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Wayne Cook
 
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On 16 Sep 2005 09:23:21 -0700, "wallster"
wrote:


RoyJ wrote:
I have a Jeep with off road bumpers and the same mounting problems with
the rear as the OP. The 8 bolts go through holes that are on either side
of where the main frame rail joins up to the rear cross member. Both
frame and cross member are relatively thin at .104" The bolt holes are
1.25" on center vertically, 8" horizontally (spaced evenly on either
side of the main rail joint. This is NOT a solid item to bolt to for
straight pull, really flimsy for the torque loading of the motorbike rack.


snipped for space
Roy, your set up sounds great, nice and sturdy. I've been looking at my
rig and I'm about 95% confident in it's ability to carry the load of my
dirtbike. That being said, it's not 100%, and that does have me
concerned. I don't believe i'll actually use the carrier that often but
it only takes one incident to ruin the day. Because this is a '93 Jeep
with 145k miles on it (and it has a salvaged title to boot, seems i
just can't buy anything nice that doesn't need fixing!)I'm reluctant to
drop alot of cash on materials to reconstruct the ass-end of the
vehicle. I just found a class III FRAME mounted hitch on ebay that
would be about $114, including shipping. I'm real tempted to just go
ahead and order it, bolt it on and cut off the hitch I have now.
Here's a link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/1987-96-Jeep-Wra...temZ5616563461
Anyway, thanks for the input... who'd have thought this dopey thread
would have lasted this long??


Looking at it I feel you'd be better off just finishing with what
you've got. The class III hitch is light for your use and would
require you to put more extension onto your carrier. It's not rated
for your load up close and I believe it would be too weak once you
extended your carrier.

Notice that it's just got a 2" square tube running across as the
torque member. It's hard to tell from the pic but I'm betting that
it's no thicker than 3/16" wall and possibly less. Your 1"x4" bumper
is as strong or stronger I believe. Next the mounting brackets are
thin on that hitch.

If you'd do like Roy did and put straps top and bottom. Or just put
something like 2"x 1/4"w tube bolted under the frame and running to
the front of the vehicle about 16" or so and attached to the bumper
with a good gusset or the like you'd go a long ways in taking care of
the worst of the weak links that are left.



Wayne Cook
Shamrock, TX
http://members.dslextreme.com/users/waynecook/index.htm