Smittybilt JL HD Pivot Tire Carrier (7743) - Install / Review / Comments

[ExitLeft]

Thanks bud. That seals it. This is getting sent back. I have nothing else to add except to avoid this kit and SB. Their customer service has been piss poor. I will follow up with the long version once I’ve cooled down.

Here’s mine vs OEM. I wonder what shipping will be to send this back to CJ Pony? It’s heavy.

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[Gdub]

Here’s mine vs OEM. I wonder what shipping will be to send this back to CJ Pony? It’s heavy.

If you don’t mind looking thru a tunnel you will be fine. My recommendation is return it, poor engineering.

 

[72Blazer]

Here’s mine vs OEM. I wonder what shipping will be to send this back to CJ Pony? It’s heavy.

They’re sending me a return label and covering the cost of the return after I explained in detail what had occurred. Looks like yours is off as well. I attempted to mess with the camera housing again last night but I just couldn’t get it to sit flush with the housing. Might not be a big deal for you.


A quick breakdown of the events:
last weekend I realized I was missing the push in plugs in step 6. Called SB 3/9 and spoke to Ricardo. I clarified with him 3 times to make sure he knew which plugs I was referring to. He acknowledged he indeed did, not even an apology at any point for the inconvenience, and gave me a 4-5 day shipping time. At this point I know the Jeep will be down for the remainder of the week until I get the plugs as I wasn’t about to reinstall all the panels and parts I had removed. The Jeep is not my daily driver but that is beside the point.

I begin to feel upset but what am I gonna do. My buddy ends up giving me a couple of various plugs he has laying around that do not match in appearance but I put my big boy pants on to start working on removing the camera from the factory mount. Once I get it off is when I start seeing the difference in the SB mount and I’m pretty sure it’s not going to work but I give SB the benefit of the doubt and call them 3/13 as soon as they open. I get on the phone with Shawn, ask him for detailed specs on the dimensions of the camera housing to compare to mine, he rambles a bit, then assured me I just need to press it in as far as possible, the mount was made longer to have room for larger tires, and that it’ll work. He does acknowledge that the camera needs to sit flush in the mount. As you can see in the pictures I’ve posted, that in no way is going to happen.

3/13 afternoon I receive the the push in plugs. ONE push in plug that looks nothing like the one pictured. I mess with it on the tailgate and there’s so much slop that it won’t be able to get used. Get back on the phone with SB and ask for Ricardo. At this point, I’m pissed but trying to maintain my cool. I ask him if he knew what parts I needed when we spoke Monday. He said yes. I then ask why he would only send me one instead of the two that are required. I can hear him getting on his computer and asks which part I needed. I tell him, step 6 of YOUR instructions ask for hardware pack push in plugs...he’s audibly confused. Finally he says oh yeah we won’t have any of those for a month. They’re on backorder. I lost it at this point and told him why didn’t he tell me that Monday and why was he sending the wrong parts. His response was he could get them to me in a month. No apology. When I mentioned I was just going to return the product he didn’t make any attempt to change my mind. So I guess this is how Smittybilt works. I ended the call at this point.

I figured the hell with it I’m just gonna install it using the push in plugs my buddy gave me even tho they don’t match. I was done though Once I saw Gdubi and ExitLeft post their pictures.

Thanks Smittybilt. Now I get to drive around with no reverse camera, no 3rd brake light, and no spare until I find someone else with a quality tire carrier. I hate to shit on NtX Black Moab’s thread as he seems to have had really good results with his, but I think it’s worth it for others to see my experience with their product. I was actually planning to buy some of their bumpers and winch. Not like they give a crap but there goes that.

 

[Gdub]

They’re sending me a return label and covering the cost of the return after I explained in detail what had occurred. Looks like yours is off as well. I attempted to mess with the camera housing again last night but I just couldn’t get it to sit flush with the housing. Might not be a big deal for you.


A quick breakdown of the events:
last weekend I realized I was missing the push in plugs in step 6. Called SB 3/9 and spoke to Ricardo. I clarified with him 3 times to make sure he knew which plugs I was referring to. He acknowledged he indeed did, not even an apology at any point for the inconvenience, and gave me a 4-5 day shipping time. At this point I know the Jeep will be down for the remainder of the week until I get the plugs as I wasn’t about to reinstall all the panels and parts I had removed. The Jeep is not my daily driver but that is beside the point.

I begin to feel upset but what am I gonna do. My buddy ends up giving me a couple of various plugs he has laying around that do not match in appearance but I put my big boy pants on to start working on removing the camera from the factory mount. Once I get it off is when I start seeing the difference in the SB mount and I’m pretty sure it’s not going to work but I give SB the benefit of the doubt and call them 3/13 as soon as they open. I get on the phone with Shawn, ask him for detailed specs on the dimensions of the camera housing to compare to mine, he rambles a bit, then assured me I just need to press it in as far as possible, the mount was made longer to have room for larger tires, and that it’ll work. He does acknowledge that the camera needs to sit flush in the mount. As you can see in the pictures I’ve posted, that in no way is going to happen.

