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Rust-resistant, basket-style cargo carrier has side rails that help keep cargo in place and provide limitless tie-down options. Included anti-wobble hitch bolt helps eliminate movement of the carrier in your hitch receiver.
Features:
Specs:
Customer Satisfaction Score:
96% were satisfied with this product
4% of customers were not satisfied
Ratings & Reviews
The Curt 17x46 cargo carrier was easy to put together, and performed very well. I cut a plywood floor for it and used it to carry a power washer over 120 miles between properties.
This is a great quality carrier. Had one of the flat mesh bottom ones with little sides and found it limited. Needed something that I could use on my car or my truck and the adapter makes this happen. The instructions are a bit vague but it really takes no skill to assemble. All the holes lined up perfect with a little wiggle but it is important to put ALL the bolts in loose first THEN tighten it down. The only thing I would prefer changed would be the length of the bolts. They easily could be a half inch shorter. But that is purely a cosmetic thing. I also recommend the hitch riser if you have a car. You’ll never clear a steep driveway without it.
Everything went well with assembly, written directions could be better, especially which side of the bottom floor of rack is positioned to accept the bolt on end sections that the top fits into.
Too much play when putting shaft into receiver, alot of tipping back and forth.
Is there any way to minimize?
Lazer S.
9/2/2025
Racks and carriers with adapters to fit multiple hitch sizes will always have wobbles. The best thing to alleviate this is with an anti-rattle device. What size hitch are you using this in? I have options for a 1-1/4" and 2" listed below. I think they are the best ones on the market. Roadmaster Quiet Hitch for 1-1/4" Trailer Hitches # RM-061-125 Roadmaster Quiet Hitch for 2" Trailer Hitches # RM-061
It is difficult to tighten the bolt through my receiver and the tongue there is not enough room. Cannot use a ratchet wrench as the wrench hits the bumper and the trailer so I have to keep taking the wrench off to tighten the bolt other than that went together easy.
Like others I had an issue lining up the 2 sides with the main beam. Had to run a drill bit through the holes to remove enough material to get bolt through. Otherwise it seems ok.
Jenny N.
12/3/2021
I reached out to Curt who advised to make sure that if the bottom platform base is installed upside down then the holes will not line up correctly. You will want to make sure that the bottom platform piece is flush with the top plate as shown on page 2 of the manual that is linked on the product page.
Once assembled, it was relatively easy to install on my Miata. I believe it will help me transport all of my golf equipment.
Holds my pool equipment well enough, as long as I keep it below the weight limit. It warps a little easy though.
Carrier is excellent once assembled. Sturdy when mounted on the hitch and worked great on it's first 1200 mile round trip. Only 4 stars because like others, I found assembly way more difficult than it should have been. I could some of the holes were misaligned before I started and one of the bolts Curt provided was the wrong size. etrailer was outstanding. Great communication, fast delivery and a fair price.
I've been using this Cargo Carrier on my 4 Runner Venture for about a year now.
I Purchased this item to haul extra gear to Nags Head from Northwestern Virginia. Installation was a breeze and it's very, very sturdy. I had two Yeti coolers packed with ice and drinks and there was no wobbling at all. I'm a 197 pounds and I was standing on it after I installed it just to check for durability and this thing is a beast. I also used this as a rod holder while on the beach and I caught a 6 foot black tip shark. Overall, I'm very pleased with this item and I would recommend to a friend.
Attached this thing to the 1-1/4 Inch hitch on a Mazda 5. Fit perfectly and was easier than I thought to put on and remove. Solidly built. Had a cargo bag stuffed with about 6 duffle bags strapped to this carrier, about 100lbs. Drove 9 hrs each way, no issues at all. No whistling, and didn't seem to affect the gas mileage either. I recommend this for anyone needing a little more space in their car.
When I got home I was grateful that the carrier was delivered. I began to open the box and put the unit together (great instructions) I then put the carrier on the bach of my 5th wheel RV and now my generator has a place to ride outside so we will not have to smell gasoline anymore. I would recommend this unit for another reason that being it does not cover tail light etc. It is shorter than a lot of units that I have seen . Thanks also to the services of the company etrailer as they made me feel as if I were their only customer.
On the one hand, now that its assembled, seems good. On the other hand, took about 30 minutes with an angle grinder to get it to go together. I dunno if it was a dud or something, but both the cross pieces (the vertical tubes that connect the upper and lower frames) had the tabs which bolt to the cross tubes welded too short. This prevented the parts from being assembled within tolerance. The tabs were welded at least 1/8" too short. I checked multiple orientations and combinations and couldn't get it to go. I ground the vertical tube about 1/8" shorter until everything fit together. I'm stubborn and have a lot of power tools, so I didn't return this, but otherwise I would have had to.
Thomas M.
