How to Increase Height of Hitch-Mount Cargo Carrier on 2004 Chevrolet Malibu Classic
Question:
I have a 2004 chevy classic. Im transporting a power chair. Weight on the power chair 191. The rack I have is 75 pounds. I had a hitch installed, and bought an adapter for the 2 inch rack. It was too low, and had to travel that day, so went to a camper dealer, and they put a Rise adapter on the end of my other adapter. It helped enough to get me home, but still too low. My neighbor thought they would help, and shortened the length between the trailer and the rise adapter, and welded them together. That helped a little, but not enough. Do you have any suggestions? I still scrape a little sometimes going in and out of drive ways and such.
asked by: Debbie C
Expert Reply:
Thank you for providing a photo of your Malibu and power chair carrier.
Use of ANY type of trailer hitch adapter/extender, such as the Brophy # HT5R that you referenced, will have an undesirable side-effect: it will reduce your hitch's tongue weight capacity by 50-percent. It will also introduce additional random motion of whatever is attached to the hitch.
Since your combined power chair and carrier weight is 266-lbs, this means that your hitch would have to be rated for over 500-lbs of tongue weight in order for its halved capacity to be enough for use with an adapter. Since none of the hitches offered for your Malibu Classic is rated for more than 350-lbs your actual hitch capacity cannot be more than half of that - 175-lbs. So unfortunately you are already severely overloading your hitch. If you are using a light-duty 1-1/4-inch Class I hitch, which are rated for only 200-lbs of tongue weight, when this is halved you are at only 100-lbs carrying capacity.
If you are using TWO adapters with your hitch then you have an even lower capacity and I cannot recommend you load your power chair carrier. If these two different items have been welded together by your helpful neighbor, then their actual weight rating is unknown and this constitutes a potentially dangerous and maybe even an unlawful condition. In the event of a catastrophic failure of your hitch or adapters you could have legal liability since the items are modified and not used as intended by their manufacturers.
I urge you to instead use a small trailer for transporting your power chair. You may be able to locally source a small utility trailer that fits your needs at a home or farm store.
Product Page this Question was Asked From
Hitch Adapter 1-1/4" to 2" Trailer Hitch Receiver with 5" Rise
- Hitch Adapters
- Hitch Expander
- Bike Racks
- Cargo Carriers
- 7 Inch Extension
- Fits 1-1/4 Inch Hitch
- 1-1/4 Inch to 2 Inch
- Brophy
more information >
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