Well you already know my story, but as far as specific carriers that the rear door will clear?.. I dunno. I'd say that any hitch carrier
with a straight main support bar will sit low enough to clear the spare and rear door, but the tail end of those baskets always rides too low to the ground in my opinion. A friend of mine had a basket like that on his stock-height 80-Series Land Cruiser and he dragged it quite often. You've seen the one I have with the 2" rise and I have never dragged it on a steep driveway or parking lot entrance/exit. The 2" rise
really helps in that regard even though the trade off is the clearance problem with the spare and rear door. Of course it has occasionally dragged offroad, but 99% of my offroading is more forgiving dirt and beach, not rocky terrain.
I do agree with you for the most part, and I've got an old trailer just sitting around waiting for me to start something with it, but I carry mine all the time.
If I had to list Pros/Cons I would have to admit that the two things I dislike about my hitch carrier are;
1. The fact that it has to be almost completely unloaded for me to open the back door more than a few inches.
2. The fact that anything that rides back there is gonna get grimy or covered in dirt and sand in less than perfect weather or on the beach.
Both of those issues are just the nature of the beast really, and everything is a compromise. Despite that I had the carrier hitched up for almost a year continuously once I fitted the LED tail lights and I like the extra flexibility it gives me at the spur of the moment for carrying tires, bleeding animals (from hunting, not roadkill :lol
, campsite trash, my jobsaw on a rolling stand, and anything else that won't fit or is too dirty/smelly/oily for the inside. When I bought my '08 used I purposely chose a truck without the OEM 'half-a-rack' because I knew I wanted something truly functional. At some point I will get a BajaRack Utility Rack, but in the meantime my hitch carrier has more than paid for itself with hauling convenience and the fact that it has taken a couple of low-speed impacts from tailgaters.
:cheers: