How to Secure Bike Rack Carried with 1-1/4 inch Trailer Hitch Extender

Question:

Do you offer anything other than a pin clip for the extender? I have concern with the pin clip that anyone could come along and remove the pin clip and steal my thule bike rack.

asked by: James A

Expert Reply:

A hitch lock such as # e98879 would be a good choice to secure the extender to the vehicle's Class I or II trailer hitch. To secure the bike rack to the extender, you'd use a # THSTL2 Thule locking hitch pin which is compatible with most recently manufactured Thule bike racks. If you'd care to reply with which particular Thule rack you have, I'd be happy to confirm compatibility.

I would warn you though that Thule doesn't recommend using a hitch extender for their racks. Using an extender will lower the tongue weight capacity of your hitch by half because of the extra leverage generated by the extended distance between the bike rack and the hitch. Exceeding this reduced capacity could damage the hitch or its attachment points to the vehicle.

The weight of the bike rack and that of the bikes should not exceed half the hitch tongue weight capacity listed on the sticker affixed to the hitch, which is typically 300-350 lbs for a Class II or 200 lbs for a Class I hitch.

expert reply by: Mike L