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).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/TheRamChargerMan/Miscellaneous/DCP_0048-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/TheRamChargerMan/Miscellaneous/DCP_0047-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/TheRamChargerMan/Miscellaneous/DCP_0049-1.jpg


What ya think ?

critique away.................

It needs more triangulation...:flipoff2:

It needs more triangulation...:flipoff2:

surprised ya didn't jump on his back about it being hardcore :flipoff2:
Rack looks good though, is it only supported by that Z bar? Maybe consider having supports that stretch to the outer corners of the basket? Not sure if these are olderish pics or what...

Looks like a good place for a mobile sentry gun as well :laughing:

Well, I knew the triangulation comment was coming

and the bracing you talked about, I considered it, but even with it, the only point that is attached to the vechile is the bar, and bracing will not stop it from moving.

At the bar, it has 1 1 1/2" tube, with 1' tubes on each side, all fully welded to the basket bottom. Bracing out to the side of the basket will do nothing, and bracing to the jeep will make is hard to get stuff in & out, and YEs, you can lift the hatch with it on.

I MAy put some bracing from the middle of the z bar to the basket, but it will not stop all the movement, as the hitch insert has to have clearance to remove it, and that is what gives the play.

Funny how 5-10 thou at the hitch = 2-3 inches at the basket.

Not impressed until I see pics of it on the roof and inside the back.....



j/k looks good!




But really....... the other pics.......

Not impressed until I see pics of it on the roof and inside the back.....



j/k looks good!




But really....... the other pics.......

putting it on the roof is the easy part, but I still hve to make the legs for the back.

I was kinda in a hurry to get it done to use this week for hunting.


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.

put two gussets on the outside of the tube instead in the center, and make them longer.

drill a hole in the side of your jeep's hitch tube and tap it, and run a bolt in there and crank the shit out of the bolt when the rack is in.

put two gussets on the outside of the tube instead in the center, and make them longer.

drill a hole in the side of your jeep's hitch tube and tap it, and run a bolt in there and crank the shit out of the bolt when the rack is in.


Not sure what you mean.

The gusset you see is 1 1/2" .125 wall sq tube which is the same size tube as the angled part of the Z bar. it was cut out on the bottom so that the 1 1/4" tube that goes into the hitch slid into it.

The result of this is that there is gusseting on the outside of the smaller tube where the stress is.

Adding a second pin/bolt would help eliminate most if not all of the play, but won't help with the stress being concentrated at the point where the insert comes out of the hitch.

Your 4.0 and Cherokee badges are in the wrong place

Your 4.0 and Cherokee badges are in the wrong place

You sure? Its not the same every year.

http://www.shadowco.org/~cal/offroad/pics/Rubicon-05/Remi/969877126203_0_bg.jpg

http://www.shadowco.org/~cal/offroad/pics/Rubicon-05/Dan/573078194205_0_alb.jpg

http://www.shadowco.org/~cal/offroad/pics/Rubicon-05/Dan/903419194205_0_alb.jpg

http://www.shadowco.org/~cal/offroad/pics/Rubicon-05/Remis_Friend/rub23jun_13.jpg

Your 4.0 and Cherokee badges are in the wrong place


Well, they are where jeep put them when they made it...I know cuz I can see where they taped them up when it was painted a long time ago.

Well, they are where jeep put them when they made it...I know cuz I can see where they taped them up when it was painted a long time ago.

I'd wager that jeep *probably* puts the badges on after they paint it.



Roger that about the gusset. to me it looked like a piece of flat bar welded in the center of the tube. That being said, i'd still go for some 3/16" or so plate in a long triangle shape over the outsides of the bottom bend.

the only point of the bolt thing i was talking about was to eliminate wobbling.

I'd wager that jeep *probably* puts the badges on after they paint it.



Roger that about the gusset. to me it looked like a piece of flat bar welded in the center of the tube. That being said, i'd still go for some 3/16" or so plate in a long triangle shape over the outsides of the bottom bend.

the only point of the bolt thing i was talking about was to eliminate wobbling.

I'm sure they do, which is why I said I'm sure it is where jeep put them, since it has been repainted it's original color about 10 yrs ago and they didn't remove them............

I was gonna do that, the plate thing, but...

