Spare Wheel Carrier for WH Grand Cherokee

[Albuquerque]

i'm new to forums so forgive me just jumping in - i've got a '99 WJ just having LPG put in and am also interested in spare tire carrier. Swing away setup for on the back? I spoke to guys at TJM who said they could supply one for $1300... has anyone heard of that? oops... just realised i'm in the wrong forum - sorry WH guys. but if anyone has some advice, i'll still be greatful.

jerry

[platypus]

G-day there.
Johnv question, what form have you got your dual battery setup?

[DarwinDave]

Hi Guys,

I'm not interested in the tiregate but I make this observation for what it's worth. If you were to attach a tow bar tounge with the tow ball to the tiregate you would be increasing the lever arm distance from the point where the vehicle towbar is bolted to the car to the point of application of the tounge weight substantially. Could be twice the distance which for example, if twice the distance the tounge load would be decreased by half ie. the 327kg down load would be reduced to 163kg. If the distance was more than double (subject to actual tiregate dimensions), the load would be reduced proportionately. This increase in lever arm length will transfer severe stress through to the connection to the vehicle which is also transferred through to the car sub frame.
We have already seen reports that cracking at the sub frame can occur.
I think that towing anything other than a lighly loaded trailer could cause problems

Cheers

[johnv]

Hi Dave, you're 1001% right of course and that's whay I emailed them looking for information which is as follows:-
Hi John, the Hitchgate is tow rated up to 7500 lbs and a max. tongue wt of 750 lbs. The one thing the user needs to know is the weight of the Hitchgate and tire has to be accounted for on the Veh. tow hitch. Example: If the Hitchgate (100lbs) and wheel/tire (75lbs) weigh 175 total, and the vehicles hitch capacity is 750 lbs then they only have 575 lbs remaining for the trailers tongue weight. I am trying to find a distributor for Aus. We get a lot of request for the Hitchgate but shipping one at a time is costly. If you can come up with 5 orders we can get the shipping cost per unit down around $200.(I can get a exact cost before shipping) I will also discount the Hitchgates to $590 ea. reg. $690
Bob - Wilco Automotive Products, Inc
Your thoughts and opinion very welcome on this one Dave -

Looking at it only from the point of view of towing say a 2,500Kg caravan, I thought that the maths seems to add up, however, when you add a weight distribution hitch to the eqation, the further the distance the towball is away from the vehicle the less the tongue weight.
The other effect is the cantelever effect - the further you are away from the vehicle the less it can carry and the greater the strain in the vehicles other components.

Having said all that "negative" stuff I think the Tiregate is an excellent unit and has strong sales potential and not only in the Jeep community.
Any one else have any thoughts?
The figures are in US $$$ so we would have to use our online currency converter. http://www.xe.com/ucc/
Does anyone in the Jeep community or one of our sponsors / advertisers have any thoughts of following this one up??
For me I would like to see some technical opinions, the average towball "stickout" for a WDH is around 280mm, I will re-email them and see if I can get a total lenght from towbar to outside of unit or what I just described as "stickout"

[johnv]

Originally Posted by platypus

G-day there.
Johnv question, what form have you got your dual battery setup?

Sorry Platypus, I've been in Cairns, in a b----y wet tent. The info you are looking for is in "Things to do to a new WH" thread, I have detailed it there at length.
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...ad.php?t=85446
best of luck.

[DarwinDave]

Hi John,
When you get the measurements from Wilco Products I will do some calcs and work out the actual load on the vehicle sub frame. It will depend on the offset of the tiregate from the vehicle taw bar plus the 280mm. The tiregate towrate is 7500lbs which is equivalent to 3400kg or 3.4 tonnes. The tounge load is 750lbs or 340kg. This tounge load will be reduced by the weight of the tiregate + weight of spare wheel + the reduction in load due to the increased distance from the vehicle sub frame.

Cheers

[valpacer]

John,

Found these pics of a Tiregate on a Commander, which he has modified to be stronger. And moved spare closer to the vertical.

http://s607.photobucket.com/albums/t...ire%20Carrier/

Dave