Exogate cargo system prototype

jscherb

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Elmira, NY
I've been working on a general purpose cargo system for the Exogate. I like to configure my Jeep specifically for the needs of an expedition and when using the Jeep for daily driving I don't want to have to have lots of hardware permanently installed on the Jeep. The idea is that specific carrier(s) for whatever I need to carry on the particular expedition can be installed quickly and when I get home the hardware can be quickly removed.

What's I've designed is a receiver-based system - there are two receivers that mount to the Exogate and the various cargo accessories mount in the receivers. The receivers stay on the Jeep all the time and aren't really visible because they're between the spare and the tailgate, and the accessories mount as needed in the receivers.

I designed this system so the same hardware also works with MORryde's JK tailgate reinforcement and I've been using a prototype on my JKU for a while now. I just installed a second prototype on my LJ for testing.

So far I've prototyped three cargo carriers for the system.

The first is a bicycle carrier. I do a lot of cycling and like to take my bike to interesting places to ride. And sometimes when I drive to Florida to visit family, I like to bring a bike carrier so I can borrow my brother-in-law's bike down there and take it to places like Sanibel for a nice ride on the island. I don't like the bike carriers that are on the market - the ones that install in the hitch receiver prevent opening the tailgate, and the ones that strap to the spare are awkward to install. And none of them fold small for storage when not in use, making it inconvenient to bring the carrier on my trips to Florida. This design takes care of those issues.

This new bike carrier stores in a bag and doesn't take up too much space in the Jeep:

BikeRackBag_zpsaqrehpol.jpg


When in the bag the carrier fits under the back seat of my JKU, and probably would fit under the back seat of my LJ although I haven't tested that yet because the back seat isn't in the LJ now.

There are two arms to the carrier; they fold for storage.

BikeRack5_zpswzidiunp.jpg


Here's the bike rack installed in the cargo receivers - forgive the Jeep being so dirty, it spends its winters with a plow on the front and I usually don't wash it until the plow comes off at the end of the season:

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Since the carrier is attached to the tailgate, the tailgate can be opened when bicycles are on the carrier:

BikeRack5_zpssr3jqule.jpg


I've carried my bicycle thousands of miles on the bike carrier with the system installed on my JKU and it's worked great. The same hardware on the JKU:

BikeRack6_zpse4gu9zat.jpg
 
Next is a jerry can/Rotopax carrier. These can be used singly or in pairs. The design allows for mounting either a Rotopax or a jerry can tray on the arm and the arms are ambidextrous, meaning there aren't left and right versions - there's one arm and it can be configured for either side and for either a Rotopax or a jerry can.

RotoJerry1_zpsmtmcljdw.jpg


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Height is adjustable to accomodate different size spares. In these photos the jerry can is mounted a bit higher than the Rotopax because I didn't remove the hinge-mount Rotopax carrier (a production option for the Exogate) before installing the jerry mount.

RotoJerry3_zpsedz29kfw.jpg


Tailgate open.

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BTW the Rotopax in the photos above has an insulated cover. Since Rotopax have a tendency to bulge when exposed to the sun with fuel in them, the insulation prevents the bulging. The Rotopax cover has a PALS grid so Molle stuff can be hung on it, in this next photo a matching recovery gear bag is installed. Very convenient place for the tow strap and gloves.

RotoJerry5_zps3yygihqq.jpg
 
I also designed a rack basket mount (the basket in the photos is an ancient YJ basket that I think was a Bestop product; the mounting arms are part of the new design). Mounted over the spare, it's a conventional over-spare basket, except that since it mounts in the receivers it can be installed/removed quickly.

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The way the mounting arms are designed, the basket can be mounted above the spare as shown above, or the arms can be reversed, installed through the bottom of the receivers, and the basket mounts behind the spare.

RackLow1_zpsyt70bnpa.jpg


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Tailgate open:

RackLow4_zpspqooadry.jpg


The rack is still a work in progress; I haven't done the mounts that will attach the rack to the arms yet (notice the clamp in some of the photos). When I finish it'll be time for testing of the rack and more testing of the roto/jerry mounts (haven't done extensove testing of those yet). I've also got some other mount ideas I'll probably prototype.
 
