I was driving to work after stopping by Paragon Machine Works in Richmond. This was September 26th. I had gone there on my way to work to grab a few 110x12mm skewers and 2mm headset spacers. The folks at PMW were in the ‘warehouse’ having a meeting about product while I was dealing with Coco to get my stuff. Calvin asked me a few questions about their product which was flattering. It’s always nice to be asked for your opinion. Sadly, my perspective is quite different from most of their customers so there was little of value that I could offer. Anyway, I am lucky that I can stop by Paragon before work and it’s always a great show. If you’ve never been, go.
On my way to San Francisco from Richmond, as I come into the back of the Bay Bridge maze and about to find a place in line to go through the toll, the engine of Windy’s 2013 Subaru Impreza that I was driving made a wild sound. It was sickening. I watched my tachometer start falling toward zero as my pedaling the clutch or gas or whatever had no effect. I acted quickly and was able to use what was left of my forward momentum to coast safely to the shoulder of route 80. Attempts to restart were met with nothing. This seemed pretty bad.
A few hours and a tow truck ride later lands me at the mechanic’s shop in San Rafael. It was actually a really nice trip. I talked with the young tow truck driver about his arranged marriage and navigating life as a young couple. The Subaru mechanic that we use was away and the car was going to sit for the weekend. Windy handed off the Sprinter to me and I headed to work.
Within the week we knew what was obvious. The car was dead. It needed a new engine and the cost of that, even with a used engine, would be about what the car would be worth when done. Not an attractive outcome. With my motorcycle also gone since hit by a car and totaled with me on it at the Golden Gate Bridge toll plaza last Thanksgiving all we had was the Sprinter.
We spent the next month shopping for a replacement car. The market for good used cars is terrible and dealerships suck. We did the work and tested our assumptions. Also, when I say ‘we’ I mean Windy. She put a ton of effort in and I’m grateful. We finally landed on the right purchase. A 2024 Honda CR-V EX-L AWD in grey, certified pre-owned, from the Honda dealership in El Cerrito. Just over 9K miles on it. $35k out the door. We didn’t want to spend that much but it is what it is. Crazy nice car. I kinda love it. October 26th. An even month.
Now we get to the part that’s relevant to my blog. We need a receiver to mount the rack for carting bikes around. I had two choices. Draw-Tite 76342 (3,500 lbs. GTW) or the Draw-Tite 76128 (4,500 lbs. GTW). The nice thing about the 76342 is the ground clearance is maximized and just the receiver is visible. It would be the clean option. That’s the direction that I decided to go. The OEM install notes are HERE.
This decision is also informed by the towing capacity limit for the vehicle. 1,500 lbs. is far less than the rating for even the lighter weight receiver setup. It makes little sense to build out a solution that provides such a destructive option.
I still have an old Küat Sherpa 2.0 rack, with a 1.25″ mount and replacing that is an expense that I’m not looking for right now, To use it, I’m going to have issue mounting to the 2.0″ receiver tube. The problem isn’t just needing an adapter. It’s reducing any discernible play play in the system that gets amplified to produce noticeable sway with a bike in place. This drives me nuts. Worse, if I simply mounted the parts, the rack would be projecting at least 8″ more than need be. I had to do something.
Küat does sell an adapter (D101) for going to the 2.0″ receiver from 1.25″ hitch, I wanted something a bit more streamline and to reduce the extension.
The first thing to do was to cross drill the receiver hitch, adapter tube, and rack with a 17/32″ hole just ahead of the 21/32″ clearance for the 5/8″ pin of the 2″ tube. I removed the Küat adjustment hardware but this isn’t a loss given the real improvements. In the end, this means that I can span all these elements regardless of tube size or pin diameter. Pretty neat and makes life easy later.
I bought a nice 1/2″ locking pin that would cross the 2″ receiver hitch to keep everything clean. No rattles. Solid.
The hitch OEM explicitly warns: do not cut, weld, or modify the receiver—doing so voids the rating and SAE J684 compliance. Yeah. I voided the warranty.
Then I made some shims and 1/4″-20 locking screw threads for the adapter to grab the rack tight without any play. This is a major point as it’s the worst producer of slop in the system. I initially used the wrong zinc based anti-seize compound, Loctite LB 8044 ZN. In the rush, I grabbed what was close. I should have used the nickel based, Loctite LB 771, compound. Embarrassing.
Lastly, I welded a 1/2″-13 nut to the receiver for a set screw to cinch the tube. This isn’t well located as I didn’t have a lot of easy options but it does do a bit to reduce some play at this interface. I could have used a common u-bolt and plate to do this but I wanted to be cleaner.
I only learned about Draw-Tite’s J-Pin Anti-Rattle Device (#63201). This would have been a neat thing to build into all of this.
The work came out pretty nice. About as clean as could be possible and opens up a bit more parking space. It’s a shame that nobody but me will know how much care went into this.
There is an issue with these rear racks and modern computerized cars. The backup warning and collision detection systems need to be altered to work well.
On the center screen: Home → Vehicle Settings → Driver Assist System Setup → Rear Sensor Setting → OFF
The parking sensor system also needs to be turned off from the steering wheel. This prevents the alarm from sounding.
