A New Weapon in the Ongoing War for Cargo Space

[VCrossfan]

Great Idea's Maverick...And your VX looks GREAT ! ! !

[vt_maverick]

Great Idea's Maverick...And your VX looks GREAT ! ! !

Thanks!!!

[RamAirZ]

lol so your saying a family of 4 and a dog can all fit in a VX no problem WITH all there crap for a long road trip? Your crazy lol. I learned that just bring the strollers along for just a walk through the local park. I could probably get away with just a roof top carrier but for some long camping trips or what not that extra storage out back would be great

[vt_maverick]

So just got back from Wisconsin yesterday evening, and wow what a drive! 20 hours of pure driving time, let alone stops to change and feed the baby. Good thing she's a great traveler - I bet she cried less than 20-30 minutes during the 50 hour round trip.

As far as the cargo box is concerned, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that the box was super convenient and completely waterproof, which was important as we drove through two solid days of rain on the way home. The bad news is that the Tone hitch did start to lean down (maybe five degrees or so) once I filled the box with some pretty heavy stuff (two Borbet CW3 rims that I picked up in Detroit on my way to Wisconsin, plus clothes, toys, and dog food). As far as I can tell, the box can probably only hold 50-100 lbs. of additional weight without leaning. Considering the platform and box together weigh about 150 lbs, I figure that's about 250 lbs total, which is kind of disappointing.

It seems to me that something could be done to increase the tongue weight rating of Tone's hitch. If I remember correctly, the two steel plates that bolt to the last crossmember are only about 6 inches wide, and use class 8 bolts to attach. What if those plates were increased to the entire width of the cross member, then welded to the frame rails at each end? Essentially you'd have the strength of a Dylan/Curt tow bar style hitch, while hiding the bar inside the rear cladding. I'm not the most mechanically inclined person, so I thought I'd throw it out there for you guys to chew on.

In the meantime, here a few pics from the trip:

[RamAirZ]

Looking good! I like my Reese hitch on mine, and I can take it off for wheeling purposes if need be.

[blacksambo]

Like your wheels what are they? And, are those weathertech wind deflectors?

[RamAirZ]

The wheels he has are Borbet CW3's

[blacksambo]

Thx. Do they make a 16"?

[RamAirZ]

They do/did make them in 16", not sure where to find them though. I have some 18" ones for sale.

[vt_maverick]

Check out Navistar's gallery, I believe his were made by "Spirit" (see last pic) but may have been OEM'd by Borbet. In any event, they sure look like 16" CW3's. Maybe he can point you in the right direction?

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/sh...me=&way=&date=

[RamAirZ]

There was someone in the rims/tires thread also with 16" versions, pretty sure it wasn't navistar, let me look.

Edit: I was wrong lol, I thought there was another set but they were 18's too, just looked small with 35's on them

[blacksambo]

Thanks. Any ideas about those wind deflectors they look somehow different.

[vt_maverick]

WISCONSIN and you don't visit me? Be nice to see another VX around here!

Too bad I didn't think about it, we were actually in Green Bay on Tuesday touring Lambeau field. Unfortunately we drove her Dad's crew cab truck (we were a seat shy in the VX) so you wouldn't have seen it anyway. Unless of course you were willing to drive the 3 1/2 hours to Boyd.

Thanks. Any ideas about those wind deflectors they look somehow different.

I'm pretty sure they're WeatherTech, not sure of the model number though. I'll take a look at lunch and let you know.