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So the hitch that I found sits comfortably behind the number and actually affects the exit angle very little if at all. I'll also be getting a 1 1/4 to 2 inch adapter that is technically only meant for class II hitches, but for only holding a spare tire, it will be fine. It's also fine for holding a bike rack or something. I'll edit this comment when I'm at my computer and show you what I'm getting

EDIT:

1. This is the hitch that I will be using. If you look at the pictures, it seems very discrete without much taken away from exit angle.
   
   
2. This is the best one that I can find for your car. There aren't any pictures form reviews, but it sounds like in the comments that it is also discrete, although there's no guarantee. If that one doesn't work, something custom is probably your only option.
   
   
3. This is the adapter that you can use. Just remember that as a general rule of thumb, your towing capacity is cut in half if you use one of these, just as a safety precaution. Towing with an adapter also depends on how strong the pin is that you're using to hold it into the base hitch.
   
   
4. This is the tire holder that I am probably going to get. It seems a little short, but I measured on my car and it should be alright. If it is way too short, you can get a hitch riser like this
   
   
5. THIS is the tire carrier that I want, because it is very very strong and the cheaper one folds to the side, which is really nice. I don't know if I'll be able to afford it, though, so I'll see
   If all this metal that's bolted to your car is rattling around way too much because of the couple millimeters of play in the hitches, pick yourself up a couple of these and it's problem solved.
   
   Hope this helps! If you want to know anything else, let me know
   
   
   Edit 2: formatting

So this weekend was Week 6 of Adventure Tour. I've skipped a week of submitting because I did not take pictures the last couple times I was out.


This weekend was amazing. Drove roughly 70-80miles of gravel roads this weekend. As the title of this post states there is now a rule that my buddy and I have adopted for our outings and that is: "If the road splits we must take the one that appears to ascend". It's lead to some absolutely great places! Best rule! My paint took an absolute beating this trip and yet, apart from the dirty scratches, appears to have held strong and I should be able to buff it all out. There were a number of spots where tree branches spanned across and touched eachother from both sides of the road and I plowed through. (I figure if it gets too bad I still have 2/3 of a gallon of paint left over for a respray). If you are thinking about a new, white paint job for your car I HIGHLY recommend using Ford's Oxford White, single stage. This stuff is tuff! Next time I'll get pictures of this, it was honestly insane, ha.


Anyway, hope the pictures are fun to look at! Enjoy the Pacific Northwest scenery!


-Kershaw Hatchet (http://amzn.com/B000EYHF9G)

-Woody's 20" LED bar (Bought at Napa, looks like a rebrand of another companies LED bar. Decent quality, 54 Watt, 18 LED, 4050 Lumen)

-Cheap Para-cord from local sporting goods store. 100ft of 50lb is what I keep handy.

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PS- It seems every time I take this car out it amazes me that, for a barely modified car, it can handle some of the places I have taken it. This isn't 'actual offroad' to me, but it's offroad exploration and taking my car where few cars have ever gone. I don't expect it to crawl over large rocks and through deep mud, but when I get to a steep grade of loose, softball sized rocks and the car climbs for 100 plus feet without even flinching or pushes through trees and thick brush it puts a damn big smile on my face. That's what this battle wagon is to me. Fun!


It leaves home cleaned up and proper and comes back scratched, dented, antennas twisted, bumpers slightly loose, branches hanging on to the undercarriage, and tires spitting bits of gravel in protest of being back on solid pavement once again.. but it handled it.. It's small battle against the misconception that these are nothing more than commuter cars as it returns home with mud caked fender wells, nature scraps, and new scars. Trophies from a hard day's driving.

end story/rant

TLDR: I like my car for what it is and it's fun to shatter molds.

Hayden 678

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000C3DDKO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I also run this Derale Thermostat because it gets really cold up here and I don't want to over cool the transmission

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004XONNRQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I no longer run the cooler inside the radiator as I find it rather pointless and since I've setup my trans cooling this way I now have way better shifting in the morning when its warming up and better shifting once it has warmed up. This also frees up the radiator from having to cool both the trans and engine so all the radiator cooling is dedicated to the engine.

Primitive spacers are actually made out of hdpe too. I forgot to take pictures but it was super easy and they look great. I bought a 2 foot sheet here (they have different sizes and thicknesses as well) and just drew on the template, cut the outside with a jigsaw, drilled the stud holes out, and then started the middle hole with a big drill bit and finished with the jigsaw again.

Mine is not built up completely yet, but I'll give you my parts list for everything I have and what I'll be getting as well. :) These prices are close to what I paid for at the time.

