[saharacon87]

Price	$279
Rating	3
Pros	One of the best looking bumper/tire carriers on the market.
Cons	Looks aren't everything. Holes don't line up. Hardware is terrible. Inconsistent craftsmanship. Simple and Defective.
Recommended	no

Comments: Dont expect everything to line up and don't expect an easy install. I bought the bumper and the install wasn't that bad. Had to buy new hardware, grind a little here and drill a little there but I got it on. My friend got the same bumper and the install was a horror story. He bolted it on using the factory hardware and broke d*** near every bolt. Then he went to mount the tire carrier and the shaft that the tire carrier slides onto was crooked so it wouldn't line up to the latch. :thumbdown: Hit or miss product. Do you feel lucky punk?

 

[TJDaveC]

Price	$300
Rating	4
Pros	It's sturdy and looks great
Cons	Latch
Recommended	yes

Comments: I have had this bumper/tire carrier for over a year now. It holds up well and looks great. It has been holding a 33"/1250" with no real problems. I even use the hitch on it to tow a very heavy 6'x8' trailer with various things in it including a motorcycle. And that is without installing all of the bolts that come with it. Two of the bolts that come with it require you to drop the gas tank and drill holes through the rear of your frame. I didn't do that part. Still towes the trailer with no problems.

My only complaint is the latch design. It rattles a lot and doesn't hold very well. On one occasion I hit a bump in the road and the latch bounced over the lip on the bumper and the carrier swung open while driving down the road. No damage done, just scared the **** out of me. If this bumper had a descent latch I wouldn't have any complaints at all. :thumbsup:

 

[phantom01231]

Price	$350
Pros	looks ok
Cons	tire carrier rattles like hell, hard to install.
Recommended	no

Comments: Got one a few months ago. PITA to install. The bumber looks good though. Instructions are crap. The tire carrier rattles all the time! The way it mounts to the Frame makes me kinda uneasy. The bolts screw into the bumper from the other side of the frame instead of the bolts being welded to the bumber and being bolted on from the other side like the stock bumber. Not sure about this thing. Will deff be doing some mods to it to add strength.

 

[bmosing]

Price	$350
Pros	Decent bumper for the price, swing out tire carrier is nice.
Cons	tire carrier rattles a bit
Recommended	yes

Comments: For the money, it is not a bad bumper. Smittybilt has a pretty bad reputation among jeepers though. I fixed my tire carrier rattling by using a bungee strap around the latch. It's better than having a 33" tire on the rear tail gate

 

[octoberfest]

Price	$125
Rating	3
Pros	Receiver and D rings
Cons	To be determined
Recommended	yes

Comments: This is just the bumper without the tire carrier. The paperwork says its class IV rated, not so sure about that but its still cheaper than buying a separate receiver and will hold all my jeep will pull. The holes all lined up fine but the back plates that came with it needed to be shaved down a little. All in all, for the money you spend on one you can't complain.

 

[Lowandslow]

Price	$300
Rating	5
Pros	Looks Good at a Great Price
Cons	Strenthgen Brackets need to be grinded down.
Recommended	yes

Comments: Besides it being in the 30s outside the install went relatively easy. From start to finish took 3 hours with 2 people. Only issue we came across was that the strengthening brackets were oversized and needed to be ground. Overall the bumper looks great and works as intended. Also provides great clearance. I would recommend this to bumper to a friend.

 

[jrayzhunter]

Price	$350
Pros	Tough, looks good, easy installation
Cons	Heavy and rattles
Recommended	yes

Comments: It is sturdy and tough. It can withstand quite a pounding on the trails. It looks great in the back of any jeep. The spare is in a great place for easy access and easy to take off or tighten if necessary.

If the bolts are not on good the tire does have a tendency to be shook loose but because of how it's secured its not going to fall off.

 

[Red_Rubicon]

Price	$320
Pros	Well built and heavy duty.
Cons	Grease fitting gets in the way of the rear tail gate, limited opening. Template was off so holes needed to be re done
Recommended	yes

Comments: Like I said above. Good for the price.

 

[EJ018451]

Price	$1
Pros	it allows me to carry a larger tires
Cons	makes a lot of noise
Recommended	yes

Comments: The carrier is a decent peace of a budget but in the future i will be cutting it off and doing some thing different

 

[chappytx]

Price	$370
Pros	Clean design.
Cons	Where the mount for the spare tire is welded to the bumper has cracked and had to weld it back together.
Recommended	no

Comments: Clean design but has cracked on me and rattles a little as it wears.

