I finally installed the Coastal Electronics hitch - 04 Prius

I got the hitch MONTHS ago but being the lazy person I am, I only just got the hitch (2") installed on my Prius 2004. I had talked to my local dealer and the Prius mechanic there said he had never done this before so he was gonna charge 3 hours labour. Of course, I said forget that.

So I tackled the job today. About an hour after I started (including perusing the instructions), I got the thing installed. Coastal Dave says it's about 20 minutes and I can see how you could do that if you knew what you're doing and esp. if the car was elevated above ground level, but I neither had the car up beyond ground level nor did I know what I was doing. I trust a mechanic doing it for the first time could have done it in 15-30 minutes though. The procedure is a little hard to visualize just from reading the instructions, and that's why I talked to the dealer in the first place, but once you get under the car it makes a lot more sense.

You definitely need the socket wrench as is recommended in the instructions, because there is no room for a standard adjustable wrench. The latter might not work anyway, since I had to crank with all my strength to get the original bolts off. A standard adjustable wrench would have slipped off I'm sure. My cheapo socket wrench set was fine though.

I did the installation myself with no extra help, but it might help to have somebody there for the last 10 mins of the installation. The hitch is very solidly built and consequently it's fairly heavy. Given the lack of room underneath the car, it's awkward holding the hitch up to screw on the bolts. A box underneath the hitch to hold it up (if you don't have an extra pair of hands at your disposal) might help too.

And some paper or something to put on the ground is recommended. I was picking dirt out of my hair for quite some time in the shower. :?

Anyways, while I'm not a complete klutz with tools, I'm definitely no mechanic either. Anyone afraid of doing this yourself: Don't be, as long as you're OK with getting your hands dirty.

P.S. I can post a pic if you want, but it pretty much looks like the pic Coastal Dave had on his website... like a hitch.

 

If you can do any sort of work on a car, then you can do this. In fact, even if you can't do mechanical work on a car, you can do this.

BTW, can anybody recommend a good store for hitch racks for bikes in Toronto? The only place I know of is Rack Attack. Should I assume this rack is overkill (and maybe too heavy) for a Prius? It's CAD$399 (US$291).

[Broken External Image]:http://www.rackattack.biz/cart/product-images/Roc N Gate.jpg

 

It looks as though I have sufficient clearance. I haven't heard any rattling but I've only driven in the city since the install, at low to moderate speeds. However, I don't recall receiving the clamp. Or maybe I did and just put it away somewhere and forgot about it. (I got the thing several months ago.)

 

Yep, but for 3 bikes. I'm thinking a 4-bike rack because 3-bike racks seem to be very uncommon. They seem always to jump from 2 to 4. Plus the bikes are very light. My road bike is just over 20 lbs, and my mountain bike is maybe 25. Those weights are similar for my friends' bikes too. My GF's might be 30 though, but when I carry hers I usually only carry two bikes total. Also, I have a 3-bike Saris Bones strap-on bike rack that seemed fine fully loaded on my 2001 Prius.

In other words, besides my GF's bike, 3 of our bikes is about the weight of 2 department store bikes. (I'm ignoring the leverage factor though at the moment.)

Yeah, maybe you're right, but I'm now thinking I would like to have a rack where the arms fold down at least. Otherwise I'll have to remove the rack whenever I park the car in the garage. It seems the cheaper racks usually don't have foldable arms. Come to think of it, that Yakima rack I posted earlier doesn't have foldable arms either, so I guess that's out.

 

So I got the Yakima KingPin 4, with the extra locking setup.

[Broken External Image]:http://www.rackattack.com/cart/product-images/202401.jpg

It's a 4-bike rack. The guys at the store felt that the Coastal hitch isn't appropriate for 4 bikes (as we had already thought), but said that 2-3 bikes on this 4-bike rack should be fine. If I can, I might just even remove the mount for the 4th bike. This rack is primarily built as a 2" rack, but you can get a 1.25" adapter for it (for extra money).

There were 3-bike racks there, but they were all 1.25" racks, and they didn't fit mountain bikes very well. Plus the arms didn't fold down. At that store it did seem that the racks built first with 1.25" connectors in mind were aimed more at the low end. There were many more options with the 2" size.

The KingPin rack doesn't have the anti-sway arm at the bottom of the rack like some of the others, but it there is a third strap setup on the rack arms for the seattube which will reduce sway. The Thules I saw didn't have these 3rd strap, but had that anti-sway arm.

The rack arms fold down, so I'll be able to fit the car with rack installed in my garage.

Yep you're right. There is enough clearance. I don't know how much exactly, but it's probably around a couple of inches actually. The rack does tilt down if necessary, but luckily I won't need that feature.

 

So this is the Yakima KingPin 4 with the Coastaletech hitch. I have removed one set of straps, so that I can only carry 3 bikes maximum. Four bikes I think is pushing it for this hitch, even with the light bikes I have.

Rack arms folded down:

[Broken External Image]:http://www3.sympatico.ca/eug/Other/Prius2004/P1010001-edited.jpg


Rack arms folded down, and hatchback door open:

[Broken External Image]:http://www3.sympatico.ca/eug/Other/Prius2004/P1010003-edited.jpg

There are a few mm of clearance between the hatchback door and the rack, so there is easy access to the cargo space. The main support of the rack can also be folded down, but this requires the removal of a bolt. Luckily the few mm of clearance is enough.


Rack arms extended, and hatchback door open:

[Broken External Image]:http://www3.sympatico.ca/eug/Other/Prius2004/P1010005-edited.jpg

There are a couple of cm of clearance between the hatchback door and the rack.

I knew I should have gotten the car washed...