CavFab Installation Experience

[Jackalope]

There are plenty of videos and forums with content from well-intentioned DIY’ers on how to install the CavFab Tire Carrier – this adds to that body of knowledge.

This is my experience which I’m hoping will act as a public service announcement for those who may encounter a few bumps along the installation highway.

Our first problem was the absence of an installation guide. CavFab does not provide installation guidance, limitations, and warnings to customers. Not to mention there was no packing slip included with my order to confirm part numbers, pieces, and assemblies.

Our second problem was misalignment of the tailgate with the striker plate due to incorrect geometry at the replacement hinge plate. Once the two original OEM hinges are removed to install their custom hinge plate our tailgate was thrown way out of alignment and would not latch correctly.

The solution here is to have a supply of washers (beforehand) of varying thicknesses at your disposal to act as shims. Place the right combination (lots of trial and error) on to the bolts between the hinge plate and car body to manipulate the angle of the door to achieve correct closure and with even seams.

Our third problem appeared near the completion of the installation when I went to install my 315 KO2’s mounted to my 2019 Rubicon stock OEM wheels. What a surprise to learn there isn’t sufficient off-set in the CavFab tire carrier to accommodate my stock RUBI wheels with this tire configuration. Disappointed our installation was now dead in the water.

Our solution was to fabricate and install two spacer bars mounted between the two thick steel plates. Mine are made from 7 x 1-1/2-inch carbon steel square stock primed and painted. I purchased replacement hardware using a set of: 4, 3-1/2 x 1/2 inch bolts, washers and locking nuts. (Illustration below is our mock-up for test fitting).

Our fourth problem became clear as we were repurposing the rear camera into the new holder – the camera will eventually fail. As you can see from the below picture, the associated optical cabling and camera is completely unprotected from the elements.

The manufacturer could easily have provided an inexpensive wire loom and rubber boot to help protect the rearview camera setup.

Should I ever need to remove the spare, I realized a near complete disassembly of the license plate and camera assembly will first be necessary. I best be sure I have all the tools I need to remove the assembly.

It took the two of us (and you need two people) about 20 hours of labor to completely install the CavFab tire carrier on to my Rubicon, start-to-finish. We elected to begin installation over the weekend when CavFab tech support was not available.

The CavFab Tire Carrier is well engineered with very good welds and I’m sure will work well for its intended purpose. Nonetheless, CavFab could easily offer different sized spacer kit sets for users with common tire/wheel combinations and add the rearview camera boot kit as well.

It reflects poorly on the manufacturer when the source of record for such an expensive piece of gear is the universe of DIY YouTube videos, web page forum postings and trial-and-error learning.

Installation time could have been greatly reduced with the addition of a thoughtful installation guide and a few added parts.

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[JEEP4U]

That design looks horrible.............and heavy.

 

[72Blazer]

I can agree with a lot of this. I was initially sent a poorly manufactured kit at the hinge side to the point I ended up ruining the metal brackets. Jeep was down for a total of two weeks before I receive a replacement. @CavFab_mfg did good on getting me a replacement asap. But that also meant buying more raptor liner and painting a whole new carrier.

i also had the spacer issue, but for anyone experiencing that problem, I was able to grab several machined steel pieces that fit just right with my stick wheels. I purchased these locally at Lowe’s.

I also covered all my wiring (camera, license plate light, third brake light) with braided wire loom for extra protection. I also made any connections with quick disconnects for easier spare removal.

Probably the best video I could find at the time of install:

 

[72Blazer]

That design looks horrible.............and heavy.

design is decent. Is it the best? No. But why am I going to pay $1400 for a Teraflex carrier? How many times am I going to remove the spare to justify the cost difference? In all honesty, I just removed my Teraflex tire carrier to replace with the full CavFab tire carrier and the Teraflex wasn’t the fastest and still required tools to remove. Heavy? Which carrier isn’t? I guess for most females or girly men, it would be considered heavy. I did the install on my previous JL on my own.

 

[JEEP4U]

design is decent. Is it the best? No. But why am I going to pay $1400 for a Teraflex carrier? How many times am I going to remove the spare to justify the cost difference? In all honesty, I just removed my Teraflex tire carrier to replace with the full CavFab tire carrier and the Teraflex wasn’t the fastest and still required tools to remove. Heavy? Which carrier isn’t? I guess for most females or girly men, it would be considered heavy. I did the install on my previous JL on my own.

Under Cover Fabworks makes a lighter version...........Its been holding up my 40" -119 lb wheel /tire combo just fine for thast last three years.........However, I modified it with a different wheel plate to accomodate an 8 lug wheel.

 

[72Blazer]

Under Cover Fabworks

price? I’d like to see a better picture of where it mounts from the hinge to the plate?

Aesthetically that looks like crap to me, but maybe I’m not looking at a finished product. ?? Also, what is the point of your pictures? That it’s lighter? I do like the reinforced backing plate that sandwiches the tailgate.

 

[jhackathorne]

price? I’d like to see a better picture of where it mounts from the hinge to the plate?

Aesthetically that looks like crap to me, but maybe I’m not looking at a finished product. ?? Also, what is the point of your pictures? That it’s lighter? I do like the reinforced backing plate that sandwiches the tailgate.

