ACE Standalone Tire Carrier Tips

[wibornz]

Thanks!

I have had it on my JLUR for about two years with zero issues. The cool thing about the plate holder is you can adjust how far the plate is in or out of the rear tire. I push mine out so that I do not see the rim.

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[niJL]

For those of you interested. Attached is a full install guide for the Ace JL Stand Along Tire Carrier. Ace hasn't put it on their site yet, but it should be up soon.

I did this install back in February and as some have mentioned, a few parts have changed. A number of them changed due to the guide that I created. That is in part why this has taken a while to be released. Ace was great at taking feedback, making modifications, and sending new parts to me.

SEE ATTACHED PDF.

It's a great tire carrier and I hope this helps some of you.

FYI...I modified my tire carrier later to allow for the stock backup camera to be used. If anyone is interested, let me know and I will send you the quick and dirty version until I have time to make a full addendum to the original guide.

I just ordered this carrier, can you shoot those instructions over for the factory camera if you still have them?

 

[jcole4020]

I installed my ACE Standalone Tire Carrier last week and I thought I would write up a few tips:

First, watch a ton of videos. Watch them multiple times. Not only the ACE video, but watch other videos about installs of other tire carriers. What frustrated me was all of the steps that ACE skipped in their video. They don't cover removal of the interior panel you need to remove to get to the hinges. They don't cover the removal (or reattachment, for that matter) of the camera. They actually don't even tell you that you need a really tiny torx driver to remove the camera. You get to find that out after you already have things opened up.

Second, use shims to prop up the tailgate. I still had to tweak the alignment of the tailgate /down/, because there was now less weight on it and it was hitting the striker too high. Even still, the shims meant these tweaks were small rather than significant.

Third, keep the body hinge bolts only slightly tight until you get the carrier connected to the new hinges. There's a little bit of movement that you need in order to get the carrier lined up and mounted. The tolerances are so tight and those body bolts are really the only adjustment available.

Fourth, the heim joint is my nemesis. It is what's unique about this tire carrier (as opposed to the panel approach of Motobilt and Evo), but I think I spent more time adjusting this joint than I did the tailgate. I also had the thing rattle loose entirely from one end on a road trip. The only thing holding the tire against the tailgate was the wiring for the brake light and camera. This was because I hadn't tightened down the jam nuts. I also realized that the tire tends to pull away a bit from the tailgate when you have the tailgate wide open. You'll want to close the tailgate and adjust the heim joint this way, rather than with the tailgate fully open. This cut down on the rattle induced by the tire moving towards and away from the tailgate ever so slightly.

Fifth, have a lot of time on your hands or a friend to help. I think all told this took me seven hours and was certainly the most involved install I've done on the Jeep to date. With a friend, I probably could have easily cut two hours out of this, maybe even three.

Sixth, make sure you have a grease gun. They don't call this out explicitly at the beginning, but you will need it. I used plain ole heavy duty grease (from Lucas).

Overall, I'm really happy with the carrier. But be warned that it's a non-trivial install.

Here's a few videos that may be of help:

Hey man,

your post has really helped out on this install but I am still having an issue. The heim joint does not fit into the tailgate plate with the spacer. I have attached some pics to show what I mean. I have tried forcing it, prying it, pounding it and it just won’t pop in on top of that spacer. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

 

[mikej]

Hey man,

your post has really helped out on this install but I am still having an issue. The heim joint does not fit into the tailgate plate with the spacer. I have attached some pics to show what I mean. I have tried forcing it, prying it, pounding it and it just won’t pop in on top of that spacer. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Hi! Sorry it took so long to reply. Hopefully you’ve sorted it by now. I remember it taking quite some doing, but I managed to get mine in. There are two spacers and two ends of the turnbuckle, so try swapping things around in various combinations to make it fit. It will fit.

 

[JeepinJason33]

You might also need to stick a crow bar in there and create a bit more clearance as a last resort. With a rag on either side you should not damage the finish. Also to the above poster, how long did it take for the rust to show up on your turnbuckle? I am less prone to rust here in Denver, but that still worries me a bit.

 

[mikej]

You might also need to stick a crow bar in there and create a bit more clearance as a last resort. With a rag on either side you should not damage the finish. Also to the above poster, how long did it take for the rust to show up on your turnbuckle? I am less prone to rust here in Denver, but that still worries me a bit.

It's been on there for about two years. Our rust issues here in the SF Bay Area aren't too bad, but I'd say it's had some amount of rust on it for a year. I'm not too worried about it, since it's surface rust. The bearing still works just fine.

 

[jcole4020]

Hi! Sorry it took so long to reply. Hopefully you’ve sorted it by now. I remember it taking quite some doing, but I managed to get mine in. There are two spacers and two ends of the turnbuckle, so try swapping things around in various combinations to make it fit. It will fit.

Thanks! Yeah, it took some muscle and a mallet so it eventually went in. I feel like there should have been an easier way to attach these pieces, but hey, I'm no professional!

 

[jcole4020]

You might also need to stick a crow bar in there and create a bit more clearance as a last resort. With a rag on either side you should not damage the finish. Also to the above poster, how long did it take for the rust to show up on your turnbuckle? I am less prone to rust here in Denver, but that still worries me a bit.

Exactly what I had to do. Include a mallet and some elbow grease, and it finally popped in.

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