17x46 Curt Cargo Carrier for 1-1/4" and 2" Hitches - Steel - 500 lbs

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.1608846

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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.85560

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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??

Patrick B.

12/26/2013

You can check out truck bed tool box manufacturers. There are some cargo carriers out there that have matching boxes, but this is not one of them. However, with the inside dimensions on the carrier, it can be pretty easy to find an aluminum or molded ABS plastic box that will fit. Part DZ6535P from DeeZee would fint inside this Curt carrier.

by: Old K10/18/2022

Great carry all using it on my 1998 subaru forester and my 2008 cadillac dts to carry 5 gas cans to the station to be filled and I do not have to ride with them in the cars.1450973

Old R.

10/20/2023

working great holding up great and doing the job could not be without it for taking gas cans to town and not having them in the vehicle.

Working out great. Easy to assemble. I did not install the hitch bar as I am using the carrier on the tongue of my teardrop trailer. exactly what I needed.
And great service from etrailer!1693640

I am happy with the purchase. The unit assembled OK except that the mounting holes in the vertical center braces required rat tail filing to oblong the holes. Perhaps the design could be modified to oval holes to account for production variability1345001

Tom

8/3/2023

For a year I have used this hitch with multiple trailers and hitch haulers without incident. I am still very happy with this purchase.

The Cargo Carrier arrived earlier than promised. I was able to put it together with some level of difficulty and extra tools. Once I reread the instructions and adjusted the bolts the carrier was bolted together. The carrier is a well made and sturdy product. I plan to put it to use next weekend with my camping gear. Again, it is an excellent made product. Furthermore, the web site and videos helped with selecting this product, correct hitch receiver lock and hitch pin alignment collar.1654423

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.1401949

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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.822987

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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.

by: Erin03/26/2018

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. 489371

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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 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 part804882

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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.

by: Adam 04/21/2023

This is an excellent product, well built and relatively easy to put together. Used it to take my drive my stuff across the entire US. I will note that I bought the carrying cover, and also a new bolt with a lock/key to ensure that it stayed on. The bolt provided was too short if I recall correctly.1561363

by: Chaz195207/09/2020

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. 830507

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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.273190

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Jason C.

7/18/2017

No issues still working great!

by: Julie06/23/2023

I got this a year ago to install on my tiny Honda Fit.It was easy to put together myself. I needed extra room to attend art fairs with all my product and displays. It works very well and so easy to take off and put it back on whenever I need to use it.1607130

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.1223470

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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.
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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.918074

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What a nightmare. As I began to assemble the carrier my first thought was that it was going to be a breeze. What would have taken an hour or so to assemble turned into a 2 1/2 hour JOB. The shank holes didn't line up with the frames, and the connecting tubes didn't line with the 1 1/4 shank. Had my husband who is great at engineering things hadn't had the tools to correct this I would have had to send it back. This could have easily rated a 5 star.1587487

by: Dennis03/30/2023

Good function. Held rverything we wanted. Have your installer tighen everything well, ours buzzes and I need to have it tightened, not a problem with the hitch... hauled with it for more tha 3000 miles1547298

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.285719

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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. 665735

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All three pieces came at the same time. I am going to hook it up then I will let you know.
Looks good..................1690543

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.1213238

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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.

Required a light weight cargo carrier but was unsure of what model & make. Called Etrailer and friendly, helpful and knowledgable CSR Cathy T assisted me. Carrier is exactly what i require and arrived on time in new condition.476057

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As another reviewer mentioned, the connection tubes are not notches deeply enough to sit on the tongue shank. I flipped the basket bottoms per the manufacturer's advice, but it makes no difference. The connection tubes notches were cut incorrectly. It loos like I got a returned product, based on some scratches on the tongue shank. This product shouldn't be for sale until this issue is corrected. Disappointed. I have other Curt products that were a sinch to assemble.1487099

Jenny N.

12/26/2022

I am sorry that this cargo carrier has not lived up to Curts reputation. I see that you have been in contact with our Customer Service department to make arrangements on the return.