home made cargo hauler

Here's some pics of yet another lil project of mine.

Instead of buying a high clearance cargo hauler to avoid putting a bloody deer in the back of my jeep again, or buying a roof rack, or an internal 2nd shelf for extra storage in the jeep, I made this.

It is a 47" x 24" x 6" basket, which has 1 1/2" hitch tubing on the bottom. This allows me to take the 'z' bar off (it slides in and uses a pin to keep it on the basket) and use it inside the jeep with some legs I still have to make, or I can attach it to the factory roof rack cross bars with some ubolts.

The basket is made of 1" x 1" x .083 wall tubing that I had laying around, and it will easily support around a 250 lb person on it (but the jeep does sag...the rear springs are shot and in dire need of replacement).





What ya think ????

looks good but it sticks out very far

Yes, it sticks out about 38". the ones they sell stick out about 30", and do not have the clearance this one does cuz they are straight.

That was the only way to be able to raise the rear hatch with it on, which was one of my requirements.

I have to remember it is on when backing up now for sure, as you can not see it if it is empty.

Might want to consider some gussets on the basket to the mounting section in the center. Side loads can be a PITA especially when moving.

what size hitch is that on? may just be the pics, but it looks kinda small for carrying a 200lbs animal, or whatever else your gonna have in it.
nice idea tho, and good work building it yourself.

Step 2: Shoot a deer....

Looks good, Have you tried sitting on one side or the other to make sure the center welds will hold off camber weight or multiple animals. Might need bracing if so.

Why not put the deer in that Cummins powered dually right beside your Jeep?

Cuz the dually is too pretty & wide & has too large a turning radius to hunt the property with.

I have sat on the side, and it works fine.

The welds in the center are actually 2 1" sq tubes welded to the basket at all contact points, and then the 1 1/2 tube for the removeable 'tongue' is fuly welded to those.

And the side to side bracing that was mentioned was considered, but since it would still be attached to the center 'tongue', it would provide no support since it would pivot on the same point. All it would do is keep the basket from folding, and trust me, that ain't gonna happen.

Anyway, it did break. Right at the HAZ from the gusseting I added where the tube slides into the hitch. The thick wall 1 1/4" tube just failed. It would have been fine on the highway, but the roads I hunt on are very akin to driving down the railroad tracks from the rocks the property owner put in the road to get rid of the muddy holes. Imagine driving on 'gravel' the size of footballs everywhere. If my jeep is still in one piece by the end of the season, I will be surprised. The roads are so rough, it will vibrate anything apart, even at 5 mph.

Yes, it is the small hitch, but will soon be a real 2" hitch, and hopefully, it won't break again.

It is up so high for clearance AND to be able to open the hatch even with a big cooler on it.

The rear springs concern me more than the hitch rating, as they are so wasted, that with 600 lbs of stuff in the back of the jeep, it sinks 3-4" in the rear.

I really dont think I'd put 250lbs out that far, I have a hitch mount motocross hauler (260lb bike) sits tight up gainst the rear gate and I still need to run ratchet straps over the truck and to my front tow hooks for stability. even then it sags the back bad and therea quit a bit of deflection in the hitch bar. not to mention the hitch.

The only use I'd have for that is mt 24 pack cooler and that even fits in the back

I take that back, it would be perfect for all the camping gear,axe and saw

that is a beautiful piece...exactly how i imagine mine to be....
very very nice

That's a sweet bumper humper....I have a homemade one, but it sits lower than yours, even with the bottom of the hatch. Mine is made with some really thin 2x2 square tube, me and my brother stood on it (over 300 lbs between the two of us) and it held up fine, we have used it for fire wood, works great for transporting diff's from the junk yard, you should have no problem with yours, it look better built than mine.

Justin

I'd add another gusset up top to match the lower one. You could also run ratchet straps from the rack corners up to the roof rack to distibute the weight when loaded......not my flavor, but it looks like it will work just fine for what you've built it for.

while that is some nice fab work, hitches are designed to pull heavy weight not carry them. Even if its a class III hitch the tongue weight should only be about 300lbs or so. I don't think I'd put a 150lbs dear on the back of that for the ride home after the hunt especially being so far out... because you wanna use your hatch.

I use to install hitches for a living and have seen all kinds of stuff like this it never ends well.

I'm actually considering making some S shaped bars that would go from the bottom of the sides down to the cross bar of the hitch.Thye would use the same brackets on the basket (not yet made tho) as the legs that allow using it inside the jeep.

These would provide a ton more stability, and to allow movement to keep from breaking it, I plan on using some old valve springs at the hitch cross bar so there will be some give, but still stiff enough to keep it from moving around. they would also add some weight handling capability

I thought about an upper gusset, but when we were weight testing it, you could not see any give at the upper angle, but you could the lower.

WPG98XJ said:

while that is some nice fab work, hitches are designed to pull heavy weight not carry them. Even if its a class III hitch the tongue weight should only be about 300lbs or so. I don't think I'd put a 150lbs dear on the back of that for the ride home after the hunt especially being so far out... because you wanna use your hatch.

I use to install hitches for a living and have seen all kinds of stuff like this it never ends well.

Click to expand...

It's more of not putting a gutted bloody deer carcass in the back of the jeep than the ability to open the hatch. BUT, if I can do both, why not ?

hey i hear ya, not a chance in hell i'm taking my jeep hunting for my first time going out this year (or any year)... we're going in my father inlaw's new dodge

I'm just saying for any type of distance that might not work out so well. If you do go any distance.. put a chain on it so if it falls off, it won't slide into oncomming traffic if it breaks off.

WPG98XJ said:

hey i hear ya, not a chance in hell i'm taking my jeep hunting for my first time going out this year (or any year)... we're going in my father inlaw's new dodge

I'm just saying for any type of distance that might not work out so well. If you do go any distance.. put a chain on it so if it falls off, it won't slide into oncomming traffic if it breaks off.

Click to expand...

You saying you don't trust my welds ??????

When it broke, it wasn't a weld, the tube failed.....

I think it looks awesome. Nice job.

Unfortunately the physics are against you. Although the hitch may be rated for 300 or 500 lbs tongue weight, that is AT THE HITCH, NOT 36" out. the carrier and it's bar will act as a lever mutiplying the force exerted by the weight in the basket.
to illustrate, I had about 10' of 2" tubing and for shits and giggles I stuck it in my rear hitch reciever. at the end of that tube, i could press down with one hand and compress the rear springs. I was trying to get the front wheels off the ground but stopped far short as I realized I was really stressing the hitch mounting points. it was never designed to have that much weight so far out.
think of it this way - if you tried to lift your jeep by hand using the hitch - you can't. but if you get a 5 or 6 ft lever, put a fullcrum right under the hitch you would easily be able to lift the back of the jeep with one guy pulling down on the lever. I would guess that that is why the tube failed on you.

I partially agree with you fuzzydog

But I think it was more the constant hammering it got on the roads I was driving. The roads are so rough, the basket was flopping all around, and the up & down bouncing killed the tube.

The hitch was/is fine, it was the tube insert that failed right at the point where it came out of the hitch, almost as if i had cut it with a sawzall there.

I'm gonna try again with a 2" reciever, which is substantially stronger tubing, and see what happens.

It scares me now to see the ones you buy, which are made using fairly thin wall tube, and they are sticking out about 30"-32".