 

[noise_maker]

Price	$189
Rating	4
Pros	drings, receiver, very stout bumper, clear and easy to follow install instructions (although process sucks)
Cons	huge PIA to install.
Recommended	yes

Comments: Had mine on my jeep for 2 years with a 33 with no problems. Once you adjust it properly it doesn't rattle but you do need to push it against the snubber pretty good to open it.

I Just installed another one for a buddy yesterday and had forgotten how much of a PIA the install is. Its straight forward process and the supplied drill template makes locating where you need to drill for the inner bolts easy. Installing those inner bolts sucks donkey balls though

To install the inner set of bolts you either need to pull the drive side body bolts jack up the tub on the driver side about 2"s and borrow a small handed person to start the bolts or drop the gas tank and follow their instructions.

Given both times I did this install the jeeps had a near full tank of gas on both occasions I just lifted the tub.

Short of those driver side bolts you can do the install by yourself without too much issue. The passenger side are a pain too but are significantly easier then the driver side and can be accomplished without getting creative

 

[djfred]

Price	$200
Pros	Looks Heavy Duty, Clean Paint.
Cons	PITA to install by self and specially for the inner set of bolts, Latch hard to open.
Recommended	yes

Comments: Just installed it so no complaints yet, will report any issues later on . Get a friend or a neighbor to help you quickly hold it up while you screw the outside bolts. The inner bolts are PITA to install. I did not drop my tank and yet have not installed the inner bolts. Also the lower two frame mounts do not line up correctly will have to fix this later on. Have not driven the car yet to make comment on noise. The Latch is a bit hard to open up.
(Installed Spare 35x12.50x15 BFG Mud Terrain on YJ)

 

[lazywhiteguy]

Price	$170
Pros	price.
Cons	holes didn't line up, swing away was bent, powder coating is not good.
Recommended	no

Comments: only buy if you are willing to modify the bumper to fit and fix factory defects.

 

[smith0200]

Price	$700
Pros	solid
Cons	not made in USA
Recommended	yes

Comments: solid built.

 

[FDLB1]

Price	$300
Pros	Relieves stress on rear tailgate, relatively cheap
Cons	latch rattles
Recommended	yes

Comments: Overall, the bumper is well built. Its very solid and protective. My only con is that the latch is poorly designed. The reciever for the latch is too big for the latch which causes a terrible rattle. The bumper rattled so much that the latch handle rattled right off of the latch. I had to replace with a bolt.

 

[brianfulcher15]

Price	$370
Pros	feels strong
Cons	fitment issues, had to cut and weld bottom brackets to fit. rattles
Recommended	no

Comments: I would recommend going a different route if you want an out of the box part. that fits perfect. price is to high for a part that needs mods to fit perfect

 

[Rubi2]

Price	$179
Pros	Like the front bumper, it looks fantastic and is made of incredibly strong steel. The tire carrier goes on flawlessly when installing.
Cons	In the instructions (for a TJ) it requires drilling, that is impossible without having to take off the gas tank. You can ignore it (like I did) and wind up completely fine, but if you're one to really follow directions, you might want to reconsider.
Recommended	yes

Comments: Like the front bumper, it looks fantastic and is made of incredibly strong steel. The tire carrier goes on flawlessly when installing. Cheap too!

 

[Davvid_Tj2003]

Price	$370
Pros	Great Look, Extremely durable
Cons	Latch
Recommended	yes

Comments: Great Product, Has saved my car from a few light accidents and rocks. Only downfall is with a bigger tire and gas can mounted it must be lifted up to latch correctly

 

[lecharbon]

Price	$380
Pros	Inexpensive. functional. Solid folded steel box construction.
Cons	Inside mount bolts, grease nipple height.
Recommended	yes

Comments: I was winched up backwards in the mud, by one shackle, even though the inside mount bolts were not installed. The hill was about 60 feet at a 45 degree angle and my jeep was positioned 90 degrees to it. We hooked one side to it only to get a spin going to turn it around and pulled it up. Of course once we got to better ground the jeep helped backing up, but initially, it took a lot of force to pull it out. The bumper shows no sign of stress or pulling out.
The inside were left off as you have to drop the tank, surprisingly the bumper held fast during winching.
The grease nipple was a little high and door mount shaved the very top off, no big deal though as it still works.
Installation was very quick otherwise with the tire carrier solid enough. I am mounting a 31" BFG on it now,with no issues.