What Are These Things
 

Hey what in the world are these things on an '01 model? Specifically the upside down looking dutch oven roaster pot. The spare tire covers it. Also the black canister. There are 2 of them. What are those?

Battery cover and suspension air bottle........Phil

The black metal dome over the battery houses the air pump and valve block for the rear air suspension, the black canisters are pressure accumulators for each side air spring.

Discovered those in mine the other day after I had to access the battery because I left the lights on... oops.

Had been concerned after reading in the manual that an aftermarket tow-bar installation should also be accompanied by uprated rear springs because mine has a detachable Witter tow bar... but I think that having the air suspension negates the need for this?

Yep, self leveling to compensate for added weight. Just remember that this is a unibody frame vehicle so you don't want to hang more than about 500lbs of tongue weight on that hitch, and that's with a properly weighted trailer. I'd stay lower than that with any cargo carrying tray type thing.

Thanks guys.

the rear sliding floor option is very tough i wouldn't worry about the weight
i have carried A LOT of bricks in there, as in stacked full floor all the way up to the glass. i can tell you they weight more than the rated 400lbs lol

I wasn't talking about the sliding load floor, but the trailer hitch. In the past people have put an icechest on a cargo carrier with an aftermarket hitch and bent the rear of the subframe.