Best Ford Explorer Sport Trac Bike Racks

I used 2 inch square tubing cut the length of the tie down support bracket in my 2007 Honda Ridgeline and secured with a stainless bolt and wing nut, use a large enough washer to cover the diameter of the supply hole in the Honda Ridgeline bracket on the truck. A couple of notes: Be sure to use something as a cushioning gasket to insure a snug fit and to protect your truck lining. I used rubber or foam exercise mat cut to the same as the aluminum square tubing. Use a washer that a combination of hard plastic and metal to avoid the corrosive effects of dissimilar metals in contact with each other. last: My 26" full suspension bike fits, but I have swing it to one side slightly before i close the tailgate and lift the bike up and slide it down....It's a very snug fit but the suspension adds pressure to the tailgate and its works out very well. Or you could just use a tailgate extender.

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Referring to special mounting instructions if you have a bed liner: (line #3). I do not have a bed liner, but I do have a molded plastic cap on my bed rails ('04 Ford F350). The first install over the plastic cap the locking pin or pin as called out in line #3 was nowhere near making contact with the metal lip of the metal bed under the plastic. What I did next on the second and final install was remove/cut away the plastic on the inside of the bed rail to allow the vertical portion of the "L" mounting bracket (Fig 4) to contact the metal bed. The locking pin is now at a position almost where it would protrude under the metal bed lip if I would remove the rest of the plastic under the horizontal portion of the "L" mounting bracket, I did not do that. After cutting a notch in the metal rail to accept the pin, the pin barely flushes out to secure the rack. A 1/4" longer pin would take care of this problem. One other thing that was not addressed in the install instructions was if you have a full size pick-up bed you are likely to attach the passenger side fork mount (Fig 2) to the right of the extension tube locking mechanism. The extension tube is a smaller diameter, so you will have resize the fork tube clamp (Fig 1) for the smaller tube. I can't explain how to do it other than it's a Chinese puzzle.

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The good: I like the way the bikes are held in and the ability to add the upright adapters to the bike frame holders. The straps are quality too. For a jeep with a spare tire, this is the perfect length to clear it. This rack is 5 stars from the bike holders to the base of it. The bad: the 2"receiver adapter and bolt are insufficient. I wish they made this in a solid 2" hitch. The entire setup is held into the receiver by a very short bolt. It only goes about half way into the receiver tube. So your hitch is only "secured" on one side. A hitch pin or bolt should go through the receiver tube completely imo so it can be secured on the other end with a retaining clip or nut. Because this only goes in the one side, the entire weight of the rack plus bikes are held tight to one side of the receiver by the undersized bolt and washer. A few bumps down the road and that bolt loosens. Now instead of distibuting the weight of the rack and bikes on the receiver and post, it's completely up to the bolt to keep you from losing the rack. The bolt threads get damaged too. I took this down a dirt road and nearly lost everything. I had to buy my own bolt with hd fender washers and lock washers to correct this. Thule should've provided this from the start. The current short bolt design where only one side of the receiver secures the rack is unacceptable. This rack is 1 star at best for the connection to the receiver.

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Hitch pin broke before I got it. Looks like a poor design for the locking pin, they might want to consider a different design. I got a 3/8 shear pin from Home Depot to replace and it works great. Bike rack is great!

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Received this tailgate cover very promptly, two days ahead of scheduled delivery date, and just in time to use yesterday. Cover was dry easy to install ( no directions required) and fit my tailgate well. I particularly liked the included Velcro tie downs and access pocket, which allows you to utilize your tailgate release. As you can see from the attached photo, it easily accommodated 4 additional bikes w/ front wheels still attached, and allowed me to transport 7 total bikes of varying design. Our 4 hr drive showed no indication of movement and the cover stayed in place securely. Great product!

