Defender Roof Rack update

[1USMC]

I'd say that'd still hold true if I hand carried it to Texas for you!

... Yup ...


P.S. You can use that as an option now if you find out you need to catch up on some sleep.

[1USMC]

.
Lets see where was I at the last update ????

Oh ya .... FINALLY arrived ... then the missing parts .. will be sent out ASAP by Smittybilt and when I get home the next time its all ready to go .... you all know better !!!

Need a snack or cold drink..nows the time.

So.... after working with a great Smittybilt representative on the phone, trying to figure out the missing pieces and their names and promising me he would send them out ASAP... I finally arrive home ( 3 weeks later .. another story LOL) and looked around in a large pile of mail and a few boxes my wife had stacked for me. I did not find a box from SB.

So I called them back up an spoke to one of their reps, MIKE.

I explained ( briefly) my very very very very very long history of this order and the previous reps promise to send the missing parts. MIKE said their was no record of my previous call and he would need all the order numbers and previous correspondence and preferably photos before he could consider sending out a couple of dollars worth of missing parts ( out of a $600 order) THEY failed to send correctly in the first place !!

I told him about how the previous rep had even taken the time to pull one of the "kits"of his shelf and was looking at the parts and instructions along with me. Mike said that I had probably called some other vendor by mistake and had a conversation with the wrong company !!!

He was rude and condescending on the phone and treated me like I was some sort of con-man and trying to scam them. Thats why the burden to legitimize my problem to him was all on my shoulders !!!

End of conversation.... but not the story if you are familiar with my " Defender Roof Rack " journey LOL.....

My wife had placed a couple of small boxes in a place I had not seen.... and YES a box from Smittybuilt !!! Yaaa it finally over.!!!. now all I need is to find the time to mount it and my lights !!!!

Oh come on.... you all know better by now ;-)

The box had a small ziplock bag with a few lock and flat washers in them... very good if they where the missing pieces !!!! But and yes .. they where NOT.

Some of pieces I was missing are part of a two piece "clamp" that sort of sandwiches around the rail and when tightened clamps the rack mount to the rail. Unfortunately the top piece of the two are labeled in the instructions as " flat washers". They are about 3X2" and square sided with two sides curved down to better clamp the top of the rail.

Are we having fun yet !!!

Now I went back and looked up my phone history and found my first phone call to THEIR company. The box even had the same phone number on it and was sent out a few days later after my first call. ( the first rep really did go out of his way to help me and I must make that known to be fair).

Now I have sent a very long e-mail to MIKE at SB with a photo of the kit all laid out. I told him ( among a lot of other things) that since he has such a good handle on everything , he can figure out what pieces I am missing so there will not be any future misunderstandings in the future !

So I guess I will now be in the market for another roof rack as he will probable never reply. ( emoticon > smiley face , but with fire shooting out behind it ).

Stay tuned.... I will start getting my kid up to speed on this journey so she can continue updating my thread for me after I am long gone . LOL

;-(


Oh almost forgot..... remember the $50 credit from 4Wheel Parts I was promised if I keep my order for the rack.

After I received the rack I called them as had been waiting for a while to order something I wanted to get for the Jeep and had been waiting for the credit . Guess what.. yup >> what credit they said !! I politely explained that a little over a year ago they said and shortly there after they confirmed etc etc etc etc.... and I said etc etc and they said etc etc.......

OK, I did upon return from work, have a credit card from 4WP but ... wait for it... $25 dollars ... Why am I so jinx'd on this order ???

Another round of phone calls and crying and begging and ..... OK they upped it to originally promised $50.

Mmm now I wonder if I could just weld the rack on .....

[Matt]

This is absolutely unreal man......

[1USMC]

Matt > Oh and I and think you read it before I remembered to add the 4WheelParts story at the end.. LOL..;-)(

[pjmjr508]

Your way to nice man, I would have yanked my order so long ago.

[1USMC]

Well approximately a week after I sent Mike my "nice" E-mail..... he sent me another hardware box # DS24-6.

Today I had a few minutes to lay it out and see if I finally had all the correct pieces...

The parts list six base plates.... and they show, in the diagram below and parts list 12 "flat washers " two for each base plate, they are used over the top of and sandwich the factory rail between the base plate and the flat washers. It also shows in the diagram and in the parts list Phillips screws to clamp the two together.

Well my first kit did not have any Phillips screws or any flat washers as depicted in the diagram. They did have 1" bolts to clamp the two pieces together and only 6 flat squarish washers with two curved edges. The 6 washers and bolts vs. screws appear to be a better design than in the diagram. BUT there was only 6 vs. 12 . Even the first company rep said there should be 12.

Interesting the " new " box also only had 6 and did not have any bolts to secure the 3 rack pieces together. So between the two boxes... I FINALLY have the rack and all the parts !!!!!!!

Now I'm going to try and find some time and see if I can get it installed.




I'd love to install the light bar at the top of this photo on my baby..... but it goes on one of our new ( to our Department ) vehicles.

It was over 100 today and after laying it out, I worked for an hour on just one light clamp.... it's going to take a while...but at least I'm finally in control of the install after a year and 1/2 LOL...









Oh and darn... my Defender plates " fell " off also.....

[Matt]

I really want to see you blow this thing up on a bombing range or something....