12/17/2021
It sounds like the baskets are assembled upside down. If you take everything apart and flip the bottoms and reassemble this will fit as intended.
I wanted a small trailer for my 1 1/4" hitch on my Prius V to fit two Rubbermaid Roughneck Trash Barrels for trips to the town Transfer Station. The 17.5" aprox depth of the basket of this trailer fits the bottom of the barrels just right. I judged that a 60" wide would not fit three barrels anyway and that might be too heavy a load, so the 47" x 17.5" inside dimension of this was best.
The attached photos show two barrels in the trailer.
Some have complained that the assembly instructions are lacking. Here are some tips:
The bottom platform pieces should be placed so that the tubing is flush at the central rails, the flat rails with 4 holes that bolt to the center 1 1/4" square tube are a bit wider than the square tubing that make up the bottom platform and the extra lip should point down so you have a nice flush platform in the bottom of the tray where you will be putting stuff. If you have those pieces upside down, you would have a little ridge sticking up on each side of the central square tube and that would not work well as well as the bottom of the tray, and the "T" connectors would not fit correctly.
Group the fasteners and you will have three bunches (manufacturer had the nut/bolt/washers assembled together in my shipment)
A) 18 small diameter bolts/nuts/washers - those are for the flat A shaped braces which hold the bottom platform halves to the top railing halves.
B) 8 medium diameter bolts/nuts/washers - those are for the fore and aft "T" connectors
C) 4 large diameter bolts/nuts/washers - those hold the left half and right half of the platform together.
Using the smallest bolts, fasten the "A" braces to the bottom platform halves, then bolt to the top platform halves, leave them loose with about 1/8" of play.
Now you have two half assemblies of the bottom tray.
Place the middle 1 1/4" square "hitch" piece between the two half assemblies and line them up but do not put the 4 big bolts in yet. Put the two "T" connectors at the back and hitch side. The "T" connector with the reflector goes at the back, and the reflector points toward traffic. The other one goes on the hitch side. Loosely bolt the "T" connectors using the 8 medium bolts and then fasten the two sides together snugly with the 4 big bolts. Then tighten all other fasteners.
A ratchet and metric sockets and an adjustable wrench to hold the nut while tightening the bolt head is much handier than two wrenches.
Purchased this rack for extra storage on our family's annual trip to the Outer Banks, NC. About a 600 mile trip, one way.
Assembly was straightforward and went fairly smoothly. First time doing anything like this, so I took my time and spent about an hour (maybe a little more) working on it. Included instructions were clear and easy to follow. Assembled rack was really sturdy and seemed quite strong. Our Honda CR-V has a 1.25" hitch, so I did not need the included adapter. At each overnight stop I double-checked all nuts and bolts for tightness. A couple needed tweaking, but nothing major. So we loaded the cargo carrier with two large Rubbermaid bins (side by side) and three folding sand chairs on top, two folding camp chairs along the front and a kite tote bag. (Included photo shows a test fit, not actual trip packing) I used two ratchet straps and a couple of bungee cords to secure everything down. This really freed up storage inside the two cars we take on the trip. Honestly noticed no difference in the handling of the car or gas mileage. I did add some additional auto reflective tape on the front and side "railings" of the carrier. I felt these made the rack a bit more visible on the interstate. No items on the carrier shifted at any point of our trip.
Overall, I am pleased with this carrier. Very positive experience with it from start to finish. I would definitely buy it again and would look at other Curt products in the future. Great product at a good price.
This is a great product not to big and not to small. Seem to be very sturdy and strong, and it was very easy to put together. It doesn't stick out to far from the car either which is what I was hoping for. I also bought the same brand hitch to attach this to our 2015 highlander.
Jason C.
7/18/2017
No issues still working great!
I have received my cargo rack and have it assembled and have it installed in the trailer receiver. As it had no assembly instructions with the package, I was grateful for the detailed photo on the outside of the box.. Perhaps instructions might be in order for more complicated items, but I'm sure the guys in shipping are psychic and know when it would be a waist of time to include something that would never be followed in the first place'
After assembly and installation I was pleased with how strong and solid it was. Good work on your part
Tommy C.
5/30/2021
Before assembly check all the bolts , washers and nuts with a magnet. Replace any with SS if they are magnetic as they will rust otherwise. The powder coat should be repainted also. The size of the basket is great and will serve you in keeping your car clean.
This basket is TOUGH! It holds a huge 6p tent, a 2p tent, a 60 pound deep cycle battery, a bag of tools, and an air mattress when we tent camp around the country. This basket has seen about 8,000 miles across 24 states. It's scraped the ground over 100 times and the bolts got tweaked. I sawed them off and replaced them with round headed bolts upside down so it will skid on the round head instead of the ground catching the threads and bending the bolts. I seriously cannot believe this basket is still intact! It's been through absolute hell and it's held up. It's due for a painting and she'll be like new. On my 2011 Yaris, it blocks the license plate so I could potentially be giving a bored cop a reason to pull me over. Sometimes I zip tie my license plate to the basket when I'm in a bigger city. At night, I use one of those 12 volt license plate lights and connect that to my battery in the basket. This was a great investment and I'm damn glad to have it.