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Order process was easy & information was great. The order processed quickly & came on time. It looks & works greats. It was easy to put on & took only a few minutes to install. I have 2 expensive bikes & one is an extra large frame. It fits great. The only thing I had to add when transporting was a strap around the tires on my tailgate as a precaution & to prevent any movement. It would be fine without it & the product works exactly as I expected. I put in on a 2000 Toyota Tundra. Very Happy! Exactly what I have been looking for & the price was just right. Thank You!!!

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So far I’ve just assembled it and took a quick test drive around the block. My initial thought is this thing is perfect. It’s super sturdy and easy to use. My only gripe and it’s not fault of the rack, but it’s heavy…

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If you've done any research or read any of the other comments on either this rack, or this seller...rest assured they really are as good as everyone says! I ordered my rack on around 4pm est on a Friday afternoon and within an hour I received an email that said they have shipped my product AND upgraded to priority shipping. Can't say enough positive things about the customer service! When the rack arrived, it took me a little over half an hour to get it set up. Probably would e been faster if I were even slightly mechanically inclined (or if didn't I didn't have to borrow a socket wrench from my neighbor). We finally had an opportunity to load up the bikes and head out for a ride today. As others have said, the first time you load up your bikes, it's kind of like a puzzle to get them situated. Took about 15 minutes. This rack is awesome! Very sturdy and the bikes were very secure. Only racks I have had in the past were rooftop fork mount racks. This is so much easier! On e we got to the trail (over an hour drive) getting the bikes off was a piece of cake. Afterwards, it was time to load them back up and it was less than 5 minutes to get them all on and ready to hit the road. There were other 4-bike racks on the website, but this one had enough great reviews that I felt comfortable making the purchase. After the fact, I'm very glad I did! I can't imagine the $800 rack can be that much better than this, and I highly recommend this for anyone looking for a 4-bike platform rack. I will definitely recommend this rack and etrailer.com to everyone I know.

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I've taken this rack all over New England on the front of my Dodge Ram 3500 pick up truck with a truck camper. I had no idea it was possible to love a bike rack so much. After one drive I didn't ever worry about it again. So nice that it locks up when I am camping or taking a quick stop for food on the road. So glad I bought it from etrailer. They totally help me pick the perfect rack for my challenging set up.

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Still very new, but what an awesome bike rack! Assembly was a snap and the rack is rock-solid when you secure it to the hitch receiver. etrailer was amazing too - excellent communication, price and fast, free delivery. Overall I am extremely happy with the rack and service!

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First-time rack buyer / owner / installer. The rack arrived in a timely fashion, maybe a day or 2 ahead of schedule. It was well packaged. I’m LOVING this bike rack. It was easy to put together and to mount on my new Honda Passport. Thus far, no squeaks in my 2” receiver. Hardest part of initial set-up is figuring out the best way to position two bikes. Trial & error and some patience. The directions weren’t clear as to where the 2 left-over screws went. I found the answer in another review and have posted a pic in case others have the same problem (photo with pen pointing at screw). These screws go in the underneath side of both of the folding arms. They appear to keep the wheel wells from sliding off in case in you drive with an empty, un-folded rack, and forgot to tighten down the wheel wells. The folding arm push / pull pins can be difficult at times. I coated the tips with some lube. That and a little jiggling seems to solve that issue. I guess it’s better for the pins to be snug vs popping right out. I added a small Master lock to the hitch pin (in lieu of the provided cotter pin) as a theft deterrent. I read that a 3/16 shackle lock will fit into the bike clamp down arms to also act as a deterrent. I had an old 3/16 lock that did snugly fit and appeared to be locked. HOWEVER, I yanked on the lock and it came open as there isn’t quite enough clearance for the shackle to lock. I discovered that longer 3/16 shackle locks are hard to find. Have attached a photo of the lock that actually fits and works (Ace Hardware). One lock on the upper clamp down arm will secure both arms as the lower arm can’t be removed without removing the upper arm. The clamp down arms appear to be coated to prevent damage to your bike. I’ve tried a simple rag and ultimately settled on pool noodle pieces as a precautionary measure. I CAN NOT open my tailgate (regardless of whether or not the rack is fold up and in the bike carry position). If that’s a concern for you, then spring for the more costly titling version. My back-up camera still functions.

