This morning I got a PM asking where the heavy-duty tailgate hinges could be purchased. I'm told they'll be in the Extreme Terrain catalog soon. Until then, you get get them direct from the manufacturer (Heavy-Duty JK Wrangler Tailgate Hinge - MORryde Products). The manufacturer's web site doesn't support direct ordering, but if you email ryan(dot)wertz(at)morryde.com, he can take care of you. The last I heard they were selling for $150 per pair, and free shipping.

They also manufacture the spare-mount jerry can carrier, and that's available too (Spare Tire Rear Jerry Can Holder - MORryde Products).



It's likely that the JK side-mount jerry/Rotopax carrier and the hinge-mount Rotopax carrier shown in this thread will also become production products, a company has indicated interest. When (if) that happens I'll let people know.

 

This morning I'm installing the finished prototype side-mount and hinge-mount fuel can carriers for load testing. Here are some photos of the hinge-mount carrier with 4 different size Rotopax containers. Only one is real, the other three are 2-d cardstock replicas I made to show the sizes. In the top photo you can see there's a second set of Rotopax mount holes in the bracket, that's for the 1-gallon can.



More photos to come, I'm installing the side-mounts next.

 

A few photos of the finished prototype JK Side Mounts installed.

With a jerry can:



In both of these photos I've got a CB antenna mounted in the optional antenna mount hole on the driver's side. (On the passenger side, the radio antenna passes through that hole).



A 2-gallon Rotopax:



A 1.75 and 3-gallon cardstock mockup Rotopax container; the actual 2-gallon is in the center:



Installed and ready - a jerry can on the driver's side and a Rotopax on the passenger side; off to the gas station to add some weight to the cans...

 

Initial testing with 5-gallons of gas in the jerry can on the side mount went very well. The mount supports the weight just fine and there's no rattling. It's very stable.

I'll leave the full can on for the next few hundred miles for testing and I'll go out of my way to hit potholes .

When I got home from my test drive I did a little load testing, in this photo the jerry can is full and the two cinder blocks weigh about as much as another 1 1/2 full cans, so this is 2.5x the load it's designed for. (No, I didn't drive it with the cinder blocks on top, I don't really have a reliable way to secure the blocks up there).



Also I've had the mount on and off the Jeep a bunch of times today as I was swapping between the Rotopax mount and the jerry can tray, and it takes less than 5 minutes to remove or install the carrier, so I think it's very practical to only have the carrier installed for those trips where you might want extra fuel. That's what I do with my LJ side mounts - I don't see the need to carry fuel (or the cans) every day, so most of the time the cans and the mounts are in the garage.

 

Hope this will be available soon (at a reasonable price).

 

There is a company that's interested in both the side-mount jerry/Rotopax carrier and the hinge-mount Rotopax carrier, so assuming I'm happy with the full can testing, I'll send the engineering drawings and the prototypes off to that company next week so they can begin their engineering/pre-production process. If all goes well I'd expect them to be available maybe mid-year.

How do you define reasonable price?

 

Reasonable to me is sub $100 but I guess that's relative. I'll be interested in your Rotopax side mount being I have the hinge Teraflex set up already.

Good luck...wish I had the mindset to come up with such an ingenious invention.

 

That is the most bad ass can holder I've seen.

 

Looks awesome!!!

 

It may be possible that the base, without either a jerry can tray or a Rotopax mount, could retail under $100, but I don't know, I don't have anything to do with the prices (I'm not even an employee of the company that might sell these). Rotopax mounts retail in the neighborhood of $30, and the can trays can be bought separately for a little more than that, so if the base was sold bare without either of those the price could possibly be under $100.