Erin S.
4/8/2019
The basket took a BEATING and it took it like a champ. I ended up selling it on [used item site] when I upgraded vehicles to a very happy customer.
I was looking for a basket style hitch carrier that was not too big. Most carriers I saw were 60 inches long. This one is 48 inches and was just what I was looking for. I like everything about this carrier: the looks, style, size and weight. I will be using it to carry beach equipment during our summer vacations to the Outer Banks, NC. The assembly instruction page leaves alot to be desired as there is one picture trying to explain how to completely assemble the carrier. You can figure it out, but will take some time and multiple looks at the one diagram. It took me about 1.5 hours to assemble.
Some other facts for those of you looking for a hitch carrier to use on a Jeep Wrangler. I have a 2013 Wrangler Unlimited with the factory installed trailer towing package & 2 inch receiver. You have to use a hitch extender with this particular carrier in order to clear the rear mounted spare tire. The JK Wranglers need approx. 12 inches out from the center of the hitch pin hole. Also, you will not be able to fully open the tailgate as the tire will hit the carrier. If you went with a flat carrier (not the basket style of this Curt one), you most likely would be able to open the tailgate and clear a flat carrier. Troop, the customer service rep who assisted me with my order was fantastic.
Sassy
11/30/2013
I have a carrier similar to this one.. What I want to know is if anyone knows where I can get a hard sided container to fit in the carrier that can be locked to the carrier??
Assembly was complicated a bit because of a misalignment in one of the holes in the main backbone (the part that fits in to the trailer receiver) and the basket frame. I was able to fit the bolt through after widening the hole by about 1/16th of an issue with circular metal file. I think this is a minor manufacturing defect since every other bolt aligned perfectly.
All in all a good cargo carrier. I'm happy that every single fastener used a nylon lock nut. I'm using the 1 1/4" hitch. The one thing If I was using a 2", I'd be disappointed by the plastic receiver adapter. Maybe it works fine, but I'd have my doubts.
The car is a Chevy Bolt EV, using the beefy and highly recommended Draw-Tite hitch. Don't bother with any other hitch, they bend or are insane to install.
My only issue is that, unsurprisingly, it rides low, and scrapes when I leave my driveway, and it's not even that bad a driveway. One nice thing with the electric is that there's no hot exhaust to melt your cargo!
The range / fuel economy hit is almost certainly better than a roof box, and it's way more accessible.
Andrew
6/28/2021
A year out - It went on a 2000 mile road trip and worked mostly fine. But when we came home I couldnt take the scraping, so I welded up a new center member and raised it up by about 5 inches. Made all the difference. It never scrapes and I did quite a bit of challenging dirt road without incident. I also noticed that by raising the rack up,my economy increased significantly. I would recommend this rack still, but it could use some redesign for lower vehicles.
It's exactly what I wanted. It fits my honey wagon and a tote with all hoses and fittings. I wouldn't change a thing this purchase experience. Thank you !
easy assembly, sturdy, fits my foldable ebike or large cooler. add more reflective stickers, shin buster at night
Worked good. I used it to move a motorcycle engine about 900 miles. Didn't have any issues on the road trip. Didn't want it taking up room in my truck bed for other things, plus not having to lift it up as high was nice. The included 2" adapter worked fine.
I did build a platform for the inside of it out of plywood. Pretty much just traced the outside of the frame and cut it down to size with a jigsaw. Two parts so it is removable. Notched so it is inherently captive. I think the platform makes the carrier a lot more useful.
I also added some additional reflective tape to the corners. I don't want to hear any excuses if somebody runs into me on the road.
I will note that it easy to crush the frame while tightening the hardware. There are no recommended torque specs in the assembly document. I went with a "slight crush" as my indicator that it was tight enough. Who really knows. The hardware is kind of cheap, but worked fine. If I did it again I'd probably apply some threadlock, but I'm sure after it rusts it won't be coming apart.
My wife and I assembled this cargo carrier, and it took a lot of time to do so. The instructions were rather sketchy, and the bolts and nuts were not easy to fit and then tighten. I would like to have seen the parts labelled better in the instructions--e.g., what size wrench should be used to tighten the nuts? Perhaps list at the beginning of the instructions what tools will be needed to assemble the carrier.
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Nick S.
10/13/2025
I am glad everything went well, and it looks great on your vehicle! I can agree with you that the instructions could be better. What are you planning on using this carrier to haul?