Looking for ideas/ways to mount a 20L/5gal jerry can on the exterior of my rig.

Two notes.

1. I do not want to put anything on the roof.
2. I do not want to buy a rear bumper/tire carrier to be able to mount a jerry can.

I am thinking of using the smittybuilt jerry can mount, and somehow mounting the setup to my hatch, but then opening the hatch will be a huge pain due to the weight of 5gal of fuel.

Maybe mount the jerry can/mount higher on the hatch over the glass on the drivers side? That might offset the weight of the can a little on the hatch when opening it by not being mounted near the bottom.

Anyone have any pictures of what you did, or any ideas that might work?

 

I think the consensus is not to put the Jerry can on the hatch. The hatch lift shocks probably wouldn't handle the weight, your hatch is made of metal. Even fiberglass hatches are heavy when the shocks don't work. The only kinda solution is to put it in place of your spare tire. But then it would be inside. At one time I thought of outside the rear quarter panel but that would just look weird.

 

Ive had the same thoughts.

It could be fine mounted inside where the spare was, but id prefer it outside if possible.

Ive also considered mounting it on the quarter panel...for about 5 seconds. It will look weird, and for sure hit something on a trail.

I guess i will see how many fumes (if any) come off it when full of fuel and consider mounting it inside.

Im still open to ideas on this though. Id like to make it work on the hatch.

 

Mounting it on the hatch is a terrible idea due to the aforementioned weight and the fact that the hatch is made of fairly thin steel. Get a can With a good seal and put it inside if you don't want to buy a bumper or roof rack.

 

Like i said, i will look into mounting it inside the cabin. But i would also like ideas that could allow the mounting of the can on the rear of the jeep that dont include spending $1200 on a swing away rear tire carrier to mount an $80 jerry can to.

 

Easy, go to nearest fab shop, have them build a tire carrier/bumper for you.
My rear bumper with tire carrier cost me just over $460 CDN, installed including taxes.
Then mount all the jerry cans you want.

But, seriously though, if you are worried about fumes, either build a box and vent to the outside... or, if you use the standard short/fat cans... they fit inside a tall rubbermaid roughneck tote. Use a through hull fitting from a boat shop to attach a hose and again, vent to the outside however you want (second through hull fitting through floor or lower rear quarter).

 

It's not really a good idea to have a gasoline container inside the cabin. Fumes will concentrate when the car is sitting. It might explode.

Why not find a stock rear tire carrier like this one and adapt it to your purpose? It wouldn't be difficult to put a Rotopax mount on that thing, and it fits on a stock bumper.

 

How would a sealed gas can explode?

 

I don't know about exploding gas cans. But I have seen a plastic gas can expand in the bed of a Comanche. Pretty scary trying to relieve the pressure from a swelled up gas can.

 

Impressively.

 

So you have no idea.

 

You're right. That was mostly a joke.

What I do know is that a "sealed" gas can usually isn't, and fumes will escape it. If you leave it in a closed space, the fumes will build up in that space. That's certainly not good to breathe. If you have a can inside the vehicle, it needs to be vented to the outside to avoid the driver passing out and running off the road.

It probably wouldn't explode, unless it built up a high enough concentration of fumes in the cabin and met a spark. That's probably a long shot. But then, how many of us have had electrical problems in our Jeeps? Can I be sure there's no source of sparks?

Even if it's not going to explode, it's still a bad idea, especially when there are much better solutions available that keep the gas on the outside where it belongs.

 

A quality gas can won't leak fumes. I have a couple NATO ones and they are sealed up tight.

 

Ok, you CAN mount a can to the hatch with a little modification. I took my inside panel off and cut a small section out. Then from the outside, decided where I wanted my can to mount. Drilled my four holes. Then on the inside, I used a piece of plate steel (1/8 inch thick) with same 4 holes as a backing/support for the Jerrycan mount (my plate was double the size of the can holder).

 

Picture? And did you upgrade to the Ford Explorer lift gate shocks?