Square hitch basket

[Willys Yella Jeep]

Now, I have no intention to do any serious rock crawling. That said, what are your thoughts and recommendations on an off-road square hitch mounted basket/tray. We aren't ready for a rooftop platform just yet.

Willy

 

[AdventureWithDanan]

If you plan on sticking to pavement you’ll have no issues, but if you plan on going off road, I don’t recommend it. This of course would depend on the height of your hitch... if you’re a lifted full size truck, then you’d be fine on many forest roads, but certainly not all of them.

 

[Downs]

I would avoid them. They kill your departure angle and on rougher roads the added leverage of having weigh on them tears them apart over time. I had some friends tag along to explore a national forest with me. After about 20 mins on just regular FS roads the carrier was sagging and coming apart. It wasn't the greatest quality carrier but I would have expected to last longer than that.

 

[Willys Yella Jeep]

All great points. Thanks for the recommendations.

Willy

 

[adventure_is_necessary]

Now, I have no intention to do any serious rock crawling. That said, what are your thoughts and recommendations on an off-road square hitch mounted basket/tray. We aren't ready for a rooftop platform just yet.

Willy

I made mine a few years ago. I was not impressed with what was available. All seemed to either be too flimsy, not handle enough weight, and seemed to kill any departure angle. I had a few afternoons spent between the design and build process. Mine is stout, sits either tight up near the bumper or can sit out a few more inches, and sits higher that any I've seen. It's heavy but it it definitely better than any I've ever seen. It was effectively free aside from time since it was built using scrap tubing and painted with leftover paint.

 

[Deleted member 14476]

I saw Smittybilt and one from Warrior recommended on another thread.

I’ll tag that thread here because people went into more depth of why a carrier basket was not the move.

Basket Mounted to Hitch Recommendation

Hello All, I am going to a course in UT with some over landing pieces to it, and would like to take 15 gal‘s of gas and 10 gal’s of water on a hitch mounted basket; instead of going out and rushing into buying a roof rack and/or rear bumper for 10x the cost. Can anyone recommend a solid...

www.overlandbound.com

 

[Willys Yella Jeep]

That answered my question. I'll be saving up for a Rhino Rack or a Gobi.

Willy