General Tech Ideas on increasing hitch cargo carrier height

Homefryy

Active Member
Location
Salt Lake City
I have a trip coming up on presidents day weekend where I am trying to figure out a way to get 4 people, an 80 pound dog and gear for 3 days of camping all in my XJ. I have a roof basket so that helps but am thinking I may also want to add a hitch mount cargo carrier. The issue with that is I don't want to destroy my departure angle.

I came up with an idea that I threw some models together for. Its pretty basic and lacks some detail but should get the point across. It is basically some tube welded together that would go into the existing receiver on the Jeep which is colored red in the below image). The welded together tube is green.

I think a design like this could get my receiver about 6" higher which seems like it would make a pretty good difference in departure angle. I haven't measured everything out yet but I may also be able to move the receiver forwarded slightly so the carrier doesn't stick out as far.

I would either have to pull my stock bumper off for this to work or cut a chunk of it out to make room for this. Hopefully I could leave enough there so the bumper still had some structural integrity. It might be best to just pull the bumper off when I want to mount this up for trips.

What do you guys think of this design? Do you think it could support potentially up to 500 pounds? I doubt I would put nearly that much weight on their but I know that is what most of the cargo carriers are rated for. I could add some gussets on the inside corners to add some strength if people think it is necessary but would like to keep things simple if I can.

Any other ideas or approaches that anybody thinks would be better? I know you can buy off the shelf hitch risers/adapters but every one that I have found in my research adds a lot of length to the receiver which pretty much defeats the purpose of what I am trying to do.

Is there anybody on here that would be interested in welding this up for me?
Any estimate on what the cost would be for the materials and labor?
I can put together a complete drawing package for it and/or provide the 3D models.

This is a last minute idea and I would be looking to get something by Wednesday February 14th.

On related note, anybody have or know where to get a 3D model of an XJ that is scaled correctly and has the important details like mounting points and frame rails? I found one model online but it wasn't scaled properly and didn't have any real detail.



Full Assembly.JPG


Welded assembly.JPG
 

Homefryy

Active Member
Location
Salt Lake City
I would almost rather drag a little trailer than deal with one of those cargo trays.

Oh I would absolutely rather pull a small off road trailer but there is a bit of a cost difference between the hitch mount cargo carrier and an off road trailer. This isn't something I would use all the time. Usually trips are just me, the wife and dog and we have plenty of room. Its just the addition of 2 more people and their gear that is making this necessary.

My issue with the rear carrier is if you still want to use your rear hatch you almost have to pull it off to open it.

That is something that I will just have to deal with. My goal is to try to get it high enough and close enough to the back so that the rear hatch will just clear it with nothing on it. That way I will just have to pull everything off to open the hatch but not actually remove the cargo carrier.
 

jeeper

Currently without Jeep
Location
So Jo, Ut
If you are making your own set up, run your support beams into a ‘T’ and create a pivoting pin on one end so you can just swing the whole thing out of the way, like a hitch mount tire carrier.
 

Shawn

Just Hanging Out
Location
Holly Day
Funny, I'm building this same set up. I have the basket made, but humming on the support bar coming from the hitch. I was going with the option to remove the carrier to open the rear gate, but like jeeper's response. The bottom of my carrier will be as high as the bottom of the spare tire. No way am I going to drag this thing over rocks.
 

Homefryy

Active Member
Location
Salt Lake City
View attachment 111900

So... would one of these work?

One of those may work but I don't know if it would actually help with departure angle. It moves the mount up but it also moves is further back so it might actually make departure angle worse since you have more overhang.
What I am trying to do is get a receiver up in approximately the location it would be if you had a receiver in an aftermarket bumper but without the aftermarket bumper.
 

Shawn

Just Hanging Out
Location
Holly Day
The hitch I'm making will be in a Z pattern. Come out of the receiver, up 45 degrees and then attached to the rack. The other thought I had was where it was going to attach to the rack, bolt it onto the rack so I can separate the rack from the hitch mount.

Hope that makes sense.
 

Homefryy

Active Member
Location
Salt Lake City
The hitch I'm making will be in a Z pattern. Come out of the receiver, up 45 degrees and then attached to the rack. The other thought I had was where it was going to attach to the rack, bolt it onto the rack so I can separate the rack from the hitch mount.

Hope that makes sense.

Yeah that makes sense. I went with a C shape instead of a Z because a Z would go right through the bumper and I was thinking I could just notch part of the bumper out with the C shape because the vertical would be just behind (toward the rear) of the bumper. The more I think about it if I am able to get something like this built I might just remove the bumper when using it so I don't have to cut into it.

With mine I'm trying to have an actual receiver tube up higher so I can just buy a standard cargo carrier and slide it in there. I'm not building my own cargo carrier. I wish I had the tools and skills to just weld something up myself.
 

Homefryy

Active Member
Location
Salt Lake City
Looks like Gravy is hooking me up with a cargo carrier that has a significant amount of rise built into it. It will block the back hatch completely but it shouldn't have any impact on departure angle. I'll post pictures of it installed once I get it.
 
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