Hello, I have been a long-time follower of Wrangler Forum, and when I saw this thread finally decided to join.
First off, I want to let you know that I work at Rugged Ridge as a New Product Development Engineer. I was the principal Engineer for Spartacus Hinge and Tire Carrier, and I have a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and pride in these products. Since its’ 'official' release, I have been regularly searching the web for the first consumer reviews, which is how I eventually found this thread.
I would like to share some of the details of Spartacus Hinge/Tire Carrier, and hopefully answer some questions. I want to make clear that I will not speak negatively about any competitor products, nor will I try to persuade anyone towards ours. I simply want to share some of the product details.
The Technical Stuff:
We have well over a year invested in the development of this product; from concept, through manufacturing, quality control, and most importantly, safety. During the initial development phase, we did examine similar products for reference. As for the Aluminum Hinge Casting, it is about 1.25” nominal thickness, very similar to other products. The Hinge Brackets, as well as the Hinge Pins, are hardened forged steel. We spent many months working with the factory to ensure material quality, precision, and function of all components. The Hinge has oil-impregnated bronze sleeve bearings pressed into the aluminum casting to ensure smooth opening/closing of the tailgate, and to prevent wear and corrosion of the hinge pins/casting. The bronze bearings are reamed to 1/1000th of an inch of the hinge pins to prevent rattling or loose fit. Each Hinge Casting is individually inspected for cosmetics and quality by our QC department as soon as they arrive at the warehouse.
For the Tire Carrier portion, it is made of ¼-inch thick steel, and has undergone extensive testing to assure the design will not fail for up to a 37” Wheel/Tire combo. We had samples lab-tested by ETL Laboratories for accelerated-life-testing, according to Mil-Spec 810 Standards for off-road use. Basically, this means the Tire Carrier was mounted to a shake table, loaded with a 37” tire, plus roughly 150lbs of steel cable wrapped around the tire. It was then shaken violently for many hours to simulate extended off-road use. (Also, one of the units that was lab-tested was later installed on an employee Jeep for several months, during which time it also survived a rear-end collision by another vehicle). As the lead engineer for this project, safety was my first concern.
The Overview:
This is a product which I am proud to have been a part of developing. The quality standards of our Engineering team are very high. We have approximately 6-8 Company Jeep Vehicles that have had the Spartacus Hinge/Tire Carrier for well over a year without issue, and we feel our product is second to none.
Please feel free to ask any questions you have, and I will be happy to reply promptly. I really hope this helps shed some light on this product.
Happy Trails, and stay safe!