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The Swagman XTC-2 platform bike carrier arrived very quickly from etrailer and in good shape, the actual carrier box is inside another shipper box, which I'm sure helped with its condition. Assembly was relatively quick and painless, even though the instructions could be a little more thorough. Installing the carrier on the back of our Jeep Patriot also was quick, it helps to have an extra ratchet & 3/4" socket laying around for just this purpose. Installing the bikes takes a little patience and trial and error the first time you try and put them on the carrier. It's easy enough to adjust the wheel holders to fit the wheelbase of your bikes, but for us at least, the challenge was trying to swing the vertical support bar up into position after putting on the first bike (closest to the Jeep). We couldn't angle the bike enough toward the Jeep to have the bar clear the bike. We learned that the easiest way to secure the first bike was to remove the ratcheting frame hooks altogether, put the bike in the carrier, swing up the vertical support bar, put in the pin, and then slide one of the frame hooks down on the bar. The outside bike is much easier because you can set the bike in the carrier at whatever angle you need, not being limited by the back of the vehicle. One thing we did to protect the bike frames was to use some foam pipe insulation as cushion between the frame hook and the frame (see pictures). Once you get a system for installing the bikes, it is very quick to load/unload them. The rack seems to be well made and doesn't wiggle excessively when traveling. All in all a good product for a good price, would definitely recommend it for anyone looking for a platform bike carrier.

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I purchased this bike rack a year ago and I use it A LOT. I had to buy and install a stabilizer because without it, the unit would sway back and forth even without a bike on it (very noisy). This makes removal more cumbersome but since I keep the hitch on year round it doesn't matter to me. The tilting function is fabulous allowing easy use of my RAV4 hatchback. I can even tilt it down with a bike on it. I got the 2 bike hitch. Plenty of room for two bikes to fit without rubbing. Lastly, the hitch has a sizable through-hole on the bottom to thread a good sized cable so I can lock my bike up. Sturdy. I highly recommend.

The unit ‘s simplicity is a real plus. It takes less than 3 minutes to put the rack on the vehicle. It is well built and very durable and has a nice feature that allows you to open the rear hatch for SUV owners without removing the rack.

Overall I am happy with these bike carriers. They mount to the racks over the bed of my Tundra TRD Pro. Installation is simple. I think they could be just a bit sturdier because there is just a bit of wobbling when driving on bumpy roads but I'm not too worried about them coming dislodged. Take note that although they come with a cable lock to attach the bike to the carrier, the key is sold separately.

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Very good product. It holds the bike securely on the roof without contacting the frame. It is easy to adjust from my road bike to my 29er mountain bike. Our drives are all relatively short, so I like that I do not need to remove the front wheel to lock in the bike. It's also nice that the SKS locking system allows me to use the same key for this rack that I use for my Yakima roof box and hitch rack. This is my first roof rack and I chose this route for a couple reasons. Some of the roads we travel to get to our trail heads are a bit rough and with a roof rack I don't have to worry about bottoming out a hitch rack hanging off the back of the vehicle. Also, it takes up less room in the garage. Our vehicle is a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee with an additional 4 inches of ground clearance. That makes it a bit of a reach for my 5'4" wife, so we take our two-step along to help her. This is my third time purchasing from etrailer, and each experience has been very good. They are a very customer service oriented company. I really appreciate all the additional information they provide on their products, especially all the videos they produce to aid in reviews, assembly, and use.

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Cheap alternative compared to having to buy a 9mm thru axle mount for the utili-track in my Nissan Frontier AND THEN having to buy an adapter for that! For under $10 I bought some parts from a local hardware store and made this mount fit the track. It's sturdy, and high quality.

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Disappointed. The Kuat Dirtbag works, and feels relatively solid once installed, but is about 2-3 mm shorter than my hub. That means while loading and unloading the fork doesn't sit nicely on the rack and inserting/removing the thru-axle can be quite challenging. I'd heard great things about Kuat's products, and all I can say is I'm glad this one isn't as overpriced as the rest of their lineup.