So I have to ask: Can the Exogate really carry all this extra weight without any sort of fatigue or major stress on the tailgate?

I had the Exogate on my last TJ with a 35" tire, and I really was impressed. I am just not sure how much more weight you can add before things become majorly stressed.
 
So I have to ask: Can the Exogate really carry all this extra weight without any sort of fatigue or major stress on the tailgate?

I had the Exogate on my last TJ with a 35" tire, and I really was impressed. I am just not sure how much more weight you can add before things become majorly stressed.
I've got a lot of trail miles on mine with a jerry can and a HiLift on the tailgate (and the Safari Cab barn door mounted to the tailgate) and the designs I'm working on won't carry more weight than that. The rack could be loaded with more weight than that but there will have to be some weight limit on that, testing will be required.

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Those are awesome prototypes, I look forward to seeing more!

I reached out to MORryde a while ago about weight rating + tire and this was the reply I was given.

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I've got photos of some other Exogate accessory prototypes that have been built over the years and I'll dig through my photo archive and post some of them; they could be idea starters for people who want to build their own accessories.

Before I post some of the other Exogate accessory ideas, I'll share something from the very first Exogate prototype and little bit of history/trivia...

This is a photo of the first prototype Exogate hinge ever made along with a factory hinge. This photo is dated January 2011.

HingeCompare.jpg


That hinge was made in my home workshop as a proof-of-concept for strengthening the tailgate and it worked out well so I made a second one and that pair served on my LJ for years, even long after the production version was released. Here's the first homemade set painted:

HingesDone.jpg


These prototypes differ from the production version in that they're tapered - they're thinner near the ends than near the hinge pins. The production version is made from straight rectangular tube, and that's for two reasons - one, because the parallel surfaces of the rectangular tube are better suited to mounting accessories on the hinges, and second for manufacturing efficiency (= lower retail price) - the rectangular tubing can be very efficiently cut into a hinge leaf on a machine called a tube laser. The prototype tapered version would have been more expensive to produce (and less functional per the first point).

Here's a photo of the first complete prototype Exogate, made in my home workshop although I didn't have a welder at the time so I had to take it to a local fab shop to have them do the welding. The hinges aren't painted yet in this photo.

Exogate1_zpslxvwjdwm.jpg


Here is it after painting, installed on my LJ (which was dirty in this photo too :()

ExogateInstalledWithCarrier.jpg


Gr8Tops Exogate trivia: when the first prototype was installed and in use on my LJ and Gr8tops was deciding if they were going to market it I was describing it to Eric Walton (later the editor/publisher of JPFreek magazine) and I told him that what I was calling the "tailgate reinforcement" at the time was like an exoskeleton for the tailgate. He immediately coined the term Exogate and the name stuck - Gr8Tops used that name when they released the product :).

MORryde fun fact: Some years later when MORryde made their version (which also became the v2 Gr8Tops Exogate) I suggested to MORryde that they name it "Gatezilla" because they had a pickup truck bed slide product called Slidezilla and they were doing a lot of marketing of the Slidezilla name. They rejected my suggested name :).
 
Immediately after installing the prototype Exogate on my LJ in 2011 I began working on accessories for it. One of the first was this HiLift mount:

HiLiftMount1.jpg


It's not strictly an Exogate accessory because the base of the mount goes between the spare and the spare carrier so it could work without the Exogate, but the leverage of the heavy HiLift would probably be damaging for the tailgate without the Exogate. This only went as far as being a prototype but I then used the same base to build this jerry can carrier:

ExogateView.jpg


It's also not specifically an Exogate accessory, but hanging a heavy jerry can on an unreinforced tailgate would not be a good idea.

This is the prototype mounting stud that was used with both of the above:

AccessoryRackStud1.jpg


AccessoryRackStud2.jpg


The prototype jerry can carrier saw a lot of trail time, here's the Jeep at Tincup Pass in Colorado in 2012.

TincupPass_zps17d93374.jpg


The jerry can carrier went on to be a production product, but not until MORryde got into the game - Gr8Tops wasn't interested in it.

