Curt Manufacturing 18131 2 Piece Basket Cargo Carrier, Folding Shank Review

I'm pretty good at assembly and relatively handy. This beast comes with fairly lame instructions, leaving one to guess where to attach the pin to attach the chain for the hitch pin, as well as where the stop-bolt goes. I was unable to get it to sit level in my hitch, but maybe after using it this weekend to go camping it will "settle in." Oddly enough, I've got a Curt hitch on my vehicle, and it takes two of us to wiggle and jiggle the mount to align the holes for the hitch pin. It is quite maddening as the carrier is heavy (which means sturdy too, I suppose)and, of course, the pin is located on the hitch which is hard to get to and wiggle/toggle about when you have to be between the bumper and the carrier to reach it.... This is not an easy carrier to mount. One last gripe. There are two settings for mounting the basket to the support. One of them allows for more space between the carrier and the bumper of your vehicle. I discovered that the normal assembly would not let me fold the shank up, as it crunched the bumper half way up. Even at the further option (yes, I took it apart and re-set it at the other mount), I am unable to use the "folding shank" to tilt it up and out of the way, as it needs about 1/4" more space than the hatchback of my vehicle will allow (2008 Toyota Sienna minivan). In other words, no parking in my garage with this on, as I cannot flip it up. I have a fairly common vehicle, and am disappointed thus far. It looks sturdy, though it is way off level. We'll see after I load it up with firewood and a cooler for the weekend....
Worked like a charm. No issues from DC to NY and back at relatively high speeds. I couldn't use the folding shank because my hitch is 2 inches too far back from the bumper, but that's not Curt's fault. Using the straight rod worked perfectly.



Held suitcases, coolers and golf clubs just fine. I added the optional net and storage bag. Probably wouldn't do the net if I had to do it over again -- bungie cords work better.



It is a little more wiggly than I was expecting it to be. That was disconcerting at first, but it doesn't seem to have bothered the post or receptacle.
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