Anyone ever stuck a hitch on the front of a KJ?

[DAGtunes]

Is that even possible?

I've seen this on a few other vehicles - like the XJ's.

Reason? The swing gate makes a rear hitch mounted cargo platform not very viable.

I'd like to be able to throw a couple of bikes on a front hitch-mounted cargo deck - keeping them generally below the line of sight, of course. (handle bars folded down, hitch position somewhat lower to the ground...) Would just be for highway travel purposes.

Just curious if anyone has done this or seen it?

 

[ThunderbirdJunkie]

You mean one of these?

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[Corwyyn]

Nope, never have seen one of those on a KJ before...

Oh wait, yes I have:

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[ThunderbirdJunkie]

What's that square thing sticking out of your bumper?

 

[HoosierJeeper]

I think I know that......let me think....

TonyCRD also has a front hitch...

 

[valvestem]

Front Tow Hitch Write-UP

http://www.kirkanddonna.com/kirk/2004/08/front-hitch-install.html

It looks like front receiver hitches are not longer available from the manufacturers for the Jeep Liberty.

 

[Blue KJ in PA]

Yep...I have one...but they are no longer made due to corporate consoldidation by Cequent owners of Draw-tite, Reese, and Hidden Hitch.

I have used it with my 2 bike rack while using the rear hitch to tote a trailer...I use it most often for my hitch rack to carry big cooler and stuff like that.

 

[DAGtunes]

Thanks, all. Yup, I guess it is "Possible," eh?

My `05 Rene front bumper has tow rings, but no hitch. I briefly browsed a couple sites, like RRO, AllJ, and JBA, and saw the ARB front bumpers, but nothing with a hitch receiver, per se.

I wanted to do like the post just above, throw a 2-slot bike rack up front. I was towing a pop-up camping trailer around these last few years, but we just sold that. Now I'm looking into cargo racks of some sort, but a rear hitch-mounted rack seems like it wouldn't be very convenient, due to the swing gate.

Also, it would have to stick out kinda far, so the stuff piled on it doesn't hit the spare.

The rear-center mounted spare on my KJ has caused me lots of grief with towing! Poor design there, IMHO.

 

[DAGtunes]

Take it off? Throw it on a roof rack or inside your KJ?

Yes. This is what we've done in the past. I had a tent-trailer with a cargo deck, and would usually throw it up on there. I have the Mopar/Jeep roof basket, and have thrown the spare up there before, too.

I just think that in general it was a poor design for a vehicle that came with a factory installed tow package! If the spare was off-set it would have made things better. But no - it's dead center, and the bottom of the tire sits just above the receiver tube!

Our trailer was high-clearance, and so to tow level I had to mount my ball up a little higher, too. I bought the longest ball-mount insert I could find, and still couldn't clear the spare enough to hitch up the coupler. I looked at the hitch-extender tubes, but they reduced the safe towing capacity and tongue weight too much for our needs. I even bought a special bracket from RRO that allowed me to mount the spare up a little higher - but it wasn't high enough...plus it sat outward even further!

Either way, even if I moved the spare, using a hitch-mounted cargo rack on the rear is going to make accessing the stuff in the back of the KJ pretty tough, methinks.

 

[DAGtunes]

Pictures being worth 1000 words, here's a few I took when trying to solve that dilema a few years back...

The first (standard) ball mount I bought (Black), and the longest ball-mount I could find. (Chrome - ordered online)

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The way the standard length fits:

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The way the extended length fits:

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The only solution was to remove the spare every time I towed...which I did.

We've sold that trailer since. The PITA nature of towing it with this vehicle was at least part of the motivation to sell it!

Here was the whole rig (Spare in the roof basket) :

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So, we're going back to "tent camping," but I need more cargo capacity out of my KJ...hence the interest in front and rear hitch-mounted cargo platforms.

As for the Mopar/Jeep roof basket, it is nice looking, but sits really high on my KJ. Especially now that I'm lifted. (Pictures above are all pre-Frankenlift!) I can't fit into my garage with the rack on, installation is a PITA. It's 8 hex-head long bolts, and the angles they go in at neccessitate hand tightning only with an allen wrench! (There might be an air-tool that could do it...but I don't own it.)

I'm looking into having a roof basket fabricated that would sit 1/2" or so off the roof surface, and mount to the stock Renegade bars. (Which are 2" - or so - diameter)

Anyway... (bla bla)

 

[ThunderbirdJunkie]

Uh, your ball receivers are upside down.

THIS is why so many people have trouble towing with the KJ??

 

[yellocoyote]

Uh, your ball receivers are upside down.

THIS is why so many people have trouble towing with the KJ??

That's what I was thinking too...
I towed a van with my KJ without ever having to take the spare off...

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[DAGtunes]

Uh, your ball receivers are upside down.

THIS is why so many people have trouble towing with the KJ??

Those are reversible, for either dropped ball position, or rise.

I needed a 2" rise to tow our trailer level with my then unlifted KJ.

Look at the trailer in the pic above. It was an off-road type, with lots of clearance, leaf-spring suspension, mud tires, etc...

I got funny looks towing that beast with my KJ, but it was too easy. We pulled that thing all over the state (Cali) and hardly knew it was there! (After getting a bigger transmission cooler installed, of course! )

 

[Warren.fischbeck]

It looks like you could have used a 2.5 or 3 inch offset for that beast of a trailer...

 

[DAGtunes]

It looks like you could have used a 2.5 or 3 inch offset for that beast of a trailer...

That picture was in dirt, and is deceiving. On flat pavement, it was all perfectly level with the hitch I used.

 

[kb0nly]

I would have went with the drop, flipped the ball mount around, and let it sit off level a bit, won't hurt it any... Or go with 2-3 inches of less lift on the mount so it can sit under the spare. Anyway moot point since you sold it. Nice looking camper by the way.

We had a popup that we pulled with our minivan for years. Without anything in the camper it was at a slight angle, but once i loaded all our gear in it leveled out just fine.

 

[riptricket]

my 05 renny with the front hitch

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[ThunderbirdJunkie]

And all of a sudden...lights hose clamped to LCAs does not seem so bad

 

[riptricket]

And all of a sudden...lights hose clamped to LCAs does not seem so bad

nownow... drive where I drive and you will think differently... out in the middle of nowhere sometimes!

 

[ThunderbirdJunkie]

Wasn't questioning the addition of the lights...just the method...