Help me choose a tire carrier

I've decided I want to go with a gate mounted carrier mainly so I'm not locked into certain bumpers. The Jeep is my DD so I want single-handed operation as well. The only real downside I've heard with them is if you catch the spare coming off a ledge you can damage the tailgate. To help avoid that issue I will get a drop hitch and mount it upside down. Please let me know if there are other big issues I'm unaware of.

I've narrowed it down to three choices and I'd like to hear from those who have one of them and find out the good and bad. I'll be working my way up to a 37" tire with no intention of going larger. All three of these will support a 37. Two of these mount only to the hinges and one bolts to the tailgate...not sure if it matters. Two of them come power coated and one doesn't. For the carrier I feel like power coating would be good to have.

1. Maximus-3 Modular Tire Carrier (https://maximus-3.com/home/maximus-3-jk-modular-tire-carrier-sport-package)

Pros:
- Very modular and attachments for everthing you would ever want
- Sport package comes with third brake light pole and light
- It comes powder coated

Cons:
- Seems to be very mixed opinions on different forums

2. EVO Pro Series Hinged Gate Carrier (https://www.offroadevolution.com/product/evo-mfg-proseries-hinged-gate-carrier-jk-2007-current/)

Pros:
- Solid construction with minimal pieces
- Has optional license plate relo and rotopax mount
- it comes powder coated
- Has hi-lift jack mount

Cons:
- New to market so hasn't been put through as much real-world testing from the community
- Rubber stoppers crack and wear out very fast
- need to figure out a third brake light option

3. Crawler Conceptz Ultra Series Body Mounted Tire Carrier (http://crawlerconceptz.com/index.php/usbtc.html)

Pros:
- I really like the styling of it
- Main arm is single piece construction
- Optional Hi-lift jack mount (i like the way the jack is mounted at an angle too)
- Rotopax mount in development

Cons:
- Doesn't come powder coated
- Gate plate is not vented so this could cause cabin pressure issues since I run a hardtop
- need to figure out a third brake light option


Looking at my list it would seem the Maximus-3 would be the way to go but I like the styling of the Crawler Concepts the best. I guess I just need some validation. THE STRUGGLE IS REAL!

The evo tire carrier will accept their hi lift Jack mount, if you zoom in on the pic, there are 2 threaded mounting locations

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Robertcrav said:

The evo tire carrier will accept their hi lift Jack mount, if you zoom in on the pic, there are 2 threaded mounting locations

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Good to know, thanks!

Well you know I have the Crawler Concepts but if I had to choose between the 3 I would go with the Evo one. Spicy Chicken is running it with 40x13.50 and beadlocks on it. Plus you know the quality on things you get from Evo.
Not saying that the CC is bad. I'm running a 37x13.50 with slabs and the hi-lift on it and it is pretty solid. But it took some time to get it to be solid but you know that. Haha

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dillard09 said:

Well you know I have the Crawler Concepts but if I had to choose between the 3 I would go with the Evo one. Spicy Chicken is running it with 40x13.50 and beadlocks on it. Plus you know the quality on things you get from Evo.
Not saying that the CC is bad. I'm running a 37x13.50 with slabs and the hi-lift on it and it is pretty solid. But it took some time to get it to be solid but you know that. Haha

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I do know all that.

I was impressed when I checked it out last weekend. That 37 is on there solid. With that one I'm concerned about cabin pressure issues since there's no gate vent. I have issues with my front doors not always closing now with the windows up, but I'm more concerned with the heat and A/C issues I've read about.

I have no doubt in the quality of the EVO carrier either. They both seems to be good quality which is what is making the decision harder.

Having just installed the EVO I'd say my biggest complaint is the body mounts could use a redesign. Ive mentioned in my build thread that the powder coating on the body mounts could be improved and the rubber bumpers on them are useless and when the carrier swings all the way open the sharp edge will cut into the powder coat on the main arms. I'm trying to figure some thing out to help out with that. Other than that I love it and overall it is built and constructed REALLY well.

Having just installed the CC tire carrier, my biggest complaint is how tight everything fits. As in when you open the carrier for the first time, all your nice, new paint/powdercoat is scraped off of the hinges because of how tightly they fit.


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CarolinaJK said:

Having just installed the CC tire carrier, my biggest complaint is how tight everything fits. As in when you open the carrier for the first time, all your nice, new paint/powdercoat is scraped off of the hinges because of how tightly they fit.


