Hitch mounted cargo carrier questions

JasonRedwood

Explorer
Not sure if this is the right place to post this but here it goes.
We have 3rd gen 4runner with a full length roof rack and usually pull a small pop-up tent trailer.
Its usually my wife, 13 month old, 2 dogs and myself when we go camping.
We are thinking about selling the trailer and moving back to a ground tent for now.
I was thinking that a swing away hitch mounted cargo carrier might be a good option to make up for the loss of storage space. See reference picts.
I was wondering if anyone has experience with these? I feel like the space is good and they look pretty weather tight. My concern is that being off road the integrity of the cargo carrier will be compromised.

Thanks for any and all feedback,
Jason


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JDaPP

Adventurer
I have the ROLA one for my Jeep liberty (and JK too). One of the best purchases I have ever made and will buy another one if that one ever breaks. Have had it since~ 2006 and it is still going. The nice thing is I can use the box + tray or only the tray. Only issues I can even remotely come up with are:

- where to store it when not in use. I have used a combination of different things to hoist up to the roof in the garage. Usually split it into the tray and box when I store it. In fairness, I move every 2-3 years so I have to reinvent.
- The tray can be a little ungainly to get into the receiver. Can be done by one person but it is heavier than one of those walmart hitch trays.

For what you want to do it will work great.
 

iluv83vettes

Adventurer
I used a standard hitch rack for a trip to Big Bend National Park recently. We have had it for probably 20 years. It holds 2 of the 24 gallon Action Packer boxes and a 6 gallon water jug perfectly. It rained pretty good a couple of the nights and nothing in the boxes got wet. The only problems were that we had to take it off to get into the back of my Jeep Cherokee. It wasn't a big deal as we planned accordingly with packing and we really only needed to get into the back of the Jeep when we were setting up camp.
 

JasonRedwood

Explorer
Thanks for the feedback guys. Much appreciated!

Do you fill the rack and trunk to capacity?
Not sure yet. We have yet to head out to the wilderness with out the trailer. A trip is planned for the end of the month.
The trunk has a platform that we store tools and our clothes under. The dogs ride on top of the platform.
The rear seat that doesnt have our lil boy riding in usually is dedicated to all his stuff. In the past, with the trailer,
the rack does carry a few items. We should be fine for a 3 day trip at the end of the month, but I'm planning a 7 day trip in a few months.
I'll have a better idea of what we need after our next outing, figured I would start the research for more space.
 

Herbie

Rendezvous Conspirator
I've never seen a swing-away cargo box before. Neat.

Anyone else want to build it into a custom rear-mounted chuck box, or is it just me?
 

zonker

Adventurer
We have been using the "Swing-A-Way" rack for about 6 years. I bought just the rack and made a bunch of different setuos to go on it. The heaviest load was 4 Nato cans filled with diesel.. 4 Maxtraxs and a couple of other bits that filled up the voids. We have used this setup on some very challenging roads and the rack is beyond solid. As you know the latching system for the swing out arm is industrial strength and the main body is very heavy gauge tubular steel.

We use this setup with our full sized truck and FWC camper. We have pounded it on endless miles of washboard.. rock crawling truck style and beat our truck up but not the rack. It is not a cheap rack.. but it is worth every penny. No comparison to most of the hitch receiver style racks and incredibly versatile. From a fuel can carryall to a mt bike rack to carry two.
 

screwball48

Explorer
I have a simple home built hitch carrier that I mounted a diamond tread chest style box to. It is rugged and effective. On my '07 4th gen there is enough clearance that I can open and close the rear gate with the box mounted.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

unabashedpraise

Adventurer
I agree with oscar. Kills departure angle. I used to use mine, non swing out though. Could still open the hatch with it mounted. It was handy, but all that torque levering (?) in the hitch made me nervous. Ditch the roof rack and cargo carrier. Go for a small camping trailer to haul it all. Tongue weight is tongue weight, but there is no support for that cargo carrier besides the hitch tubing. I have visions of the tubing breaking.
I've also seen some bent cargo carriers because they are overladen. Diy camping trailers are relatively inexpensive. Especially compared to what you are looking at.
 

zonker

Adventurer
I agree for the most part with comments about most hitch carriers. I have to defend the "Swing A Way". There is no way that it impairs my departure angle. The rise from the receiver is substantial. As the 2" square tube leaves the receiver it makes a nice mandrel bend upwards of a good 6". Also the bottom horizontal tube is only about 1" from the back of my camper. So it sits high and tight.

