Congo cage rear rack idea

[BIGdaddy]

i've got a 2004 LJ with a congo cage. I have a wife and two kids and as such we fill our rig when we camp or day-trip. This necessitates outside storage, and we are striving to NOT have to buy a new trailer or use the one we already have.

I'm also striving to keep crap off my roof other than some thule bars. i had a rack up there and it made my jeep feel all yucky:steak:. plus my mpg went way down and i couldn't fit into parking garages. (a reality here in socal, even the hospital has not one, but two!)

with our aquisition of a vintage old town canoe, ( http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17878 ) also actually need the roof to be clear of stuff to fit the canoe, and sailing rigging.


here's my set of rules, then:

1. no crap on roof (exception is a thule aerobox, as needed, and canoe)
2. no new holes in the actual truck
3. don't load up the tailgate.
4. can relocate tire, but see 1 and 2 (limits a lot of stupid idea's)
5. if extra gas is going to be carried it will be outside the vehicle and above average car bumper/impact line.

so i think i came up with a pretty good solution that doesn't cost 2000.00 like a garvin tire carrier/bumper/extra weight-mobile setup.


parts needed

lack of a budget, firstly...lol.
-congo cage rack mount-$250.00 or free if you already have it
-cheap cargo rack from HF- $40.00
-HD hinges from home depot
-assorted hardware.
-latch assembly (still working this out)

start by cutting your hf rack in half, and paring it down as needed to clear your particular tire.

then get some hinges and u-bolts that fit around your congo-cage (or other) rack. get some clamps
to mock it up before drilling any holes. make sure the hinges swing freely and that you are below your roof mounted stuff(means being below level of thule bars in my case) and clear of tire.

you can see in the pic below that i've used u-bolt to go around the tube for support, but i have used thru-bolts to prevent torque/twisting while opening and "walking" downwards on bumpy roads.

so far its just zip-tied closed, as i'm trying to fab/weld up/design a latch assembly that will keep it from rattling and will be the third load point of the design. i'm planning on incorporating a rubber contact surface between the rack and the tube of the congo cage.

i have loaded it up with a full 5 gallons and the hinges work great, and it doesn't deflect at all. I've taken care to mount the jerry can as close to the pivot point as possible to minimize the "pivoting cantilever" load.

i have the other half of the aluminum rack, too if i decide to put one on each side. As it sits it effectively meets all my rules. I'll eventually paint it black and clean up some of the cuts with my grinder. i'm also gonna repaint my wedco jerry can a more in-conspicuous color.

 

[toyrunner95]

Watch out for rattles. maybe glue some rubber hose to where ever it rattles and it will work like a gasket. also a key bolt works really well. simply drill a hole through a couple tabs and either tap one side or weld a nut to the back. after that use a bolt with a little handle on it for a key. works great on my truck.

 

[BIGdaddy]

a few things.

-if you we're wondering, the u-bolts have more than enough clearance for the rear window to swing past them.

-you do add a step in getting in the rear area, but it's not too bad at all: open jerry can rack, open tailgate, open window. (its the same amount of steps with tire carrier racks like hansen or garvin: open swing away, open tailgate, open windown.)

-I don't know how I'll load the rest of the driver's side rack or if i mount it, the passenger side rack. i'd like to find a place for my sand ladders, but If i decide to keep em on as a part of my kit (they're actually very useful, especially with an airjack) i might just mount them on my hood or somewhere else closer to my COG cuz they're heavy.

-i'm planning on adding a square plate of aluminum sheet or strap to prevent "racking" of the whole assembly and to spread the load evenly.

 

[BIGdaddy]

Watch out for rattles. maybe glue some rubber hose to where ever it rattles and it will work like a gasket. also a key bolt works really well. simply drill a hole through a couple tabs and either tap one side or weld a nut to the back. after that use a bolt with a little handle on it for a key. works great on my truck.

you know all i have right now is a zip tie to keep it from flapping on the freeway (drove to escondido, about an hour away, yesterday) and it didn't rattle one bit, even at our destination (bates nut farm which is as un-paved as it sounds..lol)

I used a bunch of zip-ties, open and closing it throughout the day. :victory:


i'll have to check out a key-bolt. thanks a bunch!

 

[BIGdaddy]

well, i've got it pretty well setup at this point. I also got a chance to finish the prototype latch assembly. pretty simple, but rather effective.

