1 1/4" or 2" hitch for bike rack help

tdmsurfguy

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2011
Location
Oregon
TDI
2002 GLS Wagon
I need to put a tow hitch on my 02 jetta tdi wagon. I'd like to use a 2" reciever but since nobody makes one and the Bosul adapter isn't readily available, and making my own 2" hitch might be a total pain in my a$$; I'm left with using the 1 1/4" from the major hitch makers. I'm not keen on using a 1.25" reciever as our other main family car has a 2" reciever and when I get a bike rack I'll be having to use a reducer to use it.

I will only be using a bike rack (tray style) for my mountain bikes and not pulling anything else as I have access to family trucks for big hauling needs. I'm looking for feedback from people who have used the 1.25" hitch with a 2" to 1.25" reducer to haul there bikes around. Does the bike rack flop around in the back when driving, these 1.25 hitchs look super flexible. Thanks for any help.
 

Genesis

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 26, 2003
Location
Sevier County TN
TDI
'03 Jetta Wagon
They work ok for bikes. I have a 1-1/4" on my Mazda and that's it's use -- bike rack. It works perfectly well for that and isn't floppy, provided you get the fittings that tighten up a through-bolt (not just a pin.) That's the style I have and it doesn't flop around at all.

I wouldn't try to pull anything with it. When I bought it there were no 2" receiver hitches available for the car. There are now, but I have no real reason to remove what I spent the money on and buy another one.
 

thorp

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2008
Location
CA
TDI
2005 Golf TDI, 2010 Jetta TDI
I purchased the Bosal hitch for my 05 Golf a few years back. As you know, they are expensive. Then, after researching about hitches here, I took the "swan neck" to a local machine shop where they cut the ball off and welded a 1 1/4" hitch receiver to it.

I use a 1UpUSA bike rack. I can haul 2 bikes comfortably. There's some movement when driving over rough road but I have never had to worry about the rack coming loose.

What's good about the Bosal hitch is that you can take the "swan neck" off when not using the bike rack and the hitch does not reduce clearance between the road and the bottom of the car. What's not so good is that you eliminate the bumper feature of the rear bumper. The Bosal is solid and if you get hit from the back, there's no shock absorption any longer.
 

mrseadog

Active member
Joined
Mar 8, 2015
Location
St. Louis, MO
TDI
2002 Jetta
I have a 1-1/4 hitch on my 02 sedan and have used it to pull a trailer as well as use with a bike rack. I have had absolutely no issues with it.

The bike rack I use is from our friends at Harbor Freight. It is rated for 100 lbs. Made for the 1-1/4" hitch but and comes with a 2" filler piece adapter. Plenty strong in my book.
https://www.harborfreight.com/two-bike-hitch-mount-bike-rack-60623.html
Harbor Freight also carries adapters:
https://www.harborfreight.com/1-1-4-quarter-inch-to-2-inch-hitch-adapter-65023.html or https://www.harborfreight.com/2-inch-to-1-1-4-quarter-inch-hitch-adapter-65024.html
 

MTB_TDI

Veteran Member
Joined
May 28, 2003
Location
Utah
TDI
02 Golf MT indigo blue pearl 4 dr & '15 Touareg TDI
I would make my own. In fact, I have made two of them now and they are very easy to make. I don't use a 1 1/4" hitch on anything because I like to be able to switch my rack around and not use adapters. Plus the adapter makes them stick out too far from the car and they can drag. The other reason I don't like the 1 1/4" set up is because they are too low.

Here is a plan a thread on how to make one. http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=455782
You can adjust the height of your hitch when you weld the actual receiver piece on. My MK6 hitch is the last post in this thread. My MK4 hitch is built the same way and comes out just under the painted section of the bumper. I only cut a small square into the valence for the receiver.
 

where2

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 29, 1999
Location
North Palm Beach, FL, USA
TDI
One '13 JSW_TDI & One '04 Variant_TDI
I'm running a curt 1-1/4" hitch on my '04 wagon.

I've had three different style hitch racks in life now. The first was purchased 25 years ago. It's a Graber HitchHiker (2 bike) rack. It served me well in college with my Scirocco, but that had a fixed bar hitch that didn't have any play to it. It was an affordable entry level rack, but not suitable for any modern complicated frame geometry bikes. The fork arms didn't even fold on that rack, so I eventually customized it with folding arms from a trunk mount rack I found in the junkyard. Of all my racks, this one stores in the least amount of space.

For my next second rack: I have a Thule Parkway (4 bike) with a 2" stem. I turned the lower L bracket on the Thule rack 180° to make the insert headed toward the car shorter. This plugs into a Harbor Freight 1-1/4" to 2" adapter. That setup "works", but is not elegant, nor is it wobble free. To lessen the wobble issue on the 2" adapter, I drilled and tapped the side of my 1-1/4" receiver tube for a 1/4-20 hex bolt which I can use to lock down (jam) the hitch adapter. Despite attempts to make it shorter, the Thule rack in the adapter sticks out so far that it does tend to drag simply backing out of my driveway.

Most recently, I came across a Yakima DoubleDown 2. This one was missing the hitch insert when I found it (cheap), so I got to order the hitch insert with the anti-wobble knob. Even with the anti-wobble knob employed, the whole setup has a little bit of sway to it from the pivot shaft where it tilts forward and also at the quick pin it employs to keep the rack upright. The combined wobble here is about as much as I had left in the Thule setup, but the entire protrusion from the car is a few inches shorter with the Yakima setup. The Yakima insert came with a 1-1/4" to 2" aluminum adapter that I will probably never use...
 

20IndigoBlue02

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 22, 2001
Location
Was North NJ, now SoCal
TDI
2002 Golf TDI-- deceased
I've had the 1upusa rack on the old Passat with a Class 1 hitch. Nice and solid. Doesn't flop around like the Yakima tray hitch I had previously.

On the Tiguan, I have a 2" Class III hitch with a Yakima mast hitch. the attachment mimics the 1up rack, so it is also nice and solid.
 
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