you have it powder coated or rattle can it.

I'm very close to buying the smittybilt one, I know they aren't the best quality but you can get the hinge and adjustable carrier for about $200 less than the Teraflex, might be worth a shot.
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If the tire carrier breaks while you're on the highway, getting it replaced is the last thing you should be worried about.

The best customer service is the one you never have to call on.
 
zimm

zimm

Caught the Bug
Sounds like it's not fixed. I'll have to run the 35 on the stock carrier with an adaptor for a little while until I can afford a rear bumper/carrier.
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
zimm said:
Sounds like it's not fixed. I'll have to run the 35 on the stock carrier with an adaptor for a little while until I can afford a rear bumper/carrier.
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Trust me, you'll be fine SO LONG AS you make sure to extend your isolators to make sure they are pressing firmly against the sidewall of your spare. As mentioned, it's the jiggling that causes breaks. Mitigate that and you will be fine.
 
F

Flynlo

New member
wayoflife said:
If the tire carrier breaks while you're on the highway, getting it replaced is the last thing you should be worried about.

The best customer service is the one you never have to call on.
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I've heard of carriers breaking on the trail, but never one breaking off on the highway. You hope you never have to call customer service just like you hope you never have to call your insurance company. It always helps that they'll take care of you after the sale.
 
hinrichs

hinrichs

Caught the Bug
I bet if its breaks, no matter where, teraflex will say it was user install error and not their problem, just my :twocents:
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Flynlo said:
I've heard of carriers breaking on the trail, but never one breaking off on the highway. You hope you never have to call customer service just like you hope you never have to call your insurance company. It always helps that they'll take care of you after the sale.
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To me, "hope" is just another way of saying "wishful thinking". I personally don't like the idea of having to "hope" and at least for me, I do what I can to steer clear of products that would require "hope". But of course, that's just me. After personally seeing multiple TeraFlex control arms tear off, track bars snap in half and tire carriers break and have them BLAME the customer for them, I no longer have any confidence in any of their products and have long since chosen to not let them advertise on this forum.
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
hinrichs said:
I bet if its breaks, no matter where, teraflex will say it was user install error and not their problem, just my :twocents:
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Yup, I have seen and heard it more than once. Only, who's to blame when they are the ones who installed their products on their own Jeep? :thinking:

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jeeeep

jeeeep

Hooked
i ran my 315 on the stock carrier for 4 years no issues, several trips to moab, wheeling other places as well.
not sure how much back space you have on your wheels just make sure it's flat against the carrier and the bump extentions meet the tire so it does not wiggle.
save your money, the stock carrier is strong. those that have issues is usually because they did none of the above
 
crowrb29

crowrb29

New member
315 on stock rack for a while? Also, what rear tire carrier to keep factor h...

hinrichs said:
I bet if its breaks, no matter where, teraflex will say it was user install error and not their problem, just my :twocents:
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Totally quoted the wrong person...fml.
 
crowrb29

crowrb29

New member
Flynlo said:
I've heard of carriers breaking on the trail, but never one breaking off on the highway. You hope you never have to call customer service just like you hope you never have to call your insurance company. It always helps that they'll take care of you after the sale.
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The problem is that if it breaks on the highway you may be dealing with something much more serious than calling TF customer service. I wouldn't want to put every other car on the road at risk just to be stubborn.
 
AllAmericanInfidel

AllAmericanInfidel

Caught the Bug
It always amazes me when people invest in a Jeep, invest their hard earned money on the wheels, tires and lift they want, and are perfectly fine with hanging cheap built Teraflex or Smittybilt Chinese crap off their rigs. Me, personally, I'm not putting cheap Chinese crap on the most iconic American vehicle made (where I have a choice). There are so many good American companies like JCR, Genright, EVO MFG, Crawler Concepts, Full Metal Fabworks, Poison Spyder, etc. Hell, isn't the ORFab swing away tire carrier around the same price as the TF supposed "HD" carrier? Not even in the same league as far as I am concerned. If you can, but quality American parts and buy once folks!! Sorry for the rant!
 
F

Flynlo

New member
crowrb29 said:
The problem is that if it breaks on the highway you may be dealing with something much more serious than calling TF customer service. I wouldn't want to put every other car on the road at risk just to be stubborn.
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I can't agree with you more about safety on the roadways. I've been a motorcyclist for 10 years and can't tell you how many sketchy things I've seen rolling down the highway. Big Rig tire blowouts are the most common hazard I've ever seen and encountered. Buying a quality product is important (especially when it has a safety aspect to it), there's no debate in that but we can all be a little more realistic in that even though Smittybilt isn't a top brand winning any quality awards, it's not made of cheese either, but lets digress.

Another tire carrier to consider is the Maximus-3. Two options available, 1) all the bells and whistles or 2) no bells and whistles. It's like the Crawler Conteptz in that it attaches to the factory hinge points and opens with the tailgate but the design is tubular and has options for attaching a CB antenna mount, a 3rd brake light mast, high lift jack mount and a Rotopax mount. Retails for about $669.99 for the basic no frills package.
 
crowrb29

crowrb29

New member
I tried to find where I saw it posted but EvoLander, one of the ORE rigs, has been running a stock carrier with 37s and ATX slabs for 60,000 some odd miles.

As others have said just be sure your isolators touch the sidewalk of the tire and if you have something supporting the bottom of the tire that's even better.
 
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