I also hefted our canoe up to its spot on our rack, to re-check clearances. yes, only one side has been refinished and repainted...lol.

I love how low profile the rear rack is. can't even see it from the side or front of the rig. hopefully that tactic will minimize the aero drag, with or without the canoe

tell me what you think. :wavey: i think it would take a very determined driver with a VERY big car to make that gas can a liability...

and the BEST part: build cost: $0.00 (i used scrap aluminum, spare hinges, 1/2 of a HF rack i already had, and recovery gear that has been mine for ages. nice.)

 

[KSJeep]

Inovative idea, will your canoe still fit on the rack if you put another carrier on the opposite side? Are you able to access the rear with the canoe mounted? Just a couple of thoughts.

 

[CA-RJ]

You have one heck of a blind spot now.

 

[BIGdaddy]

Inovative idea, will your canoe still fit on the rack if you put another carrier on the opposite side? Are you able to access the rear with the canoe mounted? Just a couple of thoughts.

i'm hoping that i CAN fit another carrier on the other side, but i haven't measured yet. Although, other than firewood, i don't have much else to carry.



and, yeah, i can fully open the rack, the tailgate and the rear window with the canoe mounted.

 

[BIGdaddy]

You have one heck of a blind spot now.

thats very true, but consider when i'm fully loaded for a trip, the rear window is completely blocked, so i've grown accustomed to not having the rear view mirror already.

when i'm not packed for a trip, the jerry can can be dismounted and viola! I can see!

thats the theory anyways...I'll have to trip test it, when the canoe is finished in a couple weeks.

 

[BIGdaddy]

been driving around town in the jeep, grocery-getting, and i have a few opinions so far.

- The blind spot that the can creates is absolutely in the right place. What isn't seen in the rear view, can still be seen in the side view. Absotutely no problem.

-The latch i have setup right now is kinda like a hitch ball mount setup. Pull a pin and it opens. Very easy and there are ZERO rattles thus far.

- I like that my left signal is still visible, that i can reach the tailgate latch, that the tailgate opens without un-pinning the rack, and that the spare gas is WAY above ALL bumper-lines in traffic, but is about 13" lower than a roof-mounted solution would be.

-I thought that the weight of the gas would be an issue since the rack is only supported on one side, but its fine. no deflection at all that i can tell after days of potholed, crappy San Diego road driving.

nice. I still have notions of de-modding my jeep completely of the rack system to save on gas and stay low-profile...but this actually allows me to take the things i feel are necessary. :victory:

so for now, I"m stoked.

 

[hrjaw]

do you really notice a drop in mileage with the rack? the reason I ask is i just picked up a top five rack for the wrangler but have not installed it just yet.

 

[BIGdaddy]

do you really notice a drop in mileage with the rack? the reason I ask is i just picked up a top five rack for the wrangler but have not installed it just yet.

i think something like the garvin wilderness or the one i HAD up there almost always kills your mileage.


for example, i was getting around 19 before i had a basket up there, and took a trip where i got these tanks: 16mpg, 14.8mpg, 15mpg...oof! This was highway cruise control driving on a flat freeway. i had just run out to the desert a few days prior and got 19-20mpg w/o the rack.

So, to that end I'm trying to minimize. a rack pushed towards the back with a fairing a la the thule one, probably would have little to no effect.

:beer:

 

[hrjaw]

good to know. I may re-think leaving the rack on unless I need to use it. I am averaging about 17m.p.g. right now without anything up there.

 

[ExpoMike]

Nice job Brian. Good way to think outside the box.

 

[BIGdaddy]

good to know. I may re-think leaving the rack on unless I need to use it. I am averaging about 17m.p.g. right now without anything up there.

yeah, i myself, wonder if leaving a rack on would be worth 1 or 2 mpg, if it meant not having to de-install it.

if i was consistantly at 20mpg and leaving a fairing'd rack meant i was getting 19mpg...i'd probably leave it up there, for the sake of less work for me.

So, if you got 16.0 or 16.5mpg with the rack left up there, then I'd say its worth it.

Though...I'm pretty lazy. lol I hear that people have good results with those tube racks (thule, coleman, from costco, etc) with an integral fairing on the front, as in they don't have much mpg drop. FYI. also i'd check out Defender racks, with there very aero/slick designs.