rear tailgate

[kodiak1232003]

i have roofrack now. wondering if y'all could advise me.

i took the spare off and threw it up top just to see how lightly the tailgate felt...i swear the tailgate groaned a sigh of relief to have little to no weight on it.

The plan was to mount something else a bit more useful on the tailgate like

-several watercans
-several gascans
-etc.

would you just leave the spare as it is (on the tailgate) and load up the rack as needed?

or would you leave the tailgate unloaded altogether, and just load the roofrack w/ spare and (2-4)jerry cans?


i'm planning on having at least one gas can and one water can loaded up at all times.not sure yet about placement.

here's a cool rover pic with some conveniently placed jerry cans...

 

[kodiak1232003]

this is the other option, obviously.

 

[alaskantinbender]

Hello Kodiak,

The more you put in the rack the more body roll you will create with the CG higher.
You can carry a lot of stuff on top out of the way but you will notice it off road and in corners. We have camped alot with 4 and then 5 kids in an old FJ40. I built a large roof rack and carried all the gear up top. WOW what a lumbering top heavy beast that was. We would carefully drive to the camping spot and off load everything then hit the trails.
I have never liked the tire mounted to the swing away tailgate on the jeeps.
But then I dont like the swing away tailgate either.
The old hinge down tailgate is just too usefull as a work station.
On my old cj5 I used a side mounted spare and liked it till I backed into a tree and bent the body up.
On my 89 wrangler the tailgate is cracked out around the tire mount from too many off road excursions.
I think the best bet is a rear bumper or frame mounted swing away rack.
There are many styles to choose from. With a rear mounted rack its also very easy to get at the tire and or cans when you need them.
Save the roof rack for large bulky stuff like tents and sleeping bags.

Regards,

Jim

 

[kodiak1232003]

groovy,
thanks for the post jim,

 

[ExpoMike]

Okay, where are the pics of the rack? :Astrologist:

 

[kodiak1232003]

yeah, my card reader was being lame last night and I ran outa time...

I'm gonna try again at lunch cuz there's some other pics on my card that i want!!:gunt: