Fed up with Smittybuilt

Hey guys,
Just wanted to let everyone know my experience with the Smittybuilt power tank mount. I loved the tank but their mount is terrible.

I went off roading a few months ago and this happened. It was mounted securely to the bed cage. So well that the straps wore through the tank and then broke.


Luckily the trail was mellow and it didn't destroy everything bed. This was only the second time I have ever used this mount!

This poor craftsmanship has lead to the tank being destroyed beyond it being refillable. ( it has only been filled once) After countless calls to Smittybuilt and coming to the conclusion that they just don't care, I thought I would let all you know my experience with them so you can avoid wasting your money on this mount.

Its no wonder that so many Jeep guys call their stuff "Shittybuilt".

Dam, I guess I am glad I paid a bit more for my powertank. Been on numerous off road runs with zero problems...

Does powertank have a better mount?

MatMan said:

Does powertank have a better mount?

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I will take a better pic of the mount. This is all I have right now.

I think Ironman started a thread on how to fix that particular problem with the bracket...

dataustin said:

I think Ironman started a thread on how to fix that particular problem with the bracket...

Click to expand...

Yup, here's the video...

I saw that very interesting, I wish Smittybuilt made them from the factory properly like this. This would have saved me the gashes when it broke.

Is there a video that fixes the turnbuckle latch system from breaking? That hardware snapped right off, and thought I put the tank through the bed of the truck.

ajstar89 said:

I saw that very interesting, I wish Smittybuilt made them from the factory properly like this. This would have saved me the gashes when it broke.

Is there a video that fixes the turnbuckle latch system from breaking? That hardware snapped right off, and thought I put the tank through the bed of the truck.

Click to expand...

Do you have any pics of the broken part?
I'm curious to see what happened.
I've put mine through hell and it's been holding up, just the gouging with the rivets that's been my problem.

I also did notice why they put the rivets the direction they did.
When you go to lock it with the rivets in the new direction I put them in the latch hits the rivet just slightly
but I took a grinding wheel and ground it down a bit, problem solved.
I also still placed some duct tape over the flat head of the rivets once I flipped them around just for good measure.
I plan on calling Smittybilt as well to discuss this problem cause it's a load of crap that they do it this way.

Same story with a winch I bought from them years ago. Buy once cry once I guess.