I know that not all receivers are of the same quality. I have been inspecting the female and male parts of the hitch / rack for the 6 years we have owned it and have found NO signs of wear or cracks appearing. Since our hitch is on a 3/4 ton truck.. I would imagine that it is farly stout. So as of recent I have given up checking the connection for wear.

I am impressed as we seriously use our truck off-road and only on adventures that can require 4 extra 20L cans of fuel and the rack is the only place we have to put them!

Since the website is kind of hard to find.. Here is the address.

[URL=//http://www.stowaway2.com
 

cdthiker

Meandering Idaho
The nice thing about the thule stuff is that it has an awesome return policy if I recall. So if something happens you might be able to get taken care of.
Have you thought about a rocket box on the roof?
They are much better then the ones of yesteryear in terms of not murdering your MPG.
I have one that I ran on my subaru and not my tacoma. knocked a mile or two per gallon off on the car barely notice it on the topper on my truck.
They make rather large ones or you can run two smaller ones.
 

AA1PR

Disabled Explorer
go with the roof mounted version of the ski carriers boxes, they're weather resistant
 

calicamper

Expedition Leader
The best money ever spent on car items was our roof box. Hands down!!! Bought it in 2003 my wifes Triathon gear and our camping crap kept expanding and I need to improve the cargo hauling options on our Legacy GT which we treated like a truck. That box has been on many different cars since.
Some thoughts get a long narrower roof box so you can put other stuff up on the roof like bikes or a canoe etc, and keep in mind these big bins either roof bins or hitch bins are all easily over loaded especially these huge things they sell now days! My roof box is a sleek silver painted 30 inch wide 7foot long box and with two road bikes one on each side sitting on 54inch long cross bars I actually need to watch how we pack the box to avoid maxing the 150lb rack limits. Its not hard to do! The really big boxes I honestly can't think of how I could pack those using all the space without being WAY WAY over the weight limits unless all I put in them are pillows and sleeping bags.

Also the roof rack approach is nice given its up out of the way on road trips easy to keep an eye on when at pit stops or grabbing a bite etc. And you have no risk of someone backing into your gear hanging off the back of the truck etc. That and the weight is better balanced once you have the back of the rig packed the you pack the hitch carrier your head lights are pointed at the moon and your dragging your bumper down the road.

Roof box nothing else on the subaru lid and other cars over the years is typically about a 1-2mpg hit at 70+mph speeds under 70mph I can never tell if the box is hitting the mileage at all. Add mountain bikes on the lid with the box and its not uncommon to see a 5mpg hit on the subaru at 70+mph speeds drop speeds down into the 65mph range and its more like 2-3mpg hit with the bikes up top. 60mph speeds I don't see much of an impact with the roof gear period not enough to track and see an obvious hit.
 

Xacave

New member
If it is possible, I'd recommend getting a 2 inch hitch (Class 3) as long as it is available. 2 inch hitches are more common, and there are a lot more options for accessories. Class 3's are rated for 5,000 lbs, but even if the hitch is rated higher than your car's capacity, that's ok, as long as you aren't assuming that it means you now have more towing capacity (and it doesn't sound like you'll be towing anyway). However, as Foy accurately points out, UHaul can be sticklers about this sort of thing (probably from having too many customers blame them for "user error"), and they might not agree to install it.

If you have to go with a 1.25 (Class 1 or 2), it will be ok, you'll just have to look harder for things like bike racks and hitch hall platforms, and often you'll have to go online or special order what you need. I've got a 1.25 (factory installed) hitch and finding exactly what I need is usually a little difficult to find and/or more expensive than if I had a 2'' option.
 

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