jerry can mounts

Do you guys think the rear hatch could hold 2 jerrycans if i bolted on the mounts. just for trail ridding and i know i would have to put a ratchet style hatch prop. I am not worried about the cans falling off , but i worried about the hatch breaking from the top mounts. Need to go on 3 day recovery event in april and i cant afford bumper system. need extra fuel

I really doubt the added weight of two jerry cans would cause your hatch hinge to break. The hatch probably wont stay open with the gas shocks alone, but I really dont think the hatch itself would have any problem holding to cans of fuel.

Could be wrong though, wouldn't be the first time.

if it's a steel hatch on a newer xj...maybe, but 2 FULL can's on a glass hatch...i really doubt that.

Osprey413 said:

I really doubt the added weight of two jerry cans would cause your hatch hinge to break. The hatch probably wont stay open with the gas shocks alone, but I really dont think the hatch itself would have any problem holding to cans of fuel.

Could be wrong though, wouldn't be the first time.

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I would drill all the way through and put flat washers on both sides and nut it up Just worried about the hatch hinges The mounts would stay but the cans would only be full acoupl times a year

nitrospeed said:

I would drill all the way through and put flat washers on both sides and nut it up

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I'd think you'd want to bolt it in four locations and run a cross-shaped piece between them to get the load spread out. Washers don't sound like they'd be enough to hold a full jerry can successfully.

Figure it this way: a gallon of gas typically weighs around 6lbs. Each can holds 5 gallons, so that's 30lbs. in fuel weight plus another couple of pounds for the can itself. You're essentially talking about hanging somewhere in the region of 70lbs. dead weight on a panel that usually carries nothing. Between the potential for body damage when the bolts pull out as well as the all-around inconvenience of losing fuel, this is probably worth overengineering somewhat.

Also, I really wouldn't recommend this if you've got a fibreglass tailgate.

The hinges will probably be OK, but I can see the mounting bolts possibly loosening over time. Really, they should be low down on the list of things to worry about in this.