New Daddy

My family car has had a 1.5" hitch for a long time, and I recently bought a Thule bike rack that only comes in 2". Next time, should I try to install 2" hitch? The U-Haul hitch did come with a 1.5"-to-2" adapter, but any additional part means possible malfunctioning, so I'm wondering if it'd have been better if I had a 2" hitch to begin with.

terrymorse 

A 2" hitch hangs lower, so you might scrape it more often when going down curbs. But they are more useful, to be sure.

We have a Thule hitch rack with a 2" tongue. It's sturdy, but it sure is heavy!

gyozadude

Depends on how many bikes. Our new Sienna 2012 gets the class 3 hitch in 2 inch. Beefy and sturdy. I put the 5 bike Allen rack. But the new Prius V we just go has a class 1 hitch and we get the Allen 3 bike rack for a 1.25 inch hitch and usually only carry 2 bikes on that. I avoid the adapters because it introduces more play as well as extends the cantilevered distance on the hitch. If tounge-load isn't the issue and the adapter is just making the connection a little loose, I think Curt Mfg. sells a strap with vinyl coated hooks that grips the trunk lid and goes around a vertical support post for most racks and prevents most vertical slop that would cause the bikes to really go up and down when driving over bumps and dips.

cranky old dude

I believe your primary concern should be the max. tongue weight limit of your hitch. The minimal amount of sway that may arise do to any addaptor use should be a secondary concern. With a little imagination one can eliminate the swaying, but nothing can increase the tongue weight capacity of your hitch.

Wooden Tiger

My wife and I just got hitches on our vehicles. After very little debate we decided on the 2" hitches. I have a '12 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4dr and she has a '12 Subaru Forester. We also purchased a Thule rack which has a 2" insert. It's very stable and doesn't move around a bit.

IMO, go for the 2" if you can.

New Daddy

Where can I find the tongue weight? The hitch I have is this: https://www.uhaul.com/Locations/Trailer-hitches/837067 Is the maximum weight of 3,500 lbs the tongue weight capacity?

cranky old dude

Your link just connects me to the shop. 3,500 lbs is most likely the max. towing / trailer weight. Find your hitch on the U-Haul web site and open the installation instructions link...you'll find the tongue weight in that document.

Wooden Tiger

Don't quote me on this being the case with your particular hitch but usually with a 2" hitch the tongue weight, which is basically how much weight can "hang" off the hitch, such as a bike rack, is around 300 lbs. As for pulling weight, it's probably between 3,000-3,500 lbs.

gyozadude

This is usually the case, but if the load starts to oscillate at a characteristic frequency in resonance with some periodic bump in the terrain you're driving, then the acceleration and deceleration of that load (especially vertically) can be catastrophic. While most makers will engineer a factor 2 to 4 safety in the design of the mount, considering the amount of recycled steel used and which country the steel is coming from, consider the engineering of support bolts on the SF Bay bridge retrofit that busted loose recently and you'll see why I don't like oscillations and play. It is critical to minimize the sway on a cantilevered load out the rear and to make sure any oscillations, should they occur are dampened quickly by straps and not allowed to persist.

New Daddy

I found the installation instruction, and it says the max tongue weight is 300 LBS. So, this should be enough to handle the Thule Bike rack, which cannot possible exceed 300LBS with my family's bikes attached.

But what about the adapter? Do I need to worry about the max tongue weight of the adapter too, or does it all come down to the max tongue weight of the hitch? BTW, my bike rack - Thule Apex swing - is probably as heavy as bike racks get. I've got this adapter: https://www.uhaul.com/MovingSupplies/...apters?mid=313

Wooden Tiger

You'll be perfectly fine with a Thule rack and a few bikes. Figure the rack probably weighs between 35-50 lbs at the most, plus a few bikes that surely won't exceed 200 lbs.

InOmaha

I doubt you're going to overload a hitch with bikes and a rack. Do you have anti-rattle hitch pins? They'll stop horizontal and probably most vertical play in the connections.

I have a 2" Reese 4 bike hitch with welded in anti-rattle bolts inside it. It has a 2 inch ball on the end of it that I use to pull a trailer carrying other toys. I adjust the trailer load backwards to ease the vertical load on the extended ball. My hitch takes 500 lbs at the vehicle.

The 3000-3500 lbs is the pulling capacity. But that's determined by the lower value between the vehicle and hitch capacities. One might be higher than the other. If your car isn't tow ready I wouldn't pull something that heavy at highway or interstate speeds. I probably doesn't have the vehicle weight, cooling capacity, or braking capabilities; which can lead to handling and stopping problems.

rumrunn6

haven't measured mine yet, do I measure the inside of the empty hitch?

fietsbob

you can fit 1.5" stuff in a 2" square tube, just need the square shim tube between the 2 {a 1/4" wall squaretube)

locking pin would pass through both the receiver , the shim and the rack of course so its still solidly attached..

cranky old dude

Just for your own 'Peace of Mind' you might weigh your rack and your bikes, and then call U-Haul to verify that your adapter can safely handle the total load.

To answer your question regarding future hitch purchases, I always make it a habit to install the strongest hitch available for my vehicle and I gravitate towards Class III / 2" receivers and then adapt down to 1 1/4 if need be. That being said not all vehicles are rated for heavy duty towing and Class III / 2" receivers are not available for all vehicles. For example my wife's '96 Camry has a Class II / 1 1/4" receiver with a Max. tongue weight of 300 lbs. The Class III / 2" receiver on my S-10 has a max. tongue weight of 350 lbs. They both work sufficiently well for my uses.

Wooden Tiger

I had a 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX STi and had a 1 1/4 receiver on it. It carried not only a Yakima rack but also two fairly heavy GT Avalanche MTBs, which probably weighed no less than 28 lbs each. We never had a problem with the rack swaying or anything. I think it just all depends on the quality of the hitch receiver. IMO, I'd recommend one made in the USA for varieties of reasons, mainly because USA-made steel products have to meet higher standards than foreign-made counterparts.

New Daddy

I posted the OP but am adding the following link for posterity's sake. According to it, adding an adapter decreases the tongue weight maximum by half. It makes sense from physics perspective, although I never took physics after high school.
https://www.etrailer.com/faq-hitch-adapters-extenders.aspx

Tom Stormcrowe

Your tongue weight is generally but not always around 10% of your gross weight. As said, it depends a lot on your vehicles capabilities as well. If your hitch capabilities exceed what the car can handle default to the car's specs.

rumrunn6

they have stronger 1 1/4" hitches, class II and I think class III maybe too. personally I would stay away from the whole adapter thing

New Daddy

Have you had any personal bad experience with adapters? Its wobbling worries me a little.

Jseis 

After using a Thule 4 bike rack that was a heavy chunk of iron...I now have an aluminum Kuat Alpha 3. What a difference in weight. Two road bikes (18 and 23 lbs) and an MTB (32 lbs) plus the rack (13 lbs) wouldn't go over 90 pounds total. Three light road bikes and you'd be at ~60 pounds total.

rumrunn6

no I have not but I think wobbly is a bad sign. can you return the bike rack and get another made for your size hitch? probably 1.25" not 1.5"