Hitch Haulers

Traveling with six people and a dog in an FJ Cruiser doesn't leave a lot of room for luggage. We've been using a roof bag for the past couple of years and though it works, it's kind of a pain.
What's the collectives thought on hitch basket thingies? We wouldn't be hauling more than 100 Lbs back there and it would allow people other than just me to access our stuff. Good idea/bad idea?

My parents have used one on their Explorer for years to haul extra bikes, camping gear, etc. Works great.

A chain and a lock makes a grab and go much harder.

Just don't keep anything irreplaceable or attractive to others and yo should have no problem.

I use one. Originally on our Accord and now on our van. I carry the beach chairs and umbrella on it. I fabbed a new mount for it. Originally it had a straight piece of square tubing to mount it. The new mount is basically S-shaped square tubing and raises it up for more ground clearance, which was my only complaint. I also use a ratchet tie-down to secure it to the vehicle as a fail-safe in case things go pear-shaped and the pin falls out, at least the pile stays attached to my car rather than tumbling down the road. The tie-down also keeps it from flopping around, which is its nature, having only one attachment point.

Every time I see one of those this time of year it's on something with the back end sagging by way too much and it makes me want to loan them my little trailer.
I only ever use my hitch hauler for gas cans to keep the fumes out of the car

I have one I got from Harbor Freight. It works great as extra storage space. The only complaint I have is that if you load it up you may not be able to open the rear gate depending on its design.

Here is the link to the one I use. I got it on sale for $69.99, though.

http://www.harborfreight.com/500-lb-capacity-aluminum-cargo-carrier-92655.html

If you want to haul long fishing rods, you can easily fab up some PVC pipe tubes and attach them to it without too much issue as well. As others have said, just don't leave your car unattended if you've got valuable stuff on the back.

I see them all the times at college ballgames to haul tailgating stuff. Good ones are about $100, but you can get for for as low as $49.

How do you fit 6 in an FJ??? Do those have third row seating?

Ours has a third row. Third row that I bolted in. You need to be small to fit but I have an excess of small people at my house so it works. Thanks for the advice on the haulers. I may as Santa for one.

What about a roof box - we use our Thule winter and summer.

My only experience with roof boxes had them leaking almost as bad as bags but being a bigger more rigid pain to deal with and store. Are more modern ones better?

mazdeuce wrote: My only experience with roof boxes had them leaking almost as bad as bags but being a bigger more rigid pain to deal with and store. Are more modern ones better?

We have one that we bought at Sears ten years ago and haven't had any issues with leakage. Worse case, you can always wrap the opening in duct tape.

Mine rigid didn't leak, but it did fly open on the highway one time, and dumped about $500 of camping equipment for miles before someone alerted us. I guess just because you can pull the key out, doesn't mean that the lock is secured. Now we secure it with a strap as well.

We have a Yakima roof box (I believe it's this one: http://www.yakima.com/shop/cargo/cargo-boxes/skybox-pro-16) that we've used extensively. We bought it new as a scratch & dent, they knocked off about 40% on the price. The salesman said that as soon as you put it on and take it off a few times, it'll be a scratch and dent, and he was right.

Our has solid walls, has never leaked, and although the weight is up high, it's pretty well distributed front to rear. I like the fact that it's lockable, as well. If someone wanted to, they could break into it, but that's true of any vehicle.

We've used it for several trips all up and down the East Coast, and I love it. As a bonus, it doesn't create much wind noise, and that's without the optional fairing. Fuel economy with it (if that's a consideration) has been impressive, especially if you keeps the speeds at something reasonable. At 65 MPH, we've seen around 25 MPG in our Odyssey loaded up with two adults, three children, and all our associated road trip gear.

On an unrelated note, how do you like the 3rd row seat? Something like that for our RAV4 would be ideal!

They're great.... until you need to open the tailgate. Most stuff you can get to by popping the glass, but depending on what is on the carrier, its a royal pain.

I've had roof bags as well. On a long trip where you have some stuff you don't need during the trip, roof bag gets my vote. If you need constant access to the stuff, hitch hauler will do.

I love my hitch hauler. I use it a lot for things like lawnmowers, little dirt bikes, coolers, smoker and other stuff I don't want in my car or rav4 because its dirty. Sometimes it stays on the rav4 for weeks at a time. Its certainty not a replacement for a pickup truck, but it does come in handy for dirty, stinky stuff.

We use ours for camping all the time. Fits our giant "weekend" cooler perfectly. Can even stack the kiddie bikes on top too.

oldopelguy wrote: Every time I see one of those this time of year it's on something with the back end sagging by way too much and it makes me want to loan them my little trailer. I only ever use my hitch hauler for gas cans to keep the fumes out of the car

I use one for hauling a dirtbike and have for years. It has been great for hauling my yz250. I also have a 5x8 trailer, but prefer the hitch hauler.

My thread from back then: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/sprockets/cheap-dirtbike-carrier-review/26800/page1/

In reply to mazdeuce:

My solution for 2 adults, 2 kids, abig dog in a big crate, and gear when we travel in our 07 Explorer was a 4.5 x 6 custom utiltiy trailer with a hard, sealed and lockable lid.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/101563-New-multi-use-trailer-build

There are many good trailer ideas over there, with a wide variety of budgets. I'd have looked for a M416 if I didn't need something as wide as I ended up building.

Prior to having the trailer, I used a hitch haul, roof bag, or both.

In reply to dj06482:

Love the third row when used as intended. People under four feet tall fit great. Over that gets cramped. The only potential issue is in states that require kids to be in a booster seat no matter what until X age. These little seats don't need boosters and in fact don't really work well with them.

I'm not interested in a trailer for this sort of thing. If I really need more space I just drive my truck. The FJ is more comfortable for people, but a bigger pain for stuff. Everything fits in the roof bag, it's just that it leaks a bit, I'm the only one tall enough to get in it, and once it's packed it's packed until we arrive. Moving at least part of the load 5 feet closer to the ground would help several of those issues and make my life easier.

Before the Sedona we used a hitch hauler on our Accord many times. We take many family trips with two adults and two kids, so we need the extra room. Ours is just a cheap steel one from Amazon for like 60 dollars. Works well, in fact we still use it at times or loan it out to others.

I have the harbor freight one. I made a simple angle metal frame and welded expanded lathe to that. It has a lid and a hasp that I can put a padlock on. It's reasonably secure from theft and holds luggage/supplies on trips. I put each suitcase in a trash bag to keep them clean and dry while we are on the road.

I have a hitch hauler, but I also have a Delta tool box that I can bolt into the hitch hauler to make a locking trunk. I used carriage bolts with the head underneath, so the box cannot be unbolted. Everything stays dry and secure.

i made my own. i've hauled everything from engines to tools on it. it's quite a bit beefier than commercially available ones. once, on my old dually with the utility box, we stacked 30 rolls of insulation on it and strapped them down.