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Hi Everyone,
I’ve had a Thule EuroClassic G6 tow ball mounted bike carrier for a few years and it’s great. It’s one of the carriers that has a leaver to clamp the tow ball and a screw to adjust for size of ball.
We’ve just changed car and I put the carrier on the new car yesterday. When I tightened rack so it was fairly hard (having to put some weight behind it) to close the clamp leaver it is rock solid up and down but still can be moved from side to side, which is a bit worrying...
How tight should the leaver be close?
Is smearing some carbon grip on the tow ball a good idea?
Thanks
The Atera Strada website says if you can move the rack side to side you need to give it another tighten.
Check the towball size. There are 50mm and 1 7/8" (about 48mm) variants.
I've nothing useful to add. I just wanted to say, as your asking plural people, I think it's fair you're referencing plural balls.
Can someone efit the title?
Are you 100% sure the rack is moving on the ball or is the ball not locked down? Had this problem with a newly fitted tow bar
Surely it's almost impossible (in practical terms) to clamp a rack so tightly to a spherical mount that it can't move ?
(they should make li'l extensible prongs on the rack to press against your bumper)
Friction's a wonderful thing!
Sounds like the OP needs to adjust the clamp, the up/down may be getting hindered by the neck of the towbar.
I haven't lubed my ball, I keep it dry. IMHO not everything is better with lube....
I don't want a droopy Thule.
Friction’s a wonderful thing!
Yeah, but so's a 0.5-1metre lever with 30+ kilos of bikes on it, going round a roundabout
The good news it's not a sphere your gripping
It's a lolly pop and thus it'll never actually move that far till it contacts the stalk....
I'm talking about swinging side to side, as I understood the OP to be saying - the stalk won't stop that (IME)
Was using my Thule rack today so had a check. I didn't have to force the handle down very much and there was still no movement up, down, left or right. I suspect the problem might be that it isn't properly seated on the ball. It seems to take a bit of adjustment before it drops down properly and sites nicely. Might be wrong but in any case we don't have any rotational type movement
If the rack isn't seated properly it could do this. If you lift the rack slightly at the outer edge so it isn't flat and try clamping, does that help?
Also suspect you need to tighten the clamping force a wee bit.
My G5 needs a really firm push down - I keep the mechanism<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;"> well greased, but I don't grease the ball. You can feel the mechanism 'over centre' and the lever drops the last cm or so.</span>
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">I have no movement in the rack - a push and pull moves the whole car around or flexes the steel towball mounting arm, up and down or side to side. I can stand on the rack with no movement.</span>
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">.</span>
It’s one of the carriers that has a leaver to clamp the tow ball and a screw to adjust for size of ball.
What difference does the adjusting screw make? In either direction (mine isn't Thule but if you don't slack it off enough before putting it on, it doesn't sit in the ball/lollipop stem properly).
It’s acts like the old quick release wheel skewers.
The screw sets how tight the rack clamps on the ball. The leaver is a quick release that in theory enables you to lift the carrier on any off without messing with the screw.
My old Thule used a 17mm spanner (from memory) to tighten the rack onto the ball, was a pain to use but it as more secure.
Surely it’s almost impossible (in practical terms) to clamp a rack so tightly to a spherical mount that it can’t move ?
My Thule (cheap) one has a notch in the contact plate so it cannot slip down, but it does move side to side if you don't tighten it up. However it doesn't need to be all that tight to stop this happening, so it is entirely possible.
It’s acts like the old quick release wheel skewers.
The screw sets how tight the rack clamps on the ball. The leaver is a quick release that in theory enables you to lift the carrier on any off without messing with the screw.
Yes, sorry, I understood that. What I meant was, what effect does adjusting the screw have on the movement of the ball when you clamp the lever up? I appreciate if it's too tight, you can't push the lever over, but if you slack it right off, the clamp may fit further down the neck and tighten better.
On a Thule if the adjustment nut isn't set well the whole thing wobbles.
Too tight it won't clamp down.
I can't make mine too tight to fit over the ball.
My Thule (cheap) one has a notch in the contact plate so it cannot slip down, but it does move side to side if you don’t tighten it up. However it doesn’t need to be all that tight to stop this happening, so it is entirely possible
You mean you can make it impossible to rotate it L-R around the ball, mols ?
I can't achieve that with my (cheap) Thule. There's no way it would lift off, and it's stable up & down (both rotatonally around the ball and it can't be lifted "up" on the ball) but I can easily swing it around side-to-side
<worries - slightly>
So, it’s rock solid now.
I have tilted the carrier up a few degrees adjusted the preload and it’s now sorted!
👍