Rugged Ridge 11585.01 Textured Black Heavy Duty Tire Carrier Mount for Jeep Wrangler 1987-2006

• Heavy duty 1/4-inch plate steel construction
• Durable black powder coat finish
• Easy installation
• Maximum tire size is 35 inches
• Fits 87-06 Wrangler YJ and TJ

This is a rugged mount since you can't beat the strength of 1/4" steel, but keep in mind this adds more weight to an already overloaded tailgate with an oversized tire. As others have said the lug bolts are 12mm metric and Jeep lug nuts will not fit. You can buy 1/2 x 20 bolts in grade 5 for a few bucks each and re-thread the carrier bolt holes, or just drill out the threads shove the bolts through and tack weld so they don't spin. Aside from this hassle, my other complaint is that this carrier does NOT raise the tire higher than the stock mount, but rather to clear the bumper it pushes it out and away, so consequently it clears horizontally but not vertically (the bottom of the tire still hangs below the top of the bumper). Aside from potential interference with some cargo carriers this protruding mount causes leverage on the tailgate multiplying stress. The tire being extended also doesn't rest on the tailgate factory tire pads so the tire will torque around when driving over bumps and rough ground. I'm so disappointed in this design, but I decided not to return it because no one has anything better unless you want to go with an expensive swing arm carrier. So, to make this thing work, I'm cutting up my stock one and this Rugged Ridge one and welding up a mount of my own creation that will seat the tire well above the bumper (but not out) so the tire rests on the rubber pads as it's suppose to. It may not look as swanky as the RR one, but who can see it behind your tire? At least it will work!

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This rack does function to allow the mounting of an oversize tire, but there were several things I thought were poor:
- The lug studs are 12mm not the 1/2"-20 on the axles. They do supply the proper size metric lugnuts that are meant to look the same, but they are not interchangeable if you are changing your tire and throw them in a pile
- The rack is fabrication-friendly in design, not finished-product friendly. The top surface is flat but the factory tire carrier is angled, so the third brake light (if used) sits at angle and looks terrible.
- Like previous reviews, the oversize tire mounts because it is being mounted further fromt he tailgate and does increase leverage on the gate hinges and mounting hardware. In a short time I had rattles...not because of the direct load but because the tire does not hit the factory tire supports and any bump causes the tire and rack to bounce. I can see it in the rear view mirror. I don't know what kind of reinforcement is in the tailgate design but I can't believe it will stand up to that fatigue over time.

I will say the black-wrinkled powdercoating is some of the best I've seen on aftermarket metal, but the hardware is cheap and is weathering quickly.

Take this item for what it is, a cheap means of mounting an oversize spare, and you probably won't be dissapointed. Expect anything else and you run the risk of being so...