3/13 afternoon I receive the the push in plugs. ONE push in plug that looks nothing like the one pictured. I mess with it on the tailgate and there’s so much slop that it won’t be able to get used. Get back on the phone with SB and ask for Ricardo. At this point, I’m pissed but trying to maintain my cool. I ask him if he knew what parts I needed when we spoke Monday. He said yes. I then ask why he would only send me one instead of the two that are required. I can hear him getting on his computer and asks which part I needed. I tell him, step 6 of YOUR instructions ask for hardware pack push in plugs...he’s audibly confused. Finally he says oh yeah we won’t have any of those for a month. They’re on backorder. I lost it at this point and told him why didn’t he tell me that Monday and why was he sending the wrong parts. His response was he could get them to me in a month. No apology. When I mentioned I was just going to return the product he didn’t make any attempt to change my mind. So I guess this is how Smittybilt works. I ended the call at this point.

I figured the hell with it I’m just gonna install it using the push in plugs my buddy gave me even tho they don’t match. I was done though Once I saw Gdubi and ExitLeft post their pictures.

Thanks Smittybilt. Now I get to drive around with no reverse camera, no 3rd brake light, and no spare until I find someone else with a quality tire carrier. I hate to shit on NtX Black Moab’s thread as he seems to have had really good results with his, but I think it’s worth it for others to see my experience with their product. I was actually planning to buy some of their bumpers and winch. Not like they give a crap but there goes that.

I ordered the Rustys last night. Made in america, has just as much adjustability as anyone on the market and has the internal gusset. A little more expensive than the shittybilt but have not been able to find a negative experience with it. I do intend to cut off the extension, there is a thread on here that a guy has already done that. Luckily for me my Jeep is not my daily. Everything you have done so far would need to be done for the Rustys, Evo, cabfab, and motobilt.

 

[ExitLeft]

I ordered the Rustys last night. Made in america, has just as much adjustability as anyone on the market and has the internal gusset. A little more expensive than the shittybilt but have not been able to find a negative experience with it. I do intend to cut off the extension, there is a thread on here that a guy has already done that. Luckily for me my Jeep is not my daily. Everything you have done so far would need to be done for the Rustys, Evo, cabfab, and motobilt.

I’m probably going the same route. On hold with CJ Pony Parts/Offroad now to request that they cover the return shipping due to the defect. 63 minute hold time...

 

[72Blazer]

I’m probably going the same route. On hold with CJ Pony Parts/Offroad now to request that they cover the return shipping due to the defect. 63 minute hold time...

Mine was a 93 minute hold time yesterday evening. I chose the call back option and expected a call back on Monday. Sure enough about 70 minutes later I got a call back.



I’m leaning towards the CavFab TC kit as I’m liking their full width rear bumper. May kill two birds with one stone.

 

[ExitLeft]

Mine was a 93 minute hold time yesterday evening. I chose the call back option and expected a call back on Monday. Sure enough about 70 minutes later I got a call back.



I’m leaning towards the CavFab TC kit as I’m liking their full width rear bumper. May kill two birds with one stone.

Yeah well, I opted for the call back. Recording said call you back in 47 minutes. Got an automated call back 70 minutes later and now I’m on hold with the call back for 15 minutes and no ones picked up yet. Love the customer service so far.
Oh, and I called smittybilt first and they’re not even open on the weekends.

 

[ExitLeft]

So my return experience wasn’t as good as @72Blazer
They wouldn’t cover the shipping despite me explaining the issue, I got the ol’ “we’ve been selling this for the past few years without issue” speech. After some talking to he suggested that I email him some pics of the issue, which I did, and then he’ll discuss it with Smittybilt some time next week, I’m not totally happy (yet), but I figured I’d let if play out seeing that I really don’t have a choice. I mentioned the others here on JLwranglerforums, but got no response. Here’s the pics I sent in. Now it’s wait and see if they’ll cover the return shipping. I’d even accept a replacement part if it was like the first post in this thread from @NTX Black Moab

 

[mudmonster]

Geez sorry to hear about any of you guys having issues with this, I’m fighting just to get mine delivered in the first place. Has anyone here had a positive experience with this carrier/not experienced any issues? I’m hoping it’s still a decent option as long as I don’t run into some of the issues recently described here. OP, you’re still happy with it and no issues with the camera install?

 

[72Blazer]

@ExitLeft that’s exactly how mine would look and fit. So what they said is you have to pay for shipping it back on your dime? That’s BS. They’re supposed to send me a shipping label Monday. See how that turns out.

 

[ExitLeft]

@ExitLeft that’s exactly how mine would look and fit. So what they said is you have to pay for shipping it back on your dime? That’s BS. They’re supposed to send me a shipping label Monday. See how that turns out.

well, @72Blazer i hope you get it all sorted out, do you know the name of the guy you dealt with at CJ? If so, maybe you could pm it to me? Thanks.

Thanks @mudmonster. Maybe yours will be an earlier kit.
I just went through the included hardware again thinking maybe there was some sort of small extension bracket to extend the camera on the oem mount to mate with the longer tube better, but no such bracket existed or was mentioned in the installation instructions.

 

[72Blazer]

I did not catch the females name. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was just a random answering service taking the calls.

 

[mudmonster]

@NTX Black Moab Can you confirm your camera fit fine and what may have changed or how?

 

[CUOFFRD]

Finished our install tonight. No real issues to report. Our camera fits well and flush. Not a fan of the factory third brake light but we’ll find a better option soon.

 

[ExitLeft]

Finished our install tonight. No real issues to report. Our camera fits well and flush. Not a fan of the factory third brake light but we’ll find a better option soon.

Looks great. Yeah, that camera definitely looks better than mine. I agree on the break light; it looks needlessly complicated.

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