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Review: Smittybuilt (2784) Awning

10K views 27 replies 10 participants last post by  Kjswa 
#1 · (Edited)
My expectations may of been too high. Let me start off with saying that this awning does everything an awning should do. It is "easy" to set up, it blocks the sun and the rain. I did how ever have a few issues, if you consider them issues.

First of all, no where does it say that a universal mounting kit comes with the awning. So I went out and bought stuff to mount it only to find out I didn't need them. Right when i opened the box it came in, I was a little surprised to see how slender the awning was. To some this may sound good, but the engineer in me thinks about everting else being smaller, like the material, aluminum and the bolts. So when I mounted the awning and rolled it out for the first time. I was a little disappointed in the thickness of the cloth. I was expecting a Sunbrella like material that the ARB and Foxwing awnings have. This is much thinner. About as thick as a nice heavy flannel shirt but that is waterproofed. My next issue was with the horizonal pins that attach to the vertical legs. The holes were not drilled out big enough for the pins to install, then I drilled them out a little and noticed that the pins do not go all the way through the arms. This creates an awkward torque on the pin that I was not comfortable with. SO I drilled them out all the way and I am MUCH more comfortable with the stress on those pins.

All said and done it is a nice awning for the price. I mean, you get what you pay for. Its no 100$ awning but its no 400$ awing ether. Im curious to see how long it last. Im expecting a few years of light to moderate use before the material breaks down in the South Carolina sun here.

UPDATE (16 June, 2016): I moved the pin and the tie down, now the pin goes through the outer most wholes and the tie down loop goes through the hole that I drilled. It is much more secure now and looks proper. Still skeptical about the thickness of the awning, but, alot of you have said that the ARBs are the same thickness. Maybe the ARB I came across on a friends vehicle was redone at some point. We shall see. Also I the narrower awning would fit much better on the X than my 8' wide one, but I went for the wider one for practically over looks being that I rather have more coverage.





 
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#7 ·
I have the ARB awning, I'm not sure I'd compare the awning material to Sunbrella though. It's a canvas/ripstop material as I recall - with a waterproofing. I'm not sure I'd want it made out of much heavier materials - wouldn't be as easy to deploy, especially by yourself. I did upgrade the stakes for attaching the cords, the originals were quite wimpy, especially for rocky ground.

edit: oh, and no universal mounts came with mine as I recall.
 
#8 ·
#12 · (Edited)
I thought about getting one a while ago. Did tons of research. The above is correct pretty much, although there are some other differences. For example ARB uses plastic joints while Smittybilt uses metal joints. (see pics below) I'll called ARB and asked about this. They suggested plastic is better because you want a little bit of flex. Not sure which is really better though. Also the end caps are different. They also have a different number of velcro straps to hold the top fabric to the side bars. The more velcro straps the better in the wind and support againt collapsing in under the weight of rain water or snow.

ARB:



Smittybilt:

 
#11 ·
...The holes were not drilled out big enough for the pins to install, then I drilled them out a little and noticed that the pins do not go all the way through the arms. This creates an awkward torque on the pin that I was not comfortable with. SO I drilled them out all the way and I am MUCH more comfortable with the stress on those pins.
I think that you are installing the side bars incorrectly, and that is why it didn't fit and you had to drill. ;) The Smittybilt photos show the pin on the side bars going into the hole in the aluminum channel (not the knuckle). (see Smittybilt pic below). The ARB and CVT also go into the channel the same as the Smittybilt pic below.

 
#23 ·
I bought exhaust hose clamps that matched the diameter of the roof rails and then drilled the extra hole. Works like a charm.
 

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#27 ·
I did something similar to sailercoin, but I got my dephep-style rack I had to deal with. Will be bedlining them at some point.

Two bolts going thru the flat bar and held in place with nuts. Muffler clamp part underneath roof rail, with twist-knob style nuts securing the muffler clamp up against the roof rail




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