Mr_H

That's a strange title....well, lemme try to make more sense of it. I just purchased a hitch rack for my car. It is a Thule 4 Bike carrier for a 1 1/4th hitch. My question concerns the part of the rack where it inserts into the hitch itself.

I have noticed that the default hole leaves a good half of the stem sticking out of the hitch (The Red dot indicates the default hole, the red line indicates how much of the stem is inside the hitch itself). When it is in this far, the rack moves up and down just a little bit, enough that if the car hit a bump, the bikes would go up a tiny bit).

The blue lines on the picture indicate where the hole would be if I pushed the stem all the way in. The Blue dot is where I would have to drill an additional hole so that it would work. When the stem is pushed all the way in, the up and down movement I get from the default holes is greatly minimized.




So my questions are:

1) Is this normal? It seems like the rack would be MUCH more secure if the stem was pushed all the way into the hitch.

2) If this is the way it is designed, any ideas to minimize the up and down motion of the bikes on the back? I know it's not a lot, but if you're traveling a long distance (3-8 hours in my case), I'd really worry about damaging the hitch or the bikes with the constant bouncing. I know there is the obvious idea of slipping a shiv or something into the small opening to prevent the bouncing, but I'd need something good and stable (not a 'throwaway' solution persay).

Thanks for any advice

Nachoman

I have a Thule 4 bike carrier also. But my 1 1\4 inch hitch doesn't look at all like that. It's much shorter. That photo kinda looks like a 2 inch hitch with a 1 1\4 adapter insterted into it.

Portis

What hitch receiver do you have?

Mr_H

1 1/4th.

Portis

I know that, but what brand of receiver?

Mr_H

Oh, sorry It's just a hitch that we had installed at the local UHaul. 1.25 inch size, nothing else fancy about it.

Upon further investigation, it really does appear that it's a 2 inch reciever with an adapter...which I find hard to believe, since 1) Thule doesn't make the adapters themselves, and 2) I bought the box and set it up myself...with no adapters :/

Portis

I'm sorry, but i'm lost. Maybe a pic of the entire rack would help. It really shouldn't be that complicated.

Mr_H

Sorry, I don't mean to confuse folks. Here's a slightly more detailed picture.



The 'body' of the bike rack itself is 2 inches wide.
The 'stem' of the bike rack (the part that actually goes into the hitch) is 1.25 inches.
The stem fits into the body of the rack, wielded on the top and the bottom (think a hollow tube, you put another, smaller tube inside that bigger tube).

The blue note indicates how much of the stem is outside of the hitch. It happens to be the same amount that is inside the hitch as well. (IE, if you took the rack off the car, the stem is twice the blue part)

Make a lil more sense, or am I still talking gibberish (Which is entirely possible, since I know nothing about cars, racks, etc )

linux_author

- insert and bolt where it fits (with no drilling), then use this?

https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...All%20Products

Mr_H

Well, I went ot the LBS to ask and verify that everything is right. We checked out the other thule racks and...they're all designed the same. A bit weird, but the bike guy claims that it works. I'll give it a shot I suppose...

Thanks for the link there linux....we'll probably pick that up for an extra sense of security

MillCreek

I wonder if Thule takes their 2" hitch racks and inserts a 1.25" adapter at the factory. Voila! A 1.25" hitch rack at minimal incremental cost. That way, they make just one size, 2" but can use the same size rack for both size applications.

Portis

I'm not sure what you got going on there but you will probably be ok. I have a similar device on my sportworks rack. It is an extender. Both parts are 1.25" but i needed the extender on my minivan to clear the bumper. Just turned out that way.

Regardless, i have about 4" inside the receiver. Keep in mind that this is some very heavy guage steel and odds are you will be fine, even if it appears somewhat odd. I'm curious...how does that 1.25" piece fit inside the 2" piece? Can't tell from the pic.

What model of rack do you have?

Mr_H

It's hard to tell unless you get a straight on shot. You have a hollow 2 inch tube, the 1.25 tube fits inside it, and it looks like they pinched the top and bottom to touch the 1.25 portion, and wielded a bit there. Simple enough.

Nachoman

If you want to eliminate the wiggles, you may have to buy a 2 inch (hitch) bike rack, and toss the adpter. If your rack is still new, try and exchange it for the correct size.