Is a high clearance hitch available? Or is there room to flip over a hitch and install it upside down?

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Moon Buggy

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Discussion starter · #1 · Apr 2, 2021

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I'm looking for a new adventure vehicle and the Patriot ticks many of the boxes. But I use a hitch cargo box, which we love, and I need to have a high clearance hitch so it doesn't interfere on the undulating dirt roads and washouts. I don't want a roof box because I would put a roof top tent up there. Also, the hitch box doesn't affect your mileage.
So far my research has found the OEM hitch to be the highest, but still not high. Is there another hitch that is mounted higher, or is there room to mount a hitch upside down so that it pops out of the bumper about 5-6 inches higher?
Here's the hitch box I'm talking about on our lifted Prius.

 

breadtruck

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#2 · Apr 2, 2021

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Not used to seeing the term "Lifted Prius"

There's a number of threads showing the hitch install here in the forum that you can use to see what you are working with as far as modification needs. Here is one of them: INSTALLING TRAILER HITCH

 

Sandstone

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#3 · Apr 2, 2021

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breadtruck said:

Not used to seeing the term "Lifted Prius"....

Click to expand...

Right ?

 

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Moon Buggy

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Discussion starter · #4 · Apr 2, 2021

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That setup is awesome, we just got back from a 2600 mile trip, 2300 of it in the mountains of S Oregon and N California, 43-51 mpg, we folded the seats down and slept in the back on national forest dirt roads. The hitch box makes it all possible as the gear doesn't take up interior space and preserves the MPG's. But I like to get a little further off the dirt than this allows. We have a lifted VW Vanagon outfitted for overlanding too but it only gets 19mpg under the best circumstances but goes places the designer had no intention of. I'm trying to find a balance between the Prius and the Vanagon. Reliability, 4x4, decent mpg at 50-60mph, room to sleep in the back if needed, a rack for a roof top tent, but I need the high clearance hitch to make it all possible. I started looking at the newer Jeep soft roaders but think the boxiness of the older Patriot might work better.

 

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Moon Buggy

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Discussion starter · #5 · Apr 2, 2021

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breadtruck said:

Not used to seeing the term "Lifted Prius"

There's a number of threads showing the hitch install here in the forum that you can use to see what you are working with as far as modification needs. Here is one of them: INSTALLING TRAILER HITCH

Click to expand...

I had seen that thread in my research, it looks to be a 2" which is preferable and sits about the same height as the Mopar unit, but looks to stick out quite far, decreasing departure angle. There looks to be a metal panel that might obstruct flipping the hitch over. Is that structural? Part of the spare tire well?