Side-mount Jerry can holders

[jscherb]

I also tried another method of mounting to the tailgate hinges... I made up a mounting grid panel that bolts to the hinges. I designed the grids so the same part works for both the JK and the TJ; due to space available, only one of grid can fit on the TJ but because the JK is wider two fit there. The panels are bright metal because I haven't painted them yet, they'll be black. Also on the JK there's a gap between them because for test purposes I made one wide and the other narrow, but it turns out that two wide ones would fit on the JK, so to simulate that I mounted them with a gap.

Lots of different things can be mounted to the grids.

A shovel, using Quickfist clamps:

On the JK, since there's more room, multiple things can be mounted:

A HiLift could be mounted to the grid as well.

Or an ammo can, I mounted a tray to hols a 30 cal can:

 

[bluehash]

Cool .. :victory:

From my build thread:
I fly 250 class multirotors. A Rigid toolbox fits snugly in the Jerry can holder. The toolbox holds my multirotor and long range radio.
The toolbox touches the door mirror a wee bit.. so I have to be careful about that.

 

[jscherb]

Cool .. :victory:

From my build thread:
I fly 250 class multirotors. A Rigid toolbox fits snugly in the Jerry can holder. The toolbox holds my multirotor and long range radio.
The toolbox touches the door mirror a wee bit.. so I have to be careful about that.

Very nice. The side mount base has a second set of holes for the tray, slightly forward and a little higher. Have you tried those? Maybe the mirror wouldn't hit your toolbox with the tray in those holes?

 

[bluehash]

Totally forgot about that. Will try and let you know.

 

[jscherb]

Back when I designed the side mount jerry can holders for the TJ I had in mind that they could be used for other things besides a jerry can - a Hi-Lift, for example, or perhaps to support the front legs of a roof rack that goes over the soft top. I never developed any of the other uses, until today - today I made up a quick bracket to hold a Hi-Lift. In these photos the bottom of the jack is resting on the jerry can mount; a simple bracket still has to be made up to hold the bottom of the jack in place.

The upper mount bolts to existing windshield bolt holes; in the photos below it's only held in place with one bolt because this was just a quick test fit. The bracket is symmetric, so it can be mounted on either side of the Jeep, just like the side mount jerry can brackets can.

The jack is held away from the Jeep enough to clear the antenna, and far enough forward that when the door is fully open the mirror clears the jack too. When the door is closed, the jack doesn't stick out as far as the mirror.

 

[ihmagellan]

Jeff,

I always like seeing the results of your creativity and fabrication skills. I've been kicking around the idea of using receivers on the frame rails to support the front of a roof rack. A few days ago I found this thread and discovered I'm not the only one with that idea.

Several people have voiced concerns about having side-mounted fuel containers in the event of a crash. I agree that rear-end collisions are more common, but with side mounting there's a good chance that you'll be exiting the vehicle through spilled fuel in the event of a side impact. Since you've come up with multiple options for Hi-Lift location, have you thought about a bracket to hold a couple Rotopax containers lying flat at the back of the hood? It solves the collision problem completely. The weight is higher, but more centralized. The biggest challenges would be providing adequate support with just the existing hinge holes and being able to open the hood with the containers mounted.

Jerry

 

[jscherb]

Jeff,

I always like seeing the results of your creativity and fabrication skills. I've been kicking around the idea of using receivers on the frame rails to support the front of a roof rack. A few days ago I found this thread and discovered I'm not the only one with that idea.

Several people have voiced concerns about having side-mounted fuel containers in the event of a crash. I agree that rear-end collisions are more common, but with side mounting there's a good chance that you'll be exiting the vehicle through spilled fuel in the event of a side impact. Since you've come up with multiple options for Hi-Lift location, have you thought about a bracket to hold a couple Rotopax containers lying flat at the back of the hood? It solves the collision problem completely. The weight is higher, but more centralized. The biggest challenges would be providing adequate support with just the existing hinge holes and being able to open the hood with the containers mounted.

Jerry

Jerry,
Thanks.

The idea of mounting a Rotopax on the hood has been suggested to me before and I have given it some thought. Securing the container to the hood is pretty straightforward, I've come up with a way that could be done. But the reason I haven't built one is that I'm much more worried about a leaking fuel container sitting over the hot engine than I am about a collision. It seems to me a leaky or loose cap on a fuel container is a much more common occurrence than a collision, even if your cap works fine what if it doesn't get tightened all the way? It might be different if the container could be standing up so the fuel level doesn't reach the cap, but on the hood it would have to be laying down, so fuel would always be in contact with the cap. If it's loose or leaky, it wouldn't take much fuel to leak through the hood/cowl gap and possibly onto a hot exhaust manifold.
Jeff

PS: I think I've posted this before, but these tips bear repeating... there's really no 100% safe place to carry extra fuel - any place you can think to carry it you can also come up with a scenario where it would be hazardous. Here's how I manage extra fuel to minimize risk:

1. I only carry the cans when I am on a trip where I want to have extra fuel, which is maybe 1-2 weeks per year. The other 50 or so weeks I don't carry the cans or the carriers - because of the design of the jerry can carriers, they install/uninstall in about a minute or two each, so there's no reason to carry them when I don't need them.

2. Even when I am carrying cans, they are empty until the "last mile". For example, on my Colorado off-road trips, they're empty from my home in NY until I get to a gas station close to the trailhead in Colorado at which time I fill them before going into places less civilized. So even when I am carrying them they're empty most of the time when there would be other vehicles around.

3. I empty them at the first opportunity when there's no longer a need for extra fuel. Example: last summer I did several hundred miles off road in Colorado. Once I was back on pavement to begin the trip home, the spare fuel went in the tank.

And yes, all of the multi-car crash statistics I've see indicate that the most common multi-car accident is a rear-end collision, so it may be that statistically, carrying the cans on the side is safer than carrying them in the rear.

 

[M35A2]

I also tried another method of mounting to the tailgate hinges... I made up a mounting grid panel that bolts to the hinges. I designed the grids so the same part works for both the JK and the TJ; due to space available, only one of grid can fit on the TJ but because the JK is wider two fit there. The panels are bright metal because I haven't painted them yet, they'll be black. Also on the JK there's a gap between them because for test purposes I made one wide and the other narrow, but it turns out that two wide ones would fit on the JK, so to simulate that I mounted them with a gap.

That little can looks lost back there. Big Jeep, big wheels, big tires, little thimble that seems more spout than can. Too bad that same can is not available in a taller size.

 

[jscherb]

That little can looks lost back there. Big Jeep, big wheels, big tires, little thimble that seems more spout than can. Too bad that same can is not available in a taller size.

Actually there is a taller small can of 10 liters (2.5 gallon) capacity, although it isn't made by all makers of NATO cans. The illustration below shows some of the sizes. The blue can in my photos is a 5-liter can, same as the red one in the upper left corner. The most common 10 liter can is the red one at the bottom left, it's a short version of the standard 20 liter/5 gallon can. But some places have a 10 liter can that's not short, that's the green one in the center. The cans below aren't all exactly to scale, but the dimensions are included to indicate the sizes.

 

[ihmagellan]

Jerry,
Thanks.

The idea of mounting a Rotopax on the hood has been suggested to me before and I have given it some thought. Securing the container to the hood is pretty straightforward, I've come up with a way that could be done. But the reason I haven't built one is that I'm much more worried about a leaking fuel container sitting over the hot engine than I am about a collision. It seems to me a leaky or loose cap on a fuel container is a much more common occurrence than a collision, even if your cap works fine what if it doesn't get tightened all the way? It might be different if the container could be standing up so the fuel level doesn't reach the cap, but on the hood it would have to be laying down, so fuel would always be in contact with the cap. If it's loose or leaky, it wouldn't take much fuel to leak through the hood/cowl gap and possibly onto a hot exhaust manifold.
Jeff

Good point. I'm convinced.

 

[yaya]

Love the side mount. Very nice quality, design, and definitely sturdy. Love the fact of having a heavy load distributed over the axles than over the traditional way on the rear. The only downside is less visibility of the driver wheel when trying to see how its placed over an obstacle. Also, initially went with the Jerry can made by crown and had an ever so slight contact with the mirror frame. I could see an issue where trying to get out of the jeep on an off camber situation, etc. and having the mirror frame hit the can harder because of the door slipping out of my hand or just simply forgetting. So replaced the can with another make (Mid West), and although not as great a mouth as the crown, the dimensions worked much better.

 

[jscherb]

Love the side mount. Very nice quality, design, and definitely sturdy. Love the fact of having a heavy load distributed over the axles than over the traditional way on the rear. The only downside is less visibility of the driver wheel when trying to see how its placed over an obstacle. Also, initially went with the Jerry can made by crown and had an ever so slight contact with the mirror frame. I could see an issue where trying to get out of the jeep on an off camber situation, etc. and having the mirror frame hit the can harder because of the door slipping out of my hand or just simply forgetting. So replaced the can with another make (Mid West), and although not as great a mouth as the crown, the dimensions worked much better.

Glad you like it!

For cans that are a little large, there's a second set of mounting holes for the can tray which are slightly forward and slightly above of the mounting holes you probably used, you could remount the tray in those holes to get the clearance you need.

 

[yaya]

Yes, I did make sure to mount using the location you mentioned.
On another note, (I know its a different manufacturing cost/ aspect), but having the threads for the bolts already part of the plate would have been nice. In this way you could just only take the can carrier part off only when not needing it without disturbing the whole assembly.

 

[JDaPP]

Yes, I did make sure to mount using the location you mentioned.
On another note, (I know its a different manufacturing cost/ aspect), but having the threads for the bolts already part of the plate would have been nice. In this way you could just only take the can carrier part off only when not needing it without disturbing the whole assembly.

Where is the Like button? Completely agree. Love the concept and design, this is the only thing I would change.

 

[jscherb]

On another note, (I know its a different manufacturing cost/ aspect), but having the threads for the bolts already part of the plate would have been nice. In this way you could just only take the can carrier part off only when not needing it without disturbing the whole assembly.

Where is the Like button? Completely agree. Love the concept and design, this is the only thing I would change.

I thought about that when I was doing the design, and I decided not to. Here's my reasoning...

1. Between the two positions for the can tray and the two positions for the Rotopax mount, there are 16 holes that would need threads. Since the metal of the base is too thin the accept threads, bolts would need to be welded in the back, or a much thicker base plate with threads would be required. Either one would increase the cost significantly.

2. You'd only be using 4 of the 16 threaded holes at any one time, so the threads in the other 12 would be exposed to the elements. Over time, those holes would become unusable due to rust (unless stainless nuts were welded in the back), and that rust would also creep out to the main part of the base.

3. The base is held to the Jeep with only 3 bolts, and takes less than 2 minutes to remove. I did a timed test a while back, it's in post 216 in this thread: http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...ers?p=1836160&highlight=stopwatch#post1836160. You could even make it quicker by swapping the Torx screw in the windshield frame for a hex-head bolt, then all three would take the same wrench, elminating the length of time it might take to swap from a socket to a Torx driver .

Since nothing can ever be priced low enough, or last long enough without rust, and since it's so quick to remove and anyway most people won't be swapping can trays for Rotopax and vice versa on a regular basis, I decided it was best to go with bolts and nuts instead of threaded holes.

You may disagree, but anyway that's my thought process. Thanks for listening.