[dhtahoe]

You're assuming I've never spun a wrench on a truck.....

I have plenty of scar tissue on my knuckles...

And (edit)IF(/edit)you can stand there with your hand on your heart and swear that under NO circumstances can the hitch be compromised by drilling holes in it, then that's groovy.

I do it every day... for a living... second generation. Do a search on my father Dennis Town. I yes I will stand here and say NO DO NOT drill another hole. It's called covering your ass. What the worst that could happen... nothing. But if he drills that hole and it fails then he has lost his bikes, maybe caused an accident, and still has a rack issue. Sorry that my aircraft way of thinking gets in the way of redneck thinking.

 

[JRB]

He wouldn't know anything about my goat, because he's never gotten it.

What is wrong with you people?

Must be our practical working knowledge of how products are manufactured.

 

[JRB]

Sorry that my aircraft way of thinking gets in the way of redneck thinking.

I can say that, having been to Tahoe, there are no rednecks. I didn't see many pilots either.

 

[Westy]

I love it, e-chest thumping, e-arguing over e-engineering over modifying a hitch that is described only as not long enough. No questions of how long is the hitch, how thick is the tubing etc.

 

[MMike]

I do it every day... for a living... second generation. Do a search on my father Dennis Town. I yes I will stand here and say NO DO NOT drill another hole. It's called covering your ass. What the worst that could happen... nothing. But if he drills that hole and it fails then he has lost his bikes, maybe caused an accident, and still has a rack issue. Sorry that my aircraft way of thinking gets in the way of redneck thinking.

I agree. There is a 99.999999% chance that nothing will go wrong. Even if towing something heavy. But there's always a chance that... I' don't know....a semi rear-ends you diagonally while pulling a U-haul... the hitch fails and sends it into a school bus. Where does the liablity fall then? Sure it's "mega-burly". But if you remove some of the "mega-ness"....what could happen? More than likley nothing. But there's always a chance....

Accident investigation reveals you drilled holes in your hitch. Now what?

 

[MMike]

I love it, e-chest thumping, e-arguing over e-engineering over modifying a hitch that is described only as not long enough. No questions of how long is the hitch, how thick is the tubing etc.

I'm assuming a standard 2" receiver hitch on a Pathfinder. I'm only ever speaking qualitatively.....

 

[Skookum]

I love it, e-chest thumping, e-arguing over e-engineering over modifying a hitch that is described only as not long e-nough. No questions of how long is the hitch, how thick is the tubing e-tc.

Corrected. Your e-spelling if find lacking.

 

[MMike]

Corrected. Your e-spelling if find lacking.

Pardon?

 

[dhtahoe]

I can say that, having been to Tahoe, there are no rednecks. I didn't see many pilots either.

But Reno home of the Reno Air Races is 20 minutes away. Hey when I work on a race plane if you have to ask will it work... you better be searching for another way/part. And I guess not having a mechanical DNF in ten years of racing DH doesn't count either. I hate to give advice on how to ghetto rig things... it's not the right way. If this guy was on the west coast I would just have him come by my shop and custom fit the damn thing. I did the one on my Subaru and it sit nice and tight with the bumper and you can still get the rear hatch open with the bike on.

 

[clancy98]

I agree. There is a 99.999999% chance that nothing will go wrong.

There we go. was that so hard?




Me, I'd worry about the semi that just ran up my A$$, but liability in catastrophic "act of god" crashes is important too!

 

[JRB]

But Reno home of the Reno Air Races is 20 minutes away. Hey when I work on a race plane if you have to ask will it work... you better be searching for another way/part. And I guess not having a mechanical DNF in ten years of racing DH doesn't count either. I hate to give advice on how to ghetto rig things... it's not the right way. If this guy was on the west coast I would just have him come by my shop and custom fit the damn thing. I did the one on my Subaru and it sit nice and tight with the bumper and you can still get the rear hatch open with the bike on.

Uhm - OK - there are lots of pilots, but not any rednecks.

 

[JRB]

<snip>....a semi rear-ends you diagonally while pulling a U-haul... the hitch fails and sends it into a school bus. Where does the liablity fall then? Sure it's "mega-burly". But if you remove some of the "mega-ness"....what could happen? More than likley nothing. But there's always a chance....

Accident investigation reveals you drilled holes in your hitch. Now what?

You might want more than any 2" receiver has to offer.

 

[Skookum]

Pardon?

The obscure subtleties of my own dry humor escapes me from time to time as well. But don't pretend to be shocked, remember i'm the one lacking your goats.

 

[clancy98]

....a semi rear-ends you diagonally while pulling a U-haul... the hitch fails and sends it into a school bus.

Accident investigation reveals you drilled holes in your hitch. Now what?

You need to watch less TV...

 

[clancy98]

...remember i'm the one lacking your goats.

There are very few posts on RM that can warrant an "LOL" in my opinion.

This is one, along with one about the Jerry Bruckheimer-style schoolbus pileup MMike just described...


woops, almost forgot. LOL.