Oy... out of curiosity I went to see if I could tell and it looks like that total costs well over 1k with all the parts sold like a Lego kit.

https://undercoverfab.com/jeep-jl-j...outer-tire-carrier-reinforcement-bracket.html

 

[72Blazer]

Oy... out of curiosity I went to see if I could tell and it looks like that total costs well over 1k with all the parts sold like a Lego kit.

https://undercoverfab.com/jeep-jl-j...outer-tire-carrier-reinforcement-bracket.html

wow. Yeah looks to be close to $1400 mark plus shipping and paint plus the wire covering issue the OP reported still needs to be addressed. Again apples to oranges. Yeah it’s aluminum, but that’s a hefty tag.

lego pieces!!

 

[Jackalope]

I can agree with a lot of this. I was initially sent a poorly manufactured kit at the hinge side to the point I ended up ruining the metal brackets. Jeep was down for a total of two weeks before I receive a replacement. @CavFab_mfg did good on getting me a replacement asap. But that also meant buying more raptor liner and painting a whole new carrier.

i also had the spacer issue, but for anyone experiencing that problem, I was able to grab several machined steel pieces that fit just right with my stick wheels. I purchased these locally at Lowe’s.

I also covered all my wiring (camera, license plate light, third brake light) with braided wire loom for extra protection. I also made any connections with quick disconnects for easier spare removal.

Probably the best video I could find at the time of install:

72Blazer - thanks for sharing your experience. Sorry to learn about the hinge issue.
I'll have to look in to "stick wheels" at Lowe's - never heard of them before.

On your quick disconnects - I was concerned about cutting the cable to the camera as I thought it might be an optical cable. Can you share with me which disconnects you selected? I was thinking of the loom for the wire only but I guess it its large enough I could cover the camera.

For goodness sake why don't they offer a powder coat version as well?

 

[72Blazer]

72Blazer - thanks for sharing your experience. Sorry to learn about the hinge issue.
I'll have to look in to "stick wheels" at Lowe's - never heard of them before.

On your quick disconnects - I was concerned about cutting the cable to the camera as I thought it might be an optical cable. Can you share with me which disconnects you selected? I was thinking of the loom for the wire only but I guess it its large enough I could cover the camera.

For goodness sake why don't they offer a powder coat version as well?

Sorry. I meant stock wheels. They’re steel machined pieces that I used as spacers at each bolt of the tire mount bracket to space out the wheel. For the camera I went with a longer cable that I ran thru the vent I believe. The license plate light and third brake light were set up on quick disconnects off Amazon. I took the spare off once with my previous setup and didn’t seem to take much longer than removing the Teraflex piece.

Agree on the powder coat finish option.

 

[Headbarcode]

My favorite thing about the Cavfab Elite is its strength within itself. Instead of relying on the tailgate as part of the lego structure, the Elite actually turns the tailgate into nothing more than a filler panel to keep thieves out of the cargo area.

Hate to hear of the above struggles. Mine went on without any issues. It took longer to extend the factory license plate light harness and route it into the cargo area to follow the other harnesses out to the spare. Total time to install the harness extension, Elite carrier, and Cavfabs Ultra Clearance rear bumper, was about 5 hours. And I was taking my time, so as to prevent having to double back.

 

[Jackalope]

My favorite thing about the Cavfab Elite is its strength within itself. Instead of relying on the tailgate as part of the lego structure, the Elite actually turns the tailgate into nothing more than a filler panel to keep thieves out of the cargo area.

Hate to hear of the above struggles. Mine went on without any issues. It took longer to extend the factory license plate light harness and route it into the cargo area to follow the other harnesses out to the spare. Total time to install the harness extension, Elite carrier, and Cavfabs Ultra Clearance rear bumper, was about 5 hours. And I was taking my time, so as to prevent having to double back.

Headbarcode - I agree with your comment of the strength inherent in this design and I'm so very happy to learn your installation was more "text book" than "rocky road" that I and others have experienced. You certainly have my admiration.

On the connectors, this will sound odd, but I simply turned the connectors around 180 degrees on the inside back tailgate panel and picked up about 3 inches of cable and that's all I needed for my stock Rubi wheel.

 

[[DELETED USER 82058]]

So what should a person choose? My wheel weighs 31 lbs and future tire weight will be 75 lbs. Mopar reinforcement isn’t going to do shit and next option for me would be the AEV rear bumper with swing out. Any advice?

 

[72Blazer]

So what should a person choose? My wheel weighs 31 lbs and future tire weight will be 75 lbs. Mopar reinforcement isn’t going to do shit and next option for me would be the AEV rear bumper with swing out. Any advice?

I think first and foremost, do you want to go thru the trouble of painting your own or want it to come powder coated already? I think answer that and go from there.

 

[Headbarcode]

So what should a person choose? My wheel weighs 31 lbs and future tire weight will be 75 lbs. Mopar reinforcement isn’t going to do shit and next option for me would be the AEV rear bumper with swing out. Any advice?

The top choices are Cavfab, Motobilt, Rusty's, and Teraflex.

I would only ever opt for a seperate hinged carrier and rear bumper. My thoughts and reasoning:

The rear bumper is hard mounted to the frame, whereas the body is soft mounted to the frame, via rubber isolators, to allow independent movement. When adding something that bridges 2 independently moving points, like a rear bumper mounted tire carrier that also attaches to the body, an extra level of stress is introduced. Not only does the single cantilevered pivot arm have to support the weight of the carrier and spare, it's also going to try to limit the body from moving on its rubber mounts. Inevitably, something has to give, and it will. It's just a matter of what gives first. That's why the only bumper mounted carriers that are quiet, are the ones that haven't been on the Jeep for too long. Again, just my thoughts.

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