Easiest towball mounted bike-rack (tray type)

[clee20121970]

Hi All,

I need a towball mounted bike-rack that can coexist with my rear-mounted spare tyre. I have narrowed it down to the 2 below but I have a question about the difference and am hoping to get clarification from anyone who has used either of them:
1. http://www.realsmart.com.au/bicycle-bik ... ilver.html
2. http://www.crazysales.com.au/online-bic ... 00871.html

The first one says “24mm Spanner required to mount or dismount the bike carrier”. The second one doesn’t and has a different towball mounting mechanism.

If anyone has used the second one, can you please confirm that you don’t need a spanner to add/remove the carrier? Or, if you have used the first one, do you have view on whether it’s a pain to use a spanner each time you add/remove the rack?

Thanks in advance for any advice you guys can give,

Cory

[IamGroot]

This is the one I use, very quick and easy to mount and I've even welded the A frame rack mounting point to my tow ball tongue mount which has no effect on the towing of our camper trailer. You could do the same but I think you might need a longer tongue, is yours one of the with the square slidey setups for 4wd's. Previous to this setup I had one sort of like the ones in your attachments which were a pain in the bum. The only difference to my setup is now I've made a wiring harness so to have a set of tail lights that strap onto the rear bikes for when travelling.

[clee20121970]

Yes I have the square hitch but the tow ball attachment is jammed in there. Been trying to get it out for a month now and have given up so can only use a tow ball mount. Plus, the tow ball is under the spare tyre. That's why Im thinking about a detachable tray-type rack.

[IamGroot]

Yes I have the square hitch but the tow ball attachment is jammed in there. Been trying to get it out for a month now and have given up so can only use a tow ball mount. Plus, the tow ball is under the spare tyre. That's why Im thinking about a detachable tray-type rack.

Thats gotta be a pain having the hitch part stuck, an easy fix would be to remove the complete tow bar and see if an engineering type place can dislodge the hitch, you know maybe heat and a hydraulic press.

[clee20121970]

Thats gotta be a pain having the hitch part stuck,

Tell me about it. Though it has been entertaining watching the youtube videos of folk removing stuck hitches. Lots of dudes chaining their towballs up to trees and gunning it.

[IamGroot]

I'm off to YouTube that to : )