Ultimate custom hitch-mounted bike rack setup for Wranglers
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JK Newbie
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 18
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From: WI
Ultimate custom hitch-mounted bike rack setup for Wranglers
As you probably know, no one really makes a good rear-mounted rack setup for the Wrangler. None of the high end hitch mounted racks fit without adapters and extensions, and even then they stop the tailgate from opening while they are installed. I set out to find a better way, and this is what I came up with.
I began with the Yakima HoldUp platform style rack. This allows you to haul any bike no matter the size or shape of the frame as long as the front wheel is between 20" and 29". The bike mounts themselves are excellent, but the problem, as it is with all of the available platform style racks, is that you have to use at least an 8" extension for it to clear the spare, but then it is in the way of the spare and you can't open the tailgate while the rack is installed. You can see the stock rack configuration installed on the Wrangler with a 10" extension and how it gets in the way of the tailgate in these two pictures:
I customized 12" hitch extensions with step attachments to allow the bike mount platforms to be attached in the same way that they are attached to the standard Yakima frame by locating and drilling the two mounting holes. It takes two 13mm bolts to move them from one frame system to the other.
This allows the rack to sit just below the spare tire, and positions the bike so that it perfectly fits around the spare tire, with the handlebar above and the pedal below. The other nice thing about this setup is that by them being hitch extenders, you can then choose to run one or both of them at a time. They're a whole lot easier to handle being single units versus one big setup.
These pictures below show how the bike fits around the spare and how one or two of the mounts can be used at once. There's also a picture showing how the forks will simply hit the spare tire in cases of extreme flex.
I have been meaning to take these pics and post the details for a while now, but just got around to it. I now have a different car that I use to haul my bikes, so I figured that I'd pass it on to a fellow Wrangler owner. Apparently I don't have enough posts to place a classified here. I do more reading and searching on here for technical info and haven't posted much. I hope it isn't out of bounds to post a link to the ad on the other Jeep forum: http://www.*********.com/forum/f130/...glers-1254119/. If that's not cool, please just delete this last paragraph and leave the rest of this writeup up for future reference by others - thanks!
I began with the Yakima HoldUp platform style rack. This allows you to haul any bike no matter the size or shape of the frame as long as the front wheel is between 20" and 29". The bike mounts themselves are excellent, but the problem, as it is with all of the available platform style racks, is that you have to use at least an 8" extension for it to clear the spare, but then it is in the way of the spare and you can't open the tailgate while the rack is installed. You can see the stock rack configuration installed on the Wrangler with a 10" extension and how it gets in the way of the tailgate in these two pictures:
I customized 12" hitch extensions with step attachments to allow the bike mount platforms to be attached in the same way that they are attached to the standard Yakima frame by locating and drilling the two mounting holes. It takes two 13mm bolts to move them from one frame system to the other.
This allows the rack to sit just below the spare tire, and positions the bike so that it perfectly fits around the spare tire, with the handlebar above and the pedal below. The other nice thing about this setup is that by them being hitch extenders, you can then choose to run one or both of them at a time. They're a whole lot easier to handle being single units versus one big setup.
These pictures below show how the bike fits around the spare and how one or two of the mounts can be used at once. There's also a picture showing how the forks will simply hit the spare tire in cases of extreme flex.
I have been meaning to take these pics and post the details for a while now, but just got around to it. I now have a different car that I use to haul my bikes, so I figured that I'd pass it on to a fellow Wrangler owner. Apparently I don't have enough posts to place a classified here. I do more reading and searching on here for technical info and haven't posted much. I hope it isn't out of bounds to post a link to the ad on the other Jeep forum: http://www.*********.com/forum/f130/...glers-1254119/. If that's not cool, please just delete this last paragraph and leave the rest of this writeup up for future reference by others - thanks!
Last edited by JWA; Aug 17, 2011 at 01:18 PM.