 

[Westy]

The obscure subtleties of my own dry humor escapes me from time to time as well. But don't pretend to be shocked, remember i'm the one lacking your goats.

Obscure subtleties of letters highlighted in red?? Did you grow up looking for loose coins in slot machines in Vegas?

 

[MMike]

There we go. was that so hard?

Actually.....

Yesterday, 02:34 PM


It "probably" would be ok.

There is a safety factor of course. And the SF is there for when you bounce your boat over a curb, or a giant pothole or whatever. But drilling a 1/2" dia hole will eat into that SF. And so when you do bounce your boat over a curb, you're a little less safe. The SF is not there for you to drill holes in it.

Like I said, you'd probably be ok. And the "farmer engineers" would tell you "Bah! It's steel. It's strong as hell".... I have these arguments with our shop supervisor 5 days a week. Maybe he's right. It is a square tube. Then again....

Bottom line, I wouldn't do it.

 

[Fathead]

Sorry if someone asked and I missed it, but is there room to drill another hole (1-2" closer to the bikes) in the part of the rack that goes into the hitch? Your hitch will be intact, and as long as you leave enough metal between the 2 holes, there should be no effect on the performance of the rack.

Again, sorry if someone else already suggested this.

 

[JRB]

Sorry if someone asked and I missed it, but is there room to drill another hole (1-2" closer to the bikes) in the part of the rack that goes into the hitch? Your hitch will be intact, and as long as you leave enough metal between the 2 holes, there should be no effect on the performance of the rack.

Again, sorry if someone else already suggested this.

I asked and they said I was stupid.

 

[Fathead]

I asked and they said I was stupid.

Ok. . . I found yer post. I think you had the right idea and they missed it.

Tho you may have obscured your brilliance w/incessant inquiries regarding master baiting and putting hitchpins in goat slots.

 

[BigMike]

I asked and they said I was stupid.

No silly loco, we didn't say you were stoopid, its just not feesable. The hole in the rack is threaded, if'n I were gonna drill a new hole, it wouldnt have the little threaded part in it........

For those of you that don't know, hitch racks don't use hitch pins, they only use one side of the hitch, and then there is a threaded bolt that goes through the reciver, and then threads into the rack hugging it up to the reciever.

 

[BigMike]

OK, check it, I just got this email:

Good morning Mike,

I apologize for the delayed response. Thanks so much for the detailed
images. Technology is great isn't it?

The top anti-wobble bolt feature is an additional feature added to the
TranSport T2. We have heard cases where hitch receivers are too short
to engage the feature. This does not affect your rack performance or
safety.

If you have any further questions we'd recommend calling Thule at
1-800-238-2388 with further questions. We sold our consumer line of
bike racks to Thule on May 2nd.

Kind regards,

Marijo Martini
Customer Service
Sportworks Northwest, Inc.

 

[BigMike]

I like the anti-wobble bolt, it keeps the thing from bouncing around.........

 

[Skookum]

I like the anti-wobble bolt, it keeps the thing from bouncing around.........

Haha he said "anti-wobble" bolt.

Ya know i like your attitude! Not only do you want the best performance out of the product, your willing to risk devastating failure in order to obtain it. i mean we would have never made it to the frikkin Moon had someone somewhere not had enough sack to drill a few holes somewhere somebody said was unsafe.....

No silly loco, we didn't say you were stoopid, its just not feesable. The hole in the rack is threaded, if'n I were gonna drill a new hole, it wouldnt have the little threaded part in it........

For those of you that don't know, hitch racks don't use hitch pins, they only use one side of the hitch, and then there is a threaded bolt that goes through the reciver, and then threads into the rack hugging it up to the reciever.

Ok i still have no clue what you're talking about still.... But i do know that you can drill an undersized hole(tap hole) in the rack and buy a tap, use the tap to core out the threads and you're good..... i'm not sure if that helps or if you knew that or not.

tap thread

 

[Brian HCM#1]

you heard it here first...

BRIAN HCM#1 = also smarter than everyone else, in case you didn't pick up on the subtlety.

and he has more money than you. $150? Bah!

douchenozzle #2

Oh man you got me, I wish I had .00000004 the smarts you do, I'd be so much farther in life.

 

[BigMike]

Thanks Skooks.....even if you were being sarcastic Hey, i'm a theatre Techie, what do you want from me? my whole job revolves around "make it work."

Anyway.... yes, I do know what a tap is, but it won't work in this situation. The sidewall of the rack is not that thick, and there is a threaded piece behind it. It would be almost impossible to place the threaded piece behind a drilled hole and get it exactly in the right place.


And again, trying to explain how the rack mounts to the car...... First, the rack gets inserted into the hitch, then the hole on the rack gets lined up with the hole on the reciever. Then, a bolt goes through from the outside of the reciever and threads into the hitch. See "B" in attached picture.

Anyway..... so if I cant get the anti wobble bolt to work, mabye I could just shim it I don't know why I want to do this so bad now, I think its because I got myself started on a project, and now I want to solve the problem!

 

[MMike]

Haha he said "anti-wobble" bolt.

