[NCJester]

I’m leaning toward a hitch mounted cargo box, perhaps the stowaway, swing away standard box.

StowAway Cargo Carriers - Versatility in Action.

How many times have you wished you had more space for your road trip? Packing up for a road trip requires careful planning - how much to take and where to put it.

www.stowaway2.com

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Would like to hear from those who currently use any brand of hitch mounted boxes and your experiences with them.

 

[Vanfam12345]

I don’t have one but have read 2 or 3 others who tried and abandoned them bc of how much they dragged and scraped. Would only try it if you lifted the suspension or had air bags installed first

 

[soxster]

Did not work for me. Waaaay to low and the scraping was not tolerable. I gave it away to someone that had a much higher hitch clearance. I was bummed it did not work out.

 

[Sienna9816]

My thoughts from earlier. (Ignore thread descriptions. Posts are still about hitch carrier. )

MPG for larger families on new Sienna

Our 2016 Sienna SE averaged 15-16mpg in mixed driving, we have 5 kids so the van was working hard with daily school drop offs, store runs etc. the mileage was no where near advertised…even with me driving like a 90 year old, I barely managed 17.5 mpg avg. We also burned they tires and brakes...

www.siennachat.com

Roof rack vs hitch

2021 sienna Husband wants a hitch, I want a roof rack. I guess I am worried that being a hybrid hauling something by a hitch would be harder the the engine. thoughts? Is it worth getting the hitch?

www.siennachat.com

 

[Velox003]

Did not work for me. Waaaay to low and the scraping was not tolerable. I gave it away to someone that had a much higher hitch clearance. I was bummed it did not work out.

Would a hitch riser resolve this?

 

[soxster]

Maybe.....but my curt hitch sits so low anyhow and any additional weight extending off an extra foot would probably still scrape the hitch, if not the actual carrier. It really needs more height from the suspension. If you have any additional weight in the back of the van as passengers or cargo and another 200 plus pounds sticking out further, the hitch extension will probably drag on any road dips, speed bumps etc.......the carrier may not due to the rise.

 

[Sienna9816]

Would a hitch riser resolve this?

View attachment 59157

I have a 6 inch riser. I say go higher as long as it doesn't block rear hatch from opening. As stated above, the riser still scraps speedbumps relatively easily. Cargo box should be ok, unless it extends too far back and gets weighted down like my hitch carrier does.

 

[skier0522]

I wouldn't do it. I have this swing out bike rack: Ridge Swing 4 - SportRack – The Way Outside with the Draw Tite hitch. I love it, but the van hangs low when it's loaded with bike, particularly since we typically take the bikes on vacation when the van is loaded down anyway. It's super easy to scape if you aren't careful. I think the box would be scaping constantly. I have AWD and there isn't an available airbag kit to fix this.

Brendan

 

[Snowy MT]

I have a swing away hitch mounted carrier on my 2013 FWD, with this box on the carrier:
amazon.com/gp/product/B001O0661M

I also have a lift kit, which adds 3-1/2 inches overall height and clearance to the vehicle.

I just completed an 18,000 mile trip to Alaska and the Canadian arctic (all the way to the ocean), then east to Nova Scotia and a lot of points in between. We camped all the way. Included in that was 2000 to 3000 miles of gravel roads and a lot of poor highways holes and jeep trails. I also had Goodrich T/A KO2 tires, which added another 1/2”, and air bags in the rear coil springs, but I really don’t think that they added anything except a bit of cushioning against bounce.

The system worked flawlessly and I never dragged once, anywhere on the vehicle including the hitch or the box, except in some snow in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula earlier this month. The box swing at 90 degrees was enough to be able to open the rear hatch, and we often used the top of the box as a table when cooking.

The lift kit worked great, the box and hitch rack worked great. Highly recommended.

 

[esuzuki]

I have a 6 inch riser. I say go higher as long as it doesn't block rear hatch from opening. As stated above, the riser still scraps speedbumps relatively easily. Cargo box should be ok, unless it extends too far back and gets weighted down like my hitch carrier does.

Putting riser is fine to get more clearance, but I read that it would reduce hitch weight capacity/limit in ~half (most likely due to having 2 joints instead of 1).

 

[esuzuki]

I was worried about not be able to open the hatch, so I got this hitch mounted rack that "slides out" by Let's Go Aero few years ago.
With the standard hitch rack configuration, it sits quite low and I was worried about scraping on bumps. So I purchased separate raised sliding base from the same company.
I also installed Air Lift 1000 on rear suspension.

Here are several images from the web.

And here's the difference between standard vs raised "pipe". I have both pipes and I use raised one for Sienna to get more clearance.

 

[Sienna9816]

Putting riser is fine to get more clearance, but I read that it would reduce hitch weight capacity/limit in ~half (most likely due to having 2 joints instead of 1).

Good point. I believe it is the additional distance that puts additional leverage that reduces load capacity. IIRC, hitch carriers seem to be rated around 200lbs which kind of works out within 375lbs tongue limit even at approximately double the rate.

 

[esuzuki]

Good point. I believe it is the additional distance that puts additional leverage that reduces load capacity. IIRC, hitch carriers seem to be rated around 200lbs which kind of works out within 375lbs tongue limit even at approximately double the rate.

You may be right about the actual reason (I wasn't sure about it...).
That's why I wanted to get raiser in a single piece and I'm glad that the manufacturer had exactly what I wanted.

