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

[NTX Black Moab]

SB and a bunch of other companies are all owned by Transamerican Auto Parts, they own Polaris, 4Wheel Parts, ProComp, SB, G2 to name a few. So when you buying from 4Wheel Parts you pretty much buying from the source.

Fortunately, I have a 4WP parts down the road from me and since I'm good with SB QC, this works for me. IF I had issues, I can drive back and get the issue rectified fairly quickly. Thankfully, I've not had any issues.

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[Kennyj]

I just installed this tire carrier today and I must say I was impressed. Even the packaging was top notch. no issues with the camera tube.

 

[Greenbear]

I tired to order the tire carrier, but apparently Smittybilt has placed a hold on all sales of this product until further notice?

 

[NTX Black Moab]

https://www.4wheelparts.com/p/smittybilt-hd-pivot-tire-carrier-7743/_/R-DSBP-7743

I bought mine from 4 Wheel Parts (4WP). Do not see any notes regarding availability or otherwise.

 

[ElvisJL]

I tired to order the tire carrier, but apparently Smittybilt has placed a hold on all sales of this product until further notice?

I ordered mine from 4WP. They had 2 in the entire country at the time I ordered, had to ship it in from one of their stores in Ohio.

 

[BobK]

I just spent the time reading this entire thread and it was all very interesting. After a week of research on all/many of the tire carrier options I'm at a decision impasse. If Teraflex had their reinforced hinge kit available (Q1 2021 supposedly) I would get their tire carrier. That leaves me with the hard choice of this Smittybilt option or the Rusty's carrier.

In my case, I want a solid tire carrier with hinge replacement, an ability to install my license plate and a third brake light in the center of the spare tire AND I would like to have the camera not show the inside of the lower part of the spare wheel. That last item means that either camera tube needs to be longer than the stock one or it needs to be adjustable.

I see all the anguish over the longer camera tube and wonder if any of you that received the longer tube were able to successfully mount the camera properly and if that did away with the view of the lower inside of your wheel in the backup camera view screen.

 

[NTX Black Moab]

The tube may be longer, but the camera mount itself is fixed. The longer tube actually makes it more likely to show more of the bottom of the tube.

The longer tube I think is in older versions of this product. I got mine from 4 Wheel Parts and it was fresh inventory. Do other vendors still have older versions? Unknown, but it is highly unlikely that any of the major distributors will (4WP, Northridge 4x4 to name a couple).

There isn't a product that I know that has an adjustable camera housing. Near as I could tell from reading other threads on other products, the "view" is the same or pretty dang close to it.

 

[BobK]

Ugh. I don’t understand why this can’t be dealt with. Wasting a portion of the cameras view that could be eliminated with another inch of tube length is ridiculous.

 

[NTX Black Moab]

Ugh. I don’t understand why this can’t be dealt with. Wasting a portion of the cameras view that could be eliminated with another inch of tube length is ridiculous.

The mount for the camera itself is fixed. The tube length doesn't correct this. I know a couple of the solutions out there reuse the mount so there isn't a better solution.

 

[BobK]

The mount for the camera itself is fixed. The tube length doesn't correct this. I know a couple of the solutions out there reuse the mount so there isn't a better solution.

I watched the Teraflex video and see that you need to detach the camera from the OEM camera tube to install into their camera tube mount. I emailed them last night to ask about the camera view question and their reply was that this solution deals with the camera view issue.

Anyone already have the Teraflex solution to know for sure?

 

[NTX Black Moab]

I watched the Teraflex video and see that you need to detach the camera from the OEM camera tube to install into their camera tube mount. I emailed them last night to ask about the camera view question and their reply was that this solution deals with the camera view issue.

Anyone already have the Teraflex solution to know for sure?

There are a couple of Teraflex threads. You should check there. There isn't likely anyone with a Teraflex solution looking in this thread.

 

[Gdub]

I just spent the time reading this entire thread and it was all very interesting. After a week of research on all/many of the tire carrier options I'm at a decision impasse. If Teraflex had their reinforced hinge kit available (Q1 2021 supposedly) I would get their tire carrier. That leaves me with the hard choice of this Smittybilt option or the Rusty's carrier.

In my case, I want a solid tire carrier with hinge replacement, an ability to install my license plate and a third brake light in the center of the spare tire AND I would like to have the camera not show the inside of the lower part of the spare wheel. That last item means that either camera tube needs to be longer than the stock one or it needs to be adjustable.

I see all the anguish over the longer camera tube and wonder if any of you that received the longer tube were able to successfully mount the camera properly and if that did away with the view of the lower inside of your wheel in the backup camera view screen.

I was able to successfully mount the camera properly. It took returning the Shitty bilt product and going with Rusty’s. I am happy for those that this tire carrier worked out for, however this was the first and last time I buy shitty bilt.

 

[jjbpunkn]

I was able to successfully mount the camera properly. It took returning the Shitty bilt product and going with Rusty’s. I am happy for those that this tire carrier worked out for, however this was the first and last time I buy shitty bilt.

I just installed the SB HD Tire Carrier, with no problems at all. Camera tube was correct length and worked as well as stock which is not very good to begin with in my opinion. My only complaint is instructions sort of fell off at the end, brake light mount in particular. I have have owned SB parts in the past with no problems. SB is a middle of the road company, with all their stuff coming out of China, guess we get what we pay for. 4 Wheel Parts has same owner as SB, so basically same company. I have never had a complaint with 4 Wheel Parts.

Glad too hear you had good experience with Rusty's, I didn't choose them because of cutting and painting. But I didn't realize they were American made either or I would have chosen them. I'm trying too purchase American made as much as possible from now on. Good Luck with your purchase.

 

[blkhawk_jl]

Some updates. Picked up the camera frame from another Jeeper and got everything installed. Still need to finish electrical, but the installation is essentially done. There should be plenty of upward / forward adjustment to accommodate various tire sizes as well as wheel offsets.

Overall I am pleased with the look. Installation WAS straightforward, but as I indicated, instructions leave a lot to be desired. The instructions are NOT specific to this product and include a couple of other products as well and this is where the confusion will be.

I'll provide updates over the next couple of weeks on my thoughts for this product.

did you have any issues with alignment on the latch side once this was installed? I just threw mine on 2 days ago, everything lined up perfectly until I opened the tailgate. I get a small drop (assuming it’s tire weight) but it was my expectation that the carrier would eliminate any droop. I reinstalled it about 4 times, adjusting the hinges and the plate that mounts directly to the tailgate and no luck.

 

[NTX Black Moab]

did you have any issues with alignment on the latch side once this was installed? I just threw mine on 2 days ago, everything lined up perfectly until I opened the tailgate. I get a small drop (assuming it’s tire weight) but it was my expectation that the carrier would eliminate any droop. I reinstalled it about 4 times, adjusting the hinges and the plate that mounts directly to the tailgate and no luck.

The hinges have the nuts on the inside as well as the alignment bracket and those nuts in the rear tail light area. Between those two, assuming it is torqued correctly, is enough to keep the tailgate from flexing or drooping.

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