1) didn't have anything but 1/8" x 2" plate, and tons of sq tubing
2) wouldn't have been able to weld it on flat as that joint is the transition from 1 1/4" sq to 1 1/2" sq
3) the way i cut the tube for the joint, it has overlap on both ends
4) plating the sides would have built a trap for mud/water to rust the joint out faster

I like the idea of the bolt, but am worried that it may crush the tube reciever enough to make removal a chore, so I will at least use a 2nd pin, which should accomplish the same thing, albeit not not as well.

so...why dont you just throw the deer in the back of the cummins?

so...why dont you just throw the deer in the back of the cummins?


1) the dually is too nice looking

2) the dually is too dang wide for the trails where I hunt

3) the dually has too large a turning radius for where I hunt

4) the interior of the dually is too nice

5) I spend less on fuel with the jeep than with the dually (barely, but still less)

6) I can't use the door of the dually for a rain shelter like I can the hatch on the jeep while I put on my rain gear

7) the dually has street tires on it for towing, not off road tires for hunting

8) I can't plug the dually in to make starting it easier out in the woods

9) the dually cost 15x more than the jeep

10) the jeep has a cd player

11) the jeep doesn't weigh 7900 lbs



enough reasons ?? (and sadly, all true)

just put some solid square stock inside the 11/4. Another pin i'm guessing won't do you a whole lot of good if you can't get the tolerances VERY close.

just put some solid square stock inside the 11/4. Another pin i'm guessing won't do you a whole lot of good if you can't get the tolerances VERY close.

I considered that, but I got to looking and there isn't a lot of contact areas between the reciever tube on the hitch and the cross bar. The 2" hitch has tons more strength there as well.


It looks like once I get the z bar strengthened, the next weak point will be where the receiver tube mounts to the cross bar.

Weld a D35 underneath it for training wheels....

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).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/TheRamChargerMan/Miscellaneous/DCP_0048-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/TheRamChargerMan/Miscellaneous/DCP_0047-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/TheRamChargerMan/Miscellaneous/DCP_0049-1.jpg


What ya think ?

critique away.................

Nice, but if you drive far the deer is going to stink of exhaust.

Nice, but if you drive far the deer is going to stink of exhaust.


Not if ya drive fast enough....

For those interested, I put a 2nd hitch pin in the reciever, and there is no discernible play in it anymore...hopefully this will rid me of the issue.

I also found some 2" .250 wall tubing here in my scrap, ao I used that for the insert...it should last a bit longer than the 1 1/4" .110 wall I had before

just put some solid square stock inside the 11/4. Another pin i'm guessing won't do you a whole lot of good if you can't get the tolerances VERY close.


Tolerances were close enough on both pins that I had to file them out some to even get the pins in.

I have a 5/8" pin in front, and a 1/2" pin in the back

Here is my solution to the problem of deer wanting to ride along after the hunt, compliments of a friend with welding expertise.

Up
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s94/ga_cis/FrontBumperbrushguard-rackup.jpg

Down
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s94/ga_cis/FrontBumperbrushguard-rackdown.jpg

Nice front bumper....you could prolly sell those things and make a killing. Looks a hell of alot more stable than that other crap. :flipoff2:

Thanks, I told the fabricator that he could sell them with no problem. He is a fireman and could ease into production. He had a neighbor that wanted to buy mine when it was half done. I have only had it on for about a month and have been stopped twice by people who wanted to know where I got it.

I drove a 72 fj40 for just over 20 years but went to the XJ this year for more comfort. I am getting to be an old fart now. On the fj I used a piece of marine plywood bolted between the bumper brackets as a front shelf for deer. The XJ brush guard / deer rack is a good bit higher from the ground. Soooo - I am working on an improvement. Since deer aren't getting any lighter, I want a self loading device. Basically it will be a ramp that will attach to the front of the rack and reach the ground. A leg will be hinged from the center of the ramp pointing back toward the Jeep where it will contact the ground. Roll the deer up on the end of the ramp and back the Jeep up to lift the ramp level with or slightly higher than the rack then just slide the deer onto the rack and tie it down. When I perfect this I believe my friend can become a millionaire if he wants to give up his firefighting life.

Mine worked fine this weekend with a 190 lb deer on it........but it did show me some more improvements I may look at.

ga cis.......someone already makes something like that, called a deer lift.

yeh like the deer rack

good, work, but its not what i would have done.

i would have built a small tough trailer. something capable of off road.

trailers are easy to disconnect as well.

can you still open the rear hatch with the rack on?

something like this that sits a bit higher on bigger tires :

http://www.atatrailers.com.au/Custom%20Trailers/Off_Road.jpg