 

[NCJester]

Thanks to all for the comments and suggestions. I've been giving this swing away hitch/box combo a lot of thought and even came across someone at a gas station who had one on his Subaru outback who was happy to spend some time talking and showing be how it works. The box mounts very near the vehicle, I would say about 12", the swing away is very secure and only takes a couple minutes to unscrew, release and swing away to get access to vehicle. Quite nice if it can be made a practical travel solution for the sienna. Unfortunately, the box blocks the backup camera.

I'm in the process of converting my van to a camper, currently both second and third row seats are removed. To date, I've fabricated/installed flooring and a convertible sofa bed removing more weight than installed. In the vans current state, I measure 13 3/4" from bottom of rear bumper to ground so installing a Torklift Ecohitch with a 2" receiver should put the bottom of the hitch receiver about 11 3/4" from ground (See pic, tape measure case adds 3"). I also hope to get a 3" lift installed which should bring the receiver height to a minimum of 14 3/4"

The van will only carry two, just me and my wife traveling but I do plan to add water and power to the van, otherwise just carrying a couple weeks clothes and camping items.

Anyone with a stock height sienna have an Ecohitch and use a cargo carrier? What was your experience. still to low?
How about with a 2 or 3" lifted sienna?

 

[NCJester]

I have a swing away hitch mounted carrier on my 2013 FWD, with this box on the carrier:
amazon.com/gp/product/B001O0661M

I also have a lift kit, which adds 3-1/2 inches overall height and clearance to the vehicle.

I just completed an 18,000 mile trip to Alaska and the Canadian arctic (all the way to the ocean), then east to Nova Scotia and a lot of points in between. We camped all the way. Included in that was 200 to 300 miles of gravel roads and a lot of poor highways holes and jeep trails. I also had Goodrich T/A KO2 tires, which added another 1/2”, and air bags in the rear coil springs, but I really don’t think that they added anything except a bit of cushioning against bounce.

The system worked flawlessly and I never dragged once, anywhere on the vehicle including the hitch or the box, except in some snow in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula earlier this month. The box swing at 90 degrees was enough to be able to open the rear hatch, and we often used the top of the box as a table when cooking.

The lift kit worked great, the box and hitch rack worked great. Highly recommended.
View attachment 59191

18k trip, this must have been a fantastic experience that I am sure you have many stories and advice for other van travelers to learn from, is your van converted to a camper or did you tent camp? Have you written your trip up anyplace or perhaps you're on YouTube?

 

[Sienna9816]

Thanks to all for the comments and suggestions. I've been giving this swing away hitch/box combo a lot of thought and even came across someone at a gas station who had one on his Subaru outback who was happy to spend some time talking and showing be how it works. The box mounts very near the vehicle, I would say about 12", the swing away is very secure and only takes a couple minutes to unscrew, release and swing away to get access to vehicle. Quite nice if it can be made a practical travel solution for the sienna. Unfortunately, the box blocks the backup camera.

I'm in the process of converting my van to a camper, currently both second and third row seats are removed. To date, I've fabricated/installed flooring and a convertible sofa bed removing more weight than installed. In the vans current state, I measure 13 3/4" from bottom of rear bumper to ground so installing a Torklift Ecohitch with a 2" receiver should put the bottom of the hitch receiver about 11 3/4" from ground (See pic, tape measure case adds 3"). I also hope to get a 3" lift installed which should bring the receiver height to a minimum of 14 3/4"

The van will only carry two, just me and my wife traveling but I do plan to add water and power to the van, otherwise just carrying a couple weeks clothes and camping items.

Anyone with a stock height sienna have an Ecohitch and use a cargo carrier? What was your experience. still to low?
How about with a 2 or 3" lifted sienna?




View attachment 59279

I know I am stating the obvious, but there are plenty of cheap aftermarket solutions to add a high backup camera. With an Eco Hitch, and a 3 inch lift, hitch mounted cargo box would be my preference. If need be, a 6inch or higher riser would almost guarantee no scraping.

Btw, Check out @EricD 's posts. IIRC, he has an eco hitch and has used hitch mounted carrier of some sort.

 

[EricD]

I have an EcoHitch and the 2" lift. Without the lift and with a heavily loaded van I had problems with a bike rack scraping. I also installed air bags in the rear coil springs. If I had to choose between the 2" lift and airbags I'd probably choose the airbags as the lift doesn't fix the issues with soft rear springs sagging when loaded.

 

[xsnrg]

Not sure if it's as true for Gen3 as for Gen2, but I think if you own a minivan and have a large family, the airbags are an absolute no-brainer mod. I put mine on myself in about an hour and a half. Before loading the van heavy for any roadtrips/vacations, I air them up to 30-35 lbs. After the trip, I return them to about 10-12 lbs. Significantly helps the 'sag' when loaded and especially so when we have the 5 bike rack on the back (weights 100lbs empty) and the roof-top turtle on there along with the 5 of us and a dog and the hatch area full of stuff.

 

[EricD]

They made a huge difference for me as well in my 2021, problem is the install requires removing a bump stop from the top-plate of the coil spring and that is only removable by disassembling the rear suspension.

 

[datsa noydb]

I had the AirLift bags in my wife's '93 Previa many, many years ago. Also went the extra mile and installed a compressor and under-dash controls so I did not have to locate an air station when necessary. With the compressor connected to a switched power wire, it would maintain a minimum pressure at all times. If I remember correctly, this also enabled an extended warranty on the bags. The only issue I had was the supplied pressure switch maintained 10 psi, which was a bit stiff with the van empty. I found they had an option for a 5 psi switch. That made all the difference.

I also learned that it helps if you inflate the bags BEFORE you add the load, if possible. The bags do their job by preventing movement, rather than restoring height, so if you load first, you might just lock in that height.

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