The spare on the tailgate is always in the way and heavy on the tailgate for every day driving. I like to carry the spare separate when off-roading anyway so no issue there. The overall simple look, quality, and ease of install is good. However, I got the pod light w/the kit and there's some modification that needs to be done for it to be clean and complicates the install along w/the mounting plate issue. Let me explain...On the bronco there's a slight curve in the tailgate so for the mounting plate to be tight at the edges you need to slightly bend or over bend the plate right where the holes are punched so when you tighten it lays flat. Otherwise there's a gap at the left and right edges. The plate is thin and the gasket is thick so if you over tighten the bolts it compresses the gasket where the bolts are and flares the edges out. I think the mounting plate needs to be a bit thicker and factory bent at the hole locations. The pod light was more difficult. There's no notch in the cover or hole in the mounting plate to run the wiring and the pod light has a factory connector on the harness that I didn't want to cut off. Also, there's really no instructions for this step. Not sure but for the pod mount, I used the part that I think is supposed to be for the blank, but I wanted to use the threaded post to mount the light to so I'm assuming this is meant to be flipped. I also turned the light over so the wire could press fit behind the mount. Then I used a tapered rotary file to grind out the back of the cover for the wire, this was tedious work since you don't want to have the wire wear or cut into the cover but also seal. I happen to have specialty tools others may not have. Then there's power and function, bring it from the reverse light or from the aux wire location in the quarter panel. From what I read the tie in is opposite the tailgate hinge but there's got to be a way since they're on both sides. I chose to tie it in w/the rear bumper lights that are from the aux switches but I wanted to have the option to turn it on/off manually so i just used a toggle switch that was left over from the squadron pods and wired it into the tailgate shelf directly in front of the large oval hole directly behind. Note any toggle switch would work. I've included pics of the final result...