What I have:

24" Front LED Bar -$75

36" Roof LED Bar -$180

Rally Armor Universal Basic Mud Flaps -$16

N1 4" Muffler -$40

Curt Roof Rack -$120

Primitive Racing Skid Plates (Front, Transmission (thanks /u/Pizza_The_Hutt), and Rear -$450

5" PA Speaker -$12

K40 CB Antenna (mine came damaged) -$30

Less battle oriented mods:

Nexus 7 16GB (2012)- $199

Sound System- $950

What I'm getting next in order:

SJR 2" Lift Kit -$300

5 General Grabber AT2s -$560

Tube Bumper -$300-$400

That's pretty much everything. So just including off-road related mods, I have spent $923 so far and when I'm done will have spent about $2133.

I hope this helps. :)

Radio Coaxial Mount Antenna Spring
The mounting location is actually really nice, and it was very easy to set up. If you want a more detailed explanation, I'd be happy to give one.

I did it myself. I used quickfist and drilled thru the metal panels. Super cheap and they are great. I actually have an axe and shovel mounted on the rack. The shovel covers the axe. Original Quick Fist Clamp for mounting tools & equipment 1" - 2-1/4" diameter (Pack of 2) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CQPANY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_drrPBbZQ7X2MC

My total investment in it was $26 for the [light bar] (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WE47FVM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and $12 for the [wiring harness] (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0155W7EDS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1). It took about an hour to install not knowing quite what I was doing. You can assign the value of looks & functionality/use. I agree it looks great, and I use it semi-often on gravel roads and off road situations.

Thank you! It is the reese roof rack that they sell at walmart, it is the exact same as the highland basket on amazonhttps://www.amazon.com/Highland-1041900-U-Venture-Rooftop-Basket/dp/B007GMHTQ8/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1517982561&sr=8-9&keywords=cargo+basket it's just rebranded. I was reluctant to purchase at first but risked it since I could just return it to walmart if I didn't like it but I was really pleasantly surprised for $100 it is everything I need.

A tow hook... like a shackle? The closest you can get to what you are looking for (as far as I know) are these receiver mounted setups. You could then have a metal shop fab up a mounting plate of some sort. Kind of hard to know exactly what you are talking about with no pictures to reference.

https://www.amazon.com/Removable-Hitch-Receiver-Portable-SHIPPING/dp/B000RGW6FE

The mounts are just Quick Fists. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CQPANY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_BiuTBbS59T137.

Fairly cheap, and they hold up well. Then I just bolted them to the panel and added a couple of more secure bolts in place of the regular plastic snaps that hold the panel in place.

Pretty simple really! I went the affordable route after getting tired of seeing $80 shovel mounts on Amazon. I spent around $20 bucks in total for the mount. Here's another photo with a different angle.

I just went down to my local Home Depot and bought some conduit hangers. 2" hangers for my Thule MOAB IIRC. I sprayed them black to blend in a bit better since they come in silver.

Then I attached these rubber tool clamps to the conduit hangers using 1" #10 screws and washers.

So I wouldn't mess up the basket, I used some leftover rubber hose from my AOS install to act as a padding between the conduit hangers and basket.

I opted for a small cable lock to keep it from being stolen/tampered with.

I went with the Bully Tools 92510 12-Gauge Round Point Shovel Fiberglass D-Grip Handle because of it's sturdy construction. This thing is crazy strong.

Make something like this and use the license plate holes https://www.amazon.com/MICTUNING-Universal-License-Mounting-Bracket/dp/B01CEICZLC/ref=sr_1_9?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1518047171&sr=1-9&keywords=license+plate+light+bar+mount

As said before weight times 1.5. My truck is 8000# so I have a 12,000# winch.

You need a 5000# winch. Like this. http://www.amazon.com/Superwinch-1450200-single-roller-fairlead/dp/B00023S4QC

They are indeed identical. Josh bought his from Walmart, it is branded as a Reese Carry Power I believe and was about $99. I purchased mine through Amazon for ~$80, this is the link: https://www.amazon.com/Highland-1041900-U-Venture-Rooftop-Basket/dp/B007GMHTQ8

Edit: Walmart version link here http://www.walmart.com/ip/Reese-Carrypower-UVenture-Rooftop-Cargo-Basket/24087297

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WE47FVM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apap_x9U23NVRuBrqd

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SCJTJPW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WE47FVM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Coupled with their wiring harness
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0155W7EDS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007GMHTQ8/ref=ya_aw_od_pi?ie=UTF8&psc=1

http://www.amazon.com/Lisle-75500-Combustion-Leak-Detector/dp/B0007ZDRUI

Get the radiator up in the air so the gas goes to the fill neck.

Here you go: KYB 341276 Excel-G Gas Strut https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000EQ8GRE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_kVXUc2DPkw3bN

Amazon Link

Not sure which one OP is using, but there are a bunch of private label versions of the same product. Here is one:

MICTUNING Universal License Plate Mounting Bracket w/ Front Bull Bar Bumper for Off Road LED Work Light Bar https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CEICZLC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_tAKcBbMBBQDDS