EVO MFG Tire Carrier still rattles, what am I missing?

Hey everyone.

So I have had the EVO MFG Tire carrier mounted on the EVO MFG Rear Corner Rockskins for about 8 months now. Unfortunately, the tire carrier still rattles. I have tried the offset on the pin side in which the tire carrier is essentially twisted to provide force against the opposing joints. I also have tried different amounts of sag on the bolt side, low sag, middle sag, and high sag. There is limited if any movement from back and forth, but there is still up and down rattle. I noticed there is a bit of space between the mount and the Johnny joints. My only thought is to slide some kind of material between the Johnny Joint and the mount plate. Trust me, I have adjusted them and adjusted them. Making one adjustment, driving it, making another adjustment, driving it. Very frustrating.

What am I doing wrong? Has anyone come up with anything different? Maybe my mounts are bent? Do you guys have that much space between the top of the Johnny Joint and the inside of the mount plate?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Here are some photos:

Bottom Mount with pin in:


Top Mount with pin in:


Top Mount with pin out:


Top Mount with pin out:


Top mount showing the space between the joint and the mount plate:


Bottom mount showing the space between the joint and the mount plate:

Looks like your holes are egged out a bit. And My JJ's are a really tight fit between the upped and lower 'plates'. Maybe a smack or two with a BFH may help out with the rattles.
Not a lot you can do with those egged holes though short of welding a thick washer on top to restore the dia of the holes.

Stupid question but could the rattle be coming from another location? I had a rattle that I swore was something else until I put my go pro next to the so called rattle and found it was something completely different.

I had a Poison spyder corner armor/body mounted setup and found that the rattle was actually a bad nutsert in the corner armor.

Ddays said:

...a really tight fit between the upped and lower 'plates'. Maybe a smack or two with a BFH may help out with the rattles.
Not a lot you can do with those egged holes though short of welding a thick washer on top to restore the dia of the holes.

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Thank you for this advise. I tried it and it helped a ton. There is still a little bit of rattle due to the play in the holes, but way better than before. Read on for the big reason for the "rattle". I will also look into changing the hitch pins. I was impressed with MTG's hitch pins when we went wheeling last weekend. Way better than the ones that come with the EVO tire carrier.

mastrcruse said:

Stupid question but could the rattle be coming from another location? I had a rattle that I swore was something else until I put my go pro next to the so called rattle and found it was something completely different.

I had a Poison spyder corner armor/body mounted setup and found that the rattle was actually a bad nutsert in the corner armor.

Click to expand...

This comment really opened my mind to the idea that, "Yeh, maybe it is something else." Welp, it was, of all things, the WINCH CABLE. With the help of my wife driving, I was able to figure out that the "clank" sound I heard was actually from the front. So I started looking around there and then saw that the winch cable was loose. This was because of the recall work completed by the dealership. They had to loosen the winch plate and move the winch itself to get to the airbag sensors. They neglected to really tighten the winch cable to the front D-ring bolt. After tightening, the clank is gone.

Thank you guys for all of the help. It is much appreciated!!!

Congrats!! Finding and fixing a rattle or squeak thats been driving you crazy for months.... Best feeling ever!!! It’s like winning the lottery! (Except you’re still broke and no one else cares but you) Lol [emoji1360]

Glad that worked out. Tractor supply has the pins with the red vinyl coated handles. Much easier to use these.


Sent from my iThingie

Now I just need to figure out how to keep the carrier open. I have the bottom heim joint extended to keep carrier lined up. But opening it, it goes uphill.

TrailHunter said:

Congrats!! Finding and fixing a rattle or squeak thats been driving you crazy for months.... Best feeling ever!!! It’s like winning the lottery! (Except you’re still broke and no one else cares but you) Lol [emoji1360]

Click to expand...

Ddays said:

Glad that worked out. Tractor supply has the pins with the red vinyl coated handles. Much easier to use these.

Click to expand...

Sorry guys, I jumped the gun, so to speak. It turns out that it is a bit temperature sensitive. Once we got going for our shopping trip (love my mall crawler) and the clank sound came back. However, it is still coming from the front.

We decided that the second we got home, we will keep driving it over a curb to re-produce the clank sound. So far, I am thinking it is the PSC Ram Assist cylinder. It twists on its own axis and I was able to make a clank sound with my hand. I then used some zip ties to secure the twisting ram to avoid it from clanking against the axle mount. I drove around a little and it seems MUCH better. However, I will reserve my final judgement until after a bit of driving.

Meanwhile, I ordered some red handled hitch pins. The interesting thing about Tractor Supply is that they would not ship the 1/2" x 3 5/8" hitch pins to my house but did offer free pick up at their nearest store in Carson City, some 48 miles away. So round trip, I would spend about $24 in gas and then each pin is $5. Amazon had them for $12 and free shipping. Saved a whopping $5 but hey, saved me a few hours of driving and some money. It was either that or beg Eddie to hold another Suds and Grub meeting to make the trip worth while. Life is hard.

Thanks again gents and I appreciate all of the help.

zimm said:

Now I just need to figure out how to keep the carrier open. I have the bottom heim joint extended to keep carrier lined up. But opening it, it goes uphill.

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I have been following your installation threads and you did a really good job in installing the skins and the tire carrier. I ran into similar issues.

However, I think that when you say heim joint you are talking about the Johnny Joint, right? Also, my bolt side joints are pretty tight, with the joints not allowing the carrier to swing much at all. I have to really force it around every time I open and close. Might I suggest REALLY tightening the hinge side bolts. I used a breaker bar and an extended flex head top tighten the bolt and nut. From where I stand, the two flanges are gripping the hinge side joints pretty good. Just my two cents.

Post revival! Tightening the shit out of the hinge bolts solved the carrier swinging closed by itself. No longer do I need a cargo strap from the carrier to the beadlock to hold it open.

Also I solved a developed rattle by squashing the driver side tabs together with a huge c-clamp. I got the clearance just enough for the johnny joints to slide in. I think what happens is once there's a gap, the carrier banging up and down hammers the "receivers" open more and more and it gets worse. Nothing a little persuasion can't fix.

Lucky me, it looks like a put in my lower drivers side bracket a little off. So no matter what combination of heim joint adjustments, I'm off by 1/4 of the hole for the lower pin. What I have to do is pull hard on the lower of the carrier to get the pin in and no rattles.

Cool you found a fix. I had the same problem with my gen right carrier as in rattling from up and down movement. In case ,for future reference, my fix was a couple of stiff springs. Slide them on the pins and then insert the pin into the hinge. The upward force from the springs keeps them tight and fixed my rattle.


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