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Just wait until those bushings that don't have a grease fitting start to scream at you every time you open it.
Carrier is a piece of shit honestly. To the OP - Go EVO, they stand behind their products.
CC was a nightmare from the get-go and their customer service is non-existent.
I didn't know I had to buy a new backing plate for their carrier since their bolt holes were 1/2" off.
Not to mention mine was shipped without hardware, and it took over a month for them to ship it.
Had I not cut my hinges apart to install it, it would have been gone a long time ago.
I have an EVO on order now though

JKDream said:

Just wait until those bushings that don't have a grease fitting start to scream at you every time you open it.
Carrier is a piece of shit honestly. To the OP - Go EVO, they stand behind their products.
CC was a nightmare from the get-go and their customer service is non-existent.
I didn't know I had to buy a new backing plate for their carrier since their bolt holes were 1/2" off.
Not to mention mine was shipped without hardware, and it took over a month for them to ship it.
Had I not cut my hinges apart to install it, it would have been gone a long time ago.
I have an EVO on order now though

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Wow, great to know, thanks. I'm sorry to had to deal with all that!

CarolinaJK said:

Having just installed the CC tire carrier, my biggest complaint is how tight everything fits. As in when you open the carrier for the first time, all your nice, new paint/powdercoat is scraped off of the hinges because of how tightly they fit.


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I did notice that from another thread. You would think they would update the design to eliminate this problem.

Still loving my evo carrier. The only real downside is that there isn't enough adjustment for a high backspace wheel. Stock wheel, no way. AEV wheel (5.2" backspace) barely worked with 2, 3/16" plates spacing the tire out (AEV 3rd brake light and JKS plate relocate). Now that I just put on ATX chamber wheels (4" backspace), there's plenty of adjustment to work with.

Bottom line- with more than 4.5" backspace, plan to run a bolt on spacer like spidertrax to make it work.

On the plus side, it's well made, looks great, and is really one finger open and close.

JKDream said:

Just wait until those bushings that don't have a grease fitting start to scream at you every time you open it.
Carrier is a piece of shit honestly. To the OP - Go EVO, they stand behind their products.
CC was a nightmare from the get-go and their customer service is non-existent.
I didn't know I had to buy a new backing plate for their carrier since their bolt holes were 1/2" off.
Not to mention mine was shipped without hardware, and it took over a month for them to ship it.
Had I not cut my hinges apart to install it, it would have been gone a long time ago.
I have an EVO on order now though

Click to expand...

Lol honestly the carrier takes very little time to disassemble. If they did start screaming at me, I could re grease them very easily. Also, the backing plate with mine came out perfectly. Mine also came with all hardware and the customer service I received when I called to ask questions was phenomenal. Sorry about your run in with CC, but that doesn't make their product "a piece of shit".


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CarolinaJK said:

Lol honestly the carrier takes very little time to disassemble. If they did start screaming at me, I could re grease them very easily. Also, the backing plate with mine came out perfectly. Mine also came with all hardware and the customer service I received when I called to ask questions was phenomenal. Sorry about your run in with CC, but that doesn't make their product "a piece of shit".


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Why should you have to disassemble anything to grease it though?
That's a design flaw, as is the backing plate that is supposed to bend upward when it's hit.
All it ends up doing is bouncing the tire around on the back and being noisy as hell.
AND the bolts that thread directly into each other on that same plate? Retarded.
Not to mention the hinge replacements they come with are waaaaaay too tight.
All the powdercoat ends up stripping off, and you're door becomes extremely stiff.
I might have came off a bit strong, but honestly the design is subpar.

Should probably also add that I took a LIGHT hit (~5MPH) in reverse to a tree and the carrier punched my tailgate in to the point of not closing.
That V notch with the bushing that attaches to the tailgate plate is like a battering ram if you bump into anything.
EVO's design is a LOT better, since the entire body mount is actually attached to.. well, the body.
Their carrier would have to bend the carrier before the tailgate, whereas CC is just floating behind the tailgate waiting to tear shit up.

This is my opinion, as I have had this carrier since it came out. I see you just received yours, and I honestly hope you don't have any of the issues I did.

JKDream said:

Why should you have to disassemble anything to grease it though?
That's a design flaw, as is the backing plate that is supposed to bend upward when it's hit.
All it ends up doing is bouncing the tire around on the back and being noisy as hell.
AND the bolts that thread directly into each other on that same plate? Retarded.
Not to mention the hinge replacements they come with are waaaaaay too tight.
All the powdercoat ends up stripping off, and you're door becomes extremely stiff.
I might have came off a bit strong, but honestly the design is subpar.

