mikej
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Mike
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2018
- Threads
- 27
- Messages
- 759
- Reaction score
- 1,026
- Location
- SF Bay, California
- Vehicle(s)
- 2018 JLUR
- Thread starter
- #1
In my (seemingly) never-ending pursuit to have a larger than stock spare with working backup sensors, I tried the ACE spare tire riser kit. I had previously tried the Go Rhino, but it vibrated over bumps which made me nervous. I figured that something that didn't move the spare as much would have less vibration to it, hence the ACE.
It's worth nothing that the kit didn't come with any instructions. While this may not seem like a big deal, is is possible to install things backwards and then not be able to attach the tire carrier.
The hardware itself is quite impressive with some serious grade 8 bolts. The problem I ran into is that the top outermost bolt holes on the stock carrier are smaller than the other six holes. I have no idea why this is, but it meant that the bolts that ACE ships don't fit. Either my Jeep is an anomaly, or this kit cannot work for any JL. This was highly frustrating to run into mid install and if it's not just that my Jeep is weird, I don't see how this made it past QA. If anyone out there does decide to install this kit, I'd recommend having a couple of 5/16" x 1 1/4" bolts nearby (along with the nut of course -- you can reuse the washers from the ACE kit).
Of course it went on easily (I've now done several of these installs) with the biggest PITA being the 125lb spare heavylift. Once on, I don't notice the same vibrations I got with the Go Rhino relocation kit, and I'm happy that the ACE kit is a lot lighter. From a pure relocation kit, it's quite solid and I'm happy with that.
However, my backup sensors still have ghosts. Not as bad as when the tire is in the stock location, but I still don't have working backup sensors. At this point, I'm just going to get a new bumper with bumper mounted spare tire mount. This was always the long term plan, but I'm tired of chasing the ghosts.
A couple pictures:
It's worth nothing that the kit didn't come with any instructions. While this may not seem like a big deal, is is possible to install things backwards and then not be able to attach the tire carrier.
The hardware itself is quite impressive with some serious grade 8 bolts. The problem I ran into is that the top outermost bolt holes on the stock carrier are smaller than the other six holes. I have no idea why this is, but it meant that the bolts that ACE ships don't fit. Either my Jeep is an anomaly, or this kit cannot work for any JL. This was highly frustrating to run into mid install and if it's not just that my Jeep is weird, I don't see how this made it past QA. If anyone out there does decide to install this kit, I'd recommend having a couple of 5/16" x 1 1/4" bolts nearby (along with the nut of course -- you can reuse the washers from the ACE kit).
Of course it went on easily (I've now done several of these installs) with the biggest PITA being the 125lb spare heavylift. Once on, I don't notice the same vibrations I got with the Go Rhino relocation kit, and I'm happy that the ACE kit is a lot lighter. From a pure relocation kit, it's quite solid and I'm happy with that.
However, my backup sensors still have ghosts. Not as bad as when the tire is in the stock location, but I still don't have working backup sensors. At this point, I'm just going to get a new bumper with bumper mounted spare tire mount. This was always the long term plan, but I'm tired of chasing the ghosts.
A couple pictures:
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