Can this hitch be adjusted 1/16”?

May 23, 2021 3:32 PM

Someone I love installed this Drawtite hitch on my car for me, saving me a lot of money. I’m very grateful. Only problem is it’s about 1/16” crooked, which telegraphs to a noticeable crookedness in my bike rack and makes me a little crazy. I don’t want to even bring it up if it’s not very easily fixable. Is it?
posted by HotToddy to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (7 answers total)

I’d think you could simply add a washer(s) to the high side until level.
posted by artdrectr at 3:41 PM on May 23, 2021

Is it crooked vertically (so that one side of the bike rack is higher than the other) or horizontally (so that one side of the bike rack is closer to the car than the other)? Horizontally would be easier to fix, assuming there is some play in the mounting bolts - you'd just need to loosen the nuts and wiggle it into position and then tighten everything back up. Vertically would probably mean you'd have to entirely disconnect one side (in order to get a couple washers underneath, like artdrectr suggested) and loosen the other side so that you have the play to work with. Both will involve getting back under the car and mucking about down there.
posted by macfly at 3:52 PM on May 23, 2021 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: It’s crooked horizontally, so one side of the bike rack is closer to the car than the other.
posted by HotToddy at 4:07 PM on May 23, 2021

See those bolt holes in the pics you linked to? Throw a piece of cardboard or a towel down and see which of those holes are being used. Loosen them a bit a see if there’s any play in there to adjust.
posted by at at 4:55 PM on May 23, 2021 [1 favorite]

With macfly, this is like a two person job and it helps to have the bike rack in place when adjusting. You'd likely just need to loosen the nuts a little bit, bang on the bike rack until it's even, then tighten everything back down while ensuring the rack stays even.

Like a minute once you get the tool needed and you have two people to align it while tightening things back up.
posted by zengargoyle at 5:24 PM on May 23, 2021

If there was no drilling in the installation, no problem.

Drilling, possible problem, but not likely.
posted by jamjam at 5:48 PM on May 23, 2021

I installed one like this. If it is like mine, the installation fishes a bolt and washer up into the car frame and what you will see on the bottom is the nut. Do Not take the nut all of the way off. If you do it is easy to lose the bolt inside the car frame. So just loosen, tap, tighten.

Also, remember that these bolt are subject to a lot of vibration. If you don’t torque them to spec they will vibrate off given time. If you don’t have a torque wrench to do it properly, tighten them down well. But don’t get all Hercules on it with a 4 foot breaker bar or something, or you will break the bolt. Definitely a time to use a torque wrench.
posted by BeeDo at 9:47 PM on May 23, 2021 [1 favorite]