Coastal Electronic's trailer hitch in Portland Or?

I bought one, but haven't installed it yet. I live in Portland as well. I'm planning to buy a 2-bike Saris T-rax rack at Rackattack, hoping that they will install the hitch for me when I buy the rack. Otherwise, I'll have to buy me some jacks and do it myself.

Esther

 

I was able to install it without jacking the car. but then again I'm 5'3" 117 lbs. and could reach without jacking the car. Note the back end has slightly more clearance than the front.

 

Thanks jchu for the advice. And springer, I'll contact you as soon as we get around to installing it. I live in SE Portland myself. There's another Prius a few blocks away from my house that has the hitch installed as well, but I don't know if the owner is active on any forums.

Esther

 

Maybe you need to put a PriusChat business card under his wiper

 

Will do. This will be a good incentive for me to go out and buy me that rack and install the hitch as soon as possible.

Esther

 

Hitch

I installed the hitch about 2 weeks ago and use it with a Hollywood bike rack. I carry 2 bikes and it works fine. The installation is pretty easy and you do not need to jack up the rear end.

 

[attachmentid=1957][attachmentid=1956][attachmentid=1956]

I installed the Coastal hitch on my '04. Recently I bought an '06. I took the hitch off the '04 before trading it in. I plan to put in on the '06 soon.

Re your question about the opening the hatch with a bike rack in the hitch, I discovered that you can do this with a bike rack (at the least the one I have.) If you look at the attched picture, you will see 2 pins. The bottom pin is in the vertical part of the bike rack. If I pull that pin out with bikes on the rack, the rack will go back toward the ground. It's limited in the angle (I think mine goes back to about a 45 degree angle and holds that position without supporting the rack. This leaves both hands free to get into the hatch with plenty of room.

 

I have read that there are "other sources" for the trailer hitch than Coastal. Can someone please tell me who they are? I am skeptical about ordering from Coastal after all of the "good things" that I have read but need to transport a bike and the hitch mount seems the best otpion.

TIA

 

Here is what my research turned up:
hitch 1
hitch 2

Hope it helps. I'll be ordering from one of these two places. Hitch-web has treated me right in the past. I have not dealt with the other.

 

I used the hitch-web hitch for my 05 and it fit great. For the wiring harness I am using a generic trailer lighting converter from Checker auto. No problems at all.

 

Both of your sources are for 1.25" receivers. I have strong preference for 2". Are there any other sources for a 2" receiver hitch?

/Jim

 

Both of your sources are for 1.25" receivers. I have strong preference for 2". Are there any other sources for a 2" receiver hitch?

/Jim

 

I was just getting ready on 2/7 to ask that same question about the 2". I also prefer the 2". So far I have seen no repsonse to your post.

Barry