jscherb
Expedition Leader
Initial testing with 5-gallons of gas in the jerry can on the side mount went very well. The mount supports the weight just fine and there's no rattling. It's very stable.
I'll leave the full can on for the next few hundred miles for testing and I'll go out of my way to hit potholes .
When I got home from my test drive I did a little load testing, in this photo the jerry can is full and the two cinder blocks weigh about as much as another 1 1/2 full cans, so this is 2.5x the load it's designed for. (No, I didn't drive it with the cinder blocks on top, I don't really have a reliable way to secure the blocks up there).
Also I've had the mount on and off the Jeep a bunch of times today as I was swapping between the Rotopax mount and the jerry can tray, and it takes less than 5 minutes to remove or install the carrier, so I think it's very practical to only have the carrier installed for those trips where you might want extra fuel. That's what I do with my LJ side mounts - I don't see the need to carry fuel (or the cans) every day, so most of the time the cans and the mounts are in the garage.
I'll leave the full can on for the next few hundred miles for testing and I'll go out of my way to hit potholes .
When I got home from my test drive I did a little load testing, in this photo the jerry can is full and the two cinder blocks weigh about as much as another 1 1/2 full cans, so this is 2.5x the load it's designed for. (No, I didn't drive it with the cinder blocks on top, I don't really have a reliable way to secure the blocks up there).
Also I've had the mount on and off the Jeep a bunch of times today as I was swapping between the Rotopax mount and the jerry can tray, and it takes less than 5 minutes to remove or install the carrier, so I think it's very practical to only have the carrier installed for those trips where you might want extra fuel. That's what I do with my LJ side mounts - I don't see the need to carry fuel (or the cans) every day, so most of the time the cans and the mounts are in the garage.