Hitch cargo carrier

Last min purchase for a beach road trip. Any suggestions on a hitch cargo carrier?

I see Harbor Freight has a couple in stock.

Folding for $129
Non folding $69

I’ve never hauled one before. Any tips or suggestions I would appreciate it!

 

I’ve had one for maybe 5 years I got at a garage sale for $40. Still never used it.




That’s all I got

 

I have three of them. The folding one with fold up sides is a great choice for lighter duty. My custom made big one is almost as big as my truck bed and I love it. Haul my garden tractor on it, great for traveling too. Better than a trailer because of easy storage and no maintenance. Heavy bastard though. Magnetic trailer light set works great. Might want to relocate your license plate.

 

My 2010 had a front hitch and I used the non folding harbor freight one more often then I thought I would.
Used the rear hitch for a bicycle rack. The front had a cooler and other miscellaneous items.
Sorry, long story… longer…

If you need quick and seldom cargo storage, hitch rack is great.

If you are going to be using this system often, I would suggest a roof basket or one that mounts over the bed, or a bed cap that would allow you to pack it to the ceiling.

 

Get aluminum. Saves weight when you have to remove it.. most aluminum holds 500lbs of weight, unless you need more capacity then get steel

 

I bought a cheap steel non folding on Amazon and it’s done texas to florida a couple of times and traveled around the state with no issues. It weighs nothing. Get a good cargo bag to stow your gear in on it. I generally use it on the Durango and fully loaded it will let you know it’s there if you have to swerve real hard. Haven’t tried it on the tundra yet.

 

I bought the 69$ one at harbor frieght mid trip last week. Lifesaver i had over packed and was tired of cramming everything under the bed cover. Very solid

 

Just traveled 3100 miles with a cheap $49 Menards one with two coolers full of food and beer. Slick.

 

Maybe it’s me… but a standard 3” 5/8 hitch pin is a very short fit. I couldn’t make the locking pin connection, so I got a cheap standard pin with clip, even that is really too short. I’m going to make it work, but why would Toyota engineers make such a thing.. Maybe it’s just me.

 

Toyota designed the hitch to have a small amount of play/wiggle room. This was done to avoid hitches/accessories becoming stuck from debris or rusted into the receiver.

 

to answer your question an “extended” hitch pin will work.

 

The hitch pin only works at a certain angle yeah kinda annoying

 

I have the Aluminum one from harbor freight with the ramp. It works great and as expected, but beware it was a pain to assemble. Tons of small fasteners.

 

I can only imagine what the double Yakima system cost?

 

LOL. Isn’t that four $$$$

 

I built a DIY box for one of mine using 1 3/8" chainlink fence toprail material for the frame. Then cut up old plastic bedliners to recycle the material for the sides, top, and bottom. Fastened with self drilling and tapping screws. Lastly trimmed the outside corners with sheet metal corner trim and waterproofed the inside seams with spray polyurethane foam. Cost me about $120 and a half of day. I can haul just as much cargo as both of those Yakima boxes inside of it and made a rack to hold my.giant Igloo cooler on top for EZ access to the cooler while traveling. Took it out west on my 4Runner for thousands of miles and it was awesome. I did add a trailer light kit and relocated the license plate as well.

 

Harbor Freight rack and cover, Costco storage bins, ratchet straps.

Survived 2 trips from Dallas to Kalifornia and back.

 

Like the bin idea a lot. Thx

 

I picked up a folder at Academy for 60 bucks last November. Used it to haul a wheelchair around. After removing the chair I'd fold it up to get it out of the way. Worked very well for me.

 

If you want a good one, Pakmule. Tig welded aluminum, light, doesn't rust, doesn't rattle or squeak, holds up to hundreds of pounds of coolers full of ice / meat on hunting trips running washboard & worse forest roads.

I've had 2-3 cheaper ones from Harbor Freight, Northern Tool, etc. IMO, they're all garbage for anything but occasional light use on pavement. They all eventually start bending, rattling, and falling apart. Buy once cry once.

 

It all depends on how often you intend on using it. I'm my situation I was away from home with a wife healing from a broken femur. The carrier served a temporary purpose and after a few months I gave it to a fellow camper to carry a generator on the back if her travel trailer.

 

Temporary use on pavement is fine. I've just had to throw away 2-3 of them. The cheaper ones are basically disposable.

 

Never used one with a pickup truck but have use for family trips in suv for things I didn't want to lift up to roofrack.
Good for trash or whatever that you don't want inside SUV hatch. Just be aware of exhaust exit location relative to your stuff.

I tried 2 from store and returned both. Harborfreight and northerntool. No way I would trust it to the 500lb it was rated for. Didnt even like the feel of it with my 200lb standing on it. Built my own with some angle and 2" tubing.