Tailgate hits my hitch mount bike rack:-(

Apologies on the formatting of the pic, but this should give you some idea.

 

The Holdup is really designed to fit a SUV where the receiver is low down underneath the rear hatch. It rises up about 6 inches or so from the elevation of the hitch. The rack and hold downs add another several inches, hence your tailgate hits it when opened. I doubt if any rack will tilt out/down enough with bikes loaded to lower your tailgate and not hit. While you can get a swingout device of some sort doesn't make sense to spend more on that than the rack costs just so you can open the tailgate while bikes are loaded. You should be able to have a rack that will lower enough to allow the tailgate to come down when you don't have kikes loaded. The Kuat Sherpa would allow the tailgate to be lowered while attached, but you would have to let it rotate downward and then lower the tailgate as the trays and hold downs stick up above the rack higher than the amount of clearance available. I have a 2015 which has about 11" between the top of the receiver and the lowered tailgate, not sure of clearance from the top of the receiver to the open tailgate on the 16 but assume it is about the same. Receiver to the ground is roughly 19". Lowered toward the ground it would provide more than enough room to allow you to open the tailgate. Kuat makes a great product, uses aluminum, and the whole rack only weighs 29 pounds. Very easy to get on and off. That would probably be my recommendation, though some other tray type racks would work also

 

This is my Thule T2. Works fine but I slide the trays back about 3/4" on the backbone. I'm not sure about other brands and whether your able to move them or not I'm happy with it. Even with the bike on and the rack tilted down I can open back to my camper.

 

We are finishing a new product which is a swing away hitch that could easily hold a 6-bike North Shore Rack or something similar. Will swing entirely away giving 100% access to the back. Stay tuned!

 

I finally ordered a swing away extension that's been working really well. It's from Kool Hitch and cost $200 plus $30 shipping. It has dual receivers and I won't be towing with the bike rack on so I'm going to cut the towing receiver off of it. Now I just need to replace my 1 1/4" with a 2" bike rack so I don't have to use the wobbly adapter and I'll be set! Added bonus is that the Kool Hitch bumps my rack out away from the tailgate so even when it isn't extended I can open my tailgate and fit between my bikes and the truck. It's perfect for camping as I can swing the bikes well out of the way and access my sleeping platform in the bed and gear stowed underneath. I dig all these ideas! Thanks for all your input. I'll try to get some photos up so you can see how it looks. https://kool-hitch.myshopify.com/collections/kool-hitch-products/products/kool-hitch-swing-arm

 

Yeah. Like a little review once you get it all worked out. I like the way it works but wasn't sure about the stability of it. You might have been better off $$$ wise just buying a Stowaway Swingaway platform and bolting your 1 1/4 trays to it.

 

Sell your rack and buy a 1-Up USA. Retrofitting your Yakima to your truck using adapters is only going to cause more headache. Either you lower it and scrape it on everything, or you extend it and increase the amount of play in your rack. Either way is a losing situation IMO!

 

Can you show me a pic of the 1-up rack on with the tailgate down? I've always like here stuff. I disagree with you when it come to retro fitting it though. Have the rack swing away is great when sleeping/camping out of the bed. I'll probably go that route in the future but have to try it this way first.

 

Hitch tightener

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/anti-rattle-hitch

 

Meh, I personally don't mind a little wobble - I find it keeps people from tailgating ya. But those 1-up racks are definitely sweet. Pricey, but sweet.

 

A wobbly rack will only get more wobbly with time and one day you'll hit a massive dip on the highway at 75mph and you'll look in your mirror and your bike will be gone. After that incident I realized my bike needed to be held by the best. Plus I can add up to 4 TOTAL bikes and it's still solid AF.

 

Well, that would really suck! I've got an older thule T2 and can't say I'm too worried - there's not that much play in it. I will definitely keep an eye on it.

Mind me asking what rack you had and what part failed? Don't hear too many stories of people losing bikes off racks.

 

I had the Saris Cycle-On Pro. It is similar in function to the Thule T2. Everything just got so played out over the course of two years. This time around I went looking for a bike rack that didn't have a lot of plastic components. The 1-UP is nearly entirely aluminum which is rad.

 

Did anyone figure out if there is a model of Thule, Yakima or Kuat that will work on the 3rd gens without tailgate issues and not require a workaround/hitch dropper or swing arm?

Looking for a double-bike, tilting model that uses the "tray type" setup. Kuat NV 2.0 or Thule T2 are preferred but looks like these have issues with 3rd gen tailgates.

Thanks for any and all feedback

 

Sounds like you need a 1UPUSA set up. It's the most low profile out there....and no plastic.

 

See it in action here:
https://twitter.com/WilcoOffroad/status/834772745976061952

 

1UP double heavy duty black on the rig now and working nicely - much appreciate the feedback