Next: a prototype accessory that led to a change in the Exogate design.
 
I have the jerry can holder. MORryde changed the design and now they have a 1/2in "hub" on the back so they dont sit flush unless you add a spacer or drill a ~4in hole in the mount.

I'll get pictures tomorrow.
 
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jscherb, Love reading your posts. You're very talented!

Was the FJ40 style hardtop on the LJ custom built as well? Very nice. The '4Wheel Drive' sticker on the lower right rear looks familiar, where was that from?
The hardtop on my LJ is homemade in fiberglass. After I finished making it, Gr8Tops licensed the design from me and they've been producing it for both the LJ and the TJ for some years now, here's their LJ version: https://gr8tops.com/shop/jeepmodels/wrangler-lj-2/lj-safari-cab-full-hardtop.

My homemade version has a bunch more features than the Gr8Tops version though, for example in the photo I posted earlier of the Jeep at Tincup Pass I've swapped the hard side panels for roll-up soft sides - the soft sides and a bunch of other features aren't part of the Gr8Tops version.

I did the decal myself too, using an old Willys design as a inspiration I drew this design and had a local sign shop make some for me on their decal cutter. The one on my LJ was left over from my Wrangler pickup project, it was one of several decals I made using old Willys designs as inspiration - I designed my pickup to be a modern version of the classic Willys pickup so it needed Willys-style graphics.

JpPlate.jpg


All of the decals on the pickup started with inspiration from original Willys emblems or paint stencils:

RetroDecals.jpg
 
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They made it stronger, but kinda makes fitment a pia

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One of the frustrations of being an independent designer is that once a design leaves my hands, not only often I don't get a say in future modifications to the design, often I'm not even informed about changes to the design. I'm going to guess they made this change to improve the strength of the mount, and I'll further guess that the engineer who made the change used a JK spare carrier to guide his modifications - the JK spare carrier has a hole in the center that this would fit into. I've sent MORryde an email about this and the problem fitting it to the TJ.
 
It wouldn't have been so bad if they would have made it the size of the wheel hub and normal spacers/adapters would work. Its a few mm larger and doesnt fit those ether.
 
It wouldn't have been so bad if they would have made it the size of the wheel hub and normal spacers/adapters would work. Its a few mm larger and doesnt fit those ether.
I just sent MORryde an alternate way they could achieve the same increase in strength but retain easy compatibility with the TJ. Hopefully they'll adopt it for future production.
 
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Here's another prototype I built using the spare mount stud - sometimes I don't want to carry a big jerry can but I want a little emergency fuel, so I made this carrier for a 5-liter NATO can. Its 1.3 gallons could provide up to 20 miles of reserve.

This photo was taken climbing to an overlook at Chloride Cliffs in Death Valley. One of the two trail guidebooks I've got said "Walk the last stretch to the top of Chloride Cliff" and the other says "If you don't wish to tackle the final steep pinch, leave your vehicle at the bottom and hike the remaining distance." Here's what it looked like from the bottom, "pinch" is the rocks near the top, which did require some care in tire placement.

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At the top. The salt flats in the far distance are at Badwater, which is probably about 40 miles away. At an elevation of -282 ft., Badwater is the lowest point in North America.

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As you can see from the trail pix in this thread, I do use and test all of these prototypes on trail.


MORryde is now aware of the issue @whitrzac reported with the current spare mount studs on the TJ; they're considering the solution I recommended and an equally good solution that they came up with.
 
If that rig was mine I'd remove that fuel or water container from the back of the spare tire. It may look cool to some people but all it does is create additional unwanted leverage against the spare tire mount.
 
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If that rig was mine I'd remove that fuel or water container from the back of the spare tire. It may look cool to some people but all it does is create additional unwanted leverage against the spare tire mount.
These days if I think I need to carry more than 1.3 gallons of extra fuel I'm more likely to use the frame-mounted side mounts than the spare mount, but the spare mount has served me very well in hundreds of trail miles in Colorado, Utah and California with no signs of stress on the spare carrier.

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