Ya know i like your attitude! Not only do you want the best performance out of the product, your willing to risk devastating failure in order to obtain it. i mean we would have never made it to the frikkin Moon had someone somewhere not had enough sack to drill a few holes somewhere somebody said was unsafe.....

Really the onus is on Sportworks here. By their own admission it ain;t gonna work. I think they should be providing you with something so that you can be using all of the features you paid for.....

I DO work in the industry of bolting stuff to vehicles. And as the OEM, the onus is always on us to engineer for each little permutation of each vehicle out there. It's a pain in the ass, but that's part of being in this business.

The same goes for the hitch manufacturers. THEY have to keep up with all of the different vehicles, and model year changes and all that. As do Thule and Yakima. Sportworks should be no different. (yes I know Thule just bought them)

I think Sportworks should be building you a kit ASAP so that you don't feel the need to "modify" prefectly good equipment.

Now I'm not bashing Sportworks. I have a 2001 Transport (old style with the bungees). I love it to death. I think SW is a great co. I think they should step up here though.


Awful side note: I was at a railyard a few weeks back talking to some railway employees. A guy was talking about having "modify" something to make it work. He would not stop using the term um...'n-word used to describe a person's ethnic background - rig"...if you get my meaning. He said it like 20 times.....

 

[Sherpa]

Awful side note: I was at a railyard a few weeks back talking to some railway employees. A guy was talking about having "modify" something to make it work. He would not stop using the term um...'n-word used to describe a person's ethnic background - rig"...if you get my meaning. He said it like 20 times.....

You mean you don't say nig rig in your daily life?

 

[Fathead]

And again, trying to explain how the rack mounts to the car...... First, the rack gets inserted into the hitch, then the hole on the rack gets lined up with the hole on the reciever. Then, a bolt goes through from the outside of the reciever and threads into the hitch. See "B" in attached picture.

Anyway..... so if I cant get the anti wobble bolt to work, mabye I could just shim it I don't know why I want to do this so bad now, I think its because I got myself started on a project, and now I want to solve the problem!

Ahhhh. . . now I get it. My hitch rack (Saris) mounts w/either a standard hitch pin, or a threaded bolt for more alleged stability (if you insert the included square collar into the hitch). Really, w/the right size hitch pin, you could drill the rack tube on both sides and use a standard pin. That is, if the "bounce" eliminator is more important for you than the side to side wobble. . . from my experience it's not, however.

Your shim idea is not a bad one. Is there enough clearance for a somewhat beefy shim to go inside the hitch tube? If not, a flimsy one prolly won't help much. Maybe you could get someone to shape and tackweld a stiff tab that would extend straight back off the top of the hitch tube and give the "anti-wobble" bolt a contact point.

 

[Brian HCM#1]

Anyway..... so if I cant get the anti wobble bolt to work, mabye I could just shim it I don't know why I want to do this so bad now, I think its because I got myself started on a project, and now I want to solve the problem!

New rack solves this issue, like mentioned before. Then again that's the easy approach.

 

[BigMike]

New rack solves this issue, like mentioned before. Then again that's the easy approach.

New Rack, or new hitch? Because, it IS a new rack. Its been mounted to my vehicle for like 15 minutes, and thats it

 

[DirtEveryDay]

Good gawd, I can't believe this thread has been DRAGGED on for 8 pages!!! It's not Unobtainium... it's mild steel! Cut it, drill it, weld it, do it all over again. I'm a little more than a bolt-on guy, I'm a fabricator and run Twisted Metal Customs. I build 4x4s all day long. Steel becomes the LEAST mysterious thing in the world very quickly, so don't sweat it, do what your brain says will work. YES, I have regretted saying that a few times in the past because I have failed to realise the potential stupidity in some human beings. Hopefully they are dead now and those gene pools will soon wither and recede...
Drill a fuggin' hole, bro.
And sorry if this will/will not work, I didn't bother to read the 8 PAGES in the middle to see whether or not you should drill a hole in a hitch!

 

[MMike]

So? Have you drilled it yet??

 

[BigMike]

So? Have you drilled it yet??

Nope. The 5 minutes a day I spend on this thread is the ONLY free time I have. I've been working rediculous hours, and don't have time to even ride, much less play with my bike rack

It'll all be over June 11th....... I just keep telling myself that. Thats when the crazy hours stop, and things go normal again

 

[MMike]

Better not drill it... car will burst into flames and your testicles will shrivel and fall off. It's true...

 

[DirtEveryDay]

Better not drill it... car will burst into flames and your testicles will shrivel and fall off. It's true...

That IS true. I saw it on rotten.com once... bad stuff right there...

 

[MMike]

Drill it yet???

 

[JRB]

Drill it yet???

Well - did ya???

 

[MMike]

Well - did ya???

I bet he didn't.....he's yella....

 

[BigMike]

Well - did ya???

Nope.....upon closer inspection, There is not enough room to drill a new hole, and have there be enough space between the two holes. It just wont work......... On to plan B........... Who has a plan B?