Different pin/hole size

[cstooch]

Hi all,

So I got a loaner bike rack to use for a trip through the mountains, and I have a concern about the rack and my hitch receiver tube.

The bike rack fits snugly into my hitch receiver. The problem though is that it has holes in it for a 1/2" pin only, and the holes on my hitch receiver for the pin are 5/8". So I'm wondering, if I just use the 1/2" pin that came with the bike rack, am I going to potentially do damage to anything... bend or shear the pin, for example?

This is just a loaner bike rack, should I try and find or buy a different one with the same pin size?

[Lwiddis]

Old Biscuit is right again!

[zigzagrv]

For a quick temporary fix, cut a piece of 1/2" copper tubing that will act like bushings for each side of the receiver. OD is 5/8" and should fit snuggly inside receiver holes. Copper is soft, so I wouldn't use it as a permanent fix.

[cstooch]

@Old-Biscuit: that's what I was figuring, that there probably isn't enough weight on that pin to really do much. Thank you

@bob213: Unless I'm misunderstanding here, that won't work because the diameter of the hole in the bike rack piece is only 1/2".

This is what I'm dealing with:


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So if I used a 5/8" pin, it wouldn't make it into the bike rack. With the 1/2" pin, my rack wobbles, but I'm not sure if that's just the nature of this bike rack, or because of the size difference between the pin and the hitch receiver holes. And I'm a little newbie when it comes to bike racks, so not sure if I should care or if it's no big deal.

[bob213]

One of these should fix it.
adapter sleeve

[Old-Biscuit]

Wouldn't use a 1/2" pin thru a 5/8" hole in receiver IF I was towing a trailer
BUT for a bike rack.......not a real concern