Should probably also add that I took a LIGHT hit (~5MPH) in reverse to a tree and the carrier punched my tailgate in to the point of not closing.
That V notch with the bushing that attaches to the tailgate plate is like a battering ram if you bump into anything.
EVO's design is a LOT better, since the entire body mount is actually attached to.. well, the body.
Their carrier would have to bend the carrier before the tailgate, whereas CC is just floating behind the tailgate waiting to tear shit up.

This is my opinion, as I have had this carrier since it came out. I see you just received yours, and I honestly hope you don't have any of the issues I did.

Click to expand...

I certainly agree that CC's carrier has some design flaws. Just didn't agree that it was absolute shit. However, every single tire carrier on the market has flaws of their own. For the price, I'd have to say the CC is one of the better carriers on the market.

Also, so far I haven't had any complaints. I'm sure I will at some point. Hopefully that day never comes.


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Here's an option, if you are relocating your license plate.

https://www.quadratec.com/products/13107_41X_PG.htm

I left my license where it was, and wired one of these as a third brake light.




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Thanks everyone for the info so far.

I received a great offer for a CC carrier from someone I know (he's took a hit on a rear corner so will be installing corner armor and body mounted carrier to cover it up). He will sell it to me for $250 plus my hinges and stock carrier which he would run temporarily until he gets the new carrier on. Since I'm just starting my build and have a ton of $ to spend any $ I can save helps. That being said, I don't want to install something I'm really going to regret to save some $ in the short term.

He said it needs to be refinished and recommended powder coating and I'm wondering if you think I could grind a hair off the inside of the hinge brackets so it's not such a tight fit? Enough so it won't rub off the powder coating.

The other issue I have is that I have my CB cable coming out of the rubber stopper on the right side of the plate. I see that gets covered up completely with the plate so I would either need to notch that out or drill a hole in the center of the plate and re-route the cable. This is all doable but a bit of a pita.

So $250 + about $150 for powder coating (of course I could skip the powder coating for now and just repaint it). Is it worth it?

seansheds said:

Thanks everyone for the info so far.

I received a great offer for a CC carrier from someone I know (he's took a hit on a rear corner so will be installing corner armor and body mounted carrier to cover it up). He will sell it to me for $250 plus my hinges and stock carrier which he would run temporarily until he gets the new carrier on. Since I'm just starting my build and have a ton of $ to spend any $ I can save helps. That being said, I don't want to install something I'm really going to regret to save some $ in the short term.

He said it needs to be refinished and recommended powder coating and I'm wondering if you think I could grind a hair off the inside of the hinge brackets so it's not such a tight fit? Enough so it won't rub off the powder coating.

The other issue I have is that I have my CB cable coming out of the rubber stopper on the right side of the plate. I see that gets covered up completely with the plate so I would either need to notch that out or drill a hole in the center of the plate and re-route the cable. This is all doable but a bit of a pita.

So $250 + about $150 for powder coating (of course I could skip the powder coating for now and just repaint it). Is it worth it?

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Personally I would say that is worth it. If anything, you could always resell it down the road for what you have in it I'm sure.

About the grinding, I'm sure that would be fine as long as you grind just a hair off. However, you could always email CC and they would be able to give you a definite answer.

About the cb, this is how I have mine ran.


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CarolinaJK said:

Personally I would say that is worth it. If anything, you could always resell it down the road for what you have in it I'm sure.

About the grinding, I'm sure that would be fine as long as you grind just a hair off. However, you could always email CC and they would be able to give you a definite answer.

About the cb, this is how I have mine ran.


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The problem with reselling it is that I have to give my hinges with the deal and I'll get his, already cut, hinges. So if I don't like it and want to sell then I have to find a new set of hinges. It just happens that his are black so no issue but I would hate to have to find a set and have them painted.

For the CB I avoided that plug because it looked like it was going to be a bitch to get the plug through it. haha

seansheds said:

The problem with reselling it is that I have to give my hinges with the deal and I'll get his, already cut, hinges. So if I don't like it and want to sell then I have to find a new set of hinges. It just happens that his are black so no issue but I would hate to have to find a set and have them painted.

For the CB I avoided that plug because it looked like it was going to be a bitch to get the plug through it. haha

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I gotcha. There are a few places that sell the hinges for a decent price that I've seen on social media. However, that's still an inconvenience. I say if you can get it for $250 and paint it yourself, it would be worth it in my opinion.

That plug was surprisingly easy to get the plug through. Poke a hole in the center and cut it from the edge to the hole. Still keeps water out just fine.


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Here's my 3rd brake light


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