Hitch mounted cargo carrier.

Having a 2 door Jeep JK (Thread here), I'm short on space when we have 4 people in the Jeep. Normally it isn't an issue. But when camping, you can run short on space really quick. So I bought a trailer hitch, (Thread here) and then today I bought a hitch mounted cargo carrier. I wanted to find a North American made carrier but they are hard to come by it seems. I did find some I really like but with shipping they would have been in the $300 range.

So I went to Princess Auto (Something like Harbor Freight in the US) to see what they had in stock. I knew they had sales on. I ended up with one of their brand (Towking) carriers. It was on for $43.43, down from $69. They had an aluminum one I kinda liked for $15 more but I would have liked the sides to be higher. It only weighted 26 lbs compared to about 53 lbs for this one so that was nice. And they had a stronger steel one for about $40 more. If I really wanted to max out the hitch rating I would have went with that one. I feel it was built a lot stronger. I can't see us putting more then 100-150 lbs max on this. The cooler should be the heaviest item. Some fire wood would add to that but we wouldn't be hauling a lot so it won't be a heavy load.






They could have bagged the bolts better and strapped them down so they didn't do any damage.



It went together ok. The pins to put the basket together didn't line up perfectly. Took a small hammer to make it fit together.





The bolt length was good but all but one nut was 16 mm. One was 17 mm.


There was also an issue with the holes to tile the carrier. You can store it in an upright position. I can drill that out to fix that but I shouldn't have to. But without an extension It shouldn't work anyway on a Jeep because of the rear mounted spare tire.



James

 

Here it is all ready for the camping season if this snow ever goes away.








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I will get pictures of it on the Jeep when I install the hitch. I want the salt off the roads before putting it on for the first time. I will also put on a Gearhead Central decal on the center plate. It will just fit.

James

 

There was something missing from the carrier. I had to correct it right away.












That is much better.

Another issue was the reflective decals. They were put on crooked and that drove me nuts. But they were all easy to pull of and reapply.

James