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Bought this product one year ago, and I absolutely love it! I bolted it to my pickup box. It is in brand new condition after a year in our harsh coastal weather. It is a breeze to operate. And the locking system secures my bike so well that I have piece of mind if I have to leave my bike unattended. I highly recommend this product! Fast shipping, very reasonable price.

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I thought you guys might want to see the way I am using the Yakima bike racks.

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Have used the block head bike mounts by Yakima on trips of 800 to 1500 miles with no incident. Easy to mount the bikes and they have not released even on bumpy roads. Great product for my truck box and bikes are always in view. Easiest way I have found to transport our bikes

With a little adaption the Yakima brackets mounted to my built in bed rails on my 2010 Nissan Frontier. With my truck cap this makes my bikes safe and secure, out of sight out of mind.

Very sturdy and well made. Great for a barrier between bikes and tailgate so it is not scratched. The camera flap is a plus so the rear view camera is accessible. No issues a year after purchase. Fits a 2014 Chevy Silverado 1500 and 2022 RAM 2500 equally well.

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It has 7 different areas to strap bicycles down but there is definitely not room to strap 7 bikes down from what I can tell. The straps were a little tricky to feed under the tailgate and pull up at the same time with only one person. Overall it works pretty well but it appears to only have enough room for 4 MTN bikes.

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This product fits over the tailgate of our full size pick up. We bought this product because we wanted to take our bikes with us on our camping trips. We had a receiver bike rack but needed some way to carry our bikes securely while pulling our travel trailer. We also wanted to be able to carry our grandkids bikes. We have secured at least 5 bikes with the Swagman Tailwhip Tailgate Pad and Bike Rack. The only problem we had was that the velcro tie downs didn't fasten as tight as we would have liked. We have used additional bungie cords to keep the bikes in place. That is the reason this review did not get a 5 star. We are very happy with this product.

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Product was delivered sooner than expected and is of good quality. Fits 2016 Tundra perfectly. Placement took less than 5 mins, and removal takes about 10 seconds. Mine came with a click strap on the flap where the handle/camera are, which is used to fold flap back over tailgate leaving the camera available for use but securing the flap on backside of tailgate. The video does not show that but to me is a great feature.

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Linda and I recently ordered two Aventon Pace 500 NextGen E-bikes from [bike store] in Madison, WI. Not wanting to just toss our expensive new bikes in the back of the p/u when they arrive next month we promptly ordered the Thule Instagator from etrailer. My prior experience with etrailer came as a recommendation from a friend. I was able to do quite a bit of the research on etrailers website, the demonstration video extremely helpful and we placed an order. The racks were in-stock, shipped promptly, etrailer providing a very nice tracking link that included pics of the staff involved in processing the order and a map of the route all the way to delivery. Absolutely 1st rate service. The racks showed up in perfect condition about two days after placing the order, exactly as promised. We are very pleased with etrailer, will most certainly be ordering from them again and recommend this company w/o reservation. Nice job etrailer!

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I bought two racks to transport my ebikes. The tires do not fit in the rack. the cradle that holds the tire require to be wider. I need to return them. please assist me in this matter. thank you

The Destination bike rack works perfectly on my 2020 Pacifica and I have clearance going over speed bumps! I recently upgraded my bike to a Trek step through which hung too low on my old Thule rack no matter how the cross bar adapter was adjusted. Problem solved!

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I realy like how it holds my bikes securly in place. I also like that (without the bikes) I can open and close the hatch on my 2014 Hyundia Santa Fe. I have a 2" receiver on my car. We went away for a long weekend from CT to VT and had no issues with it holding my bikes. Would definetly recomend.

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etrailer has been great in the past and I will order from them again. This experience was mediocre because they advertised free 3 day shipping through a google search for this product. After paying I was notified that it would take longer. I needed the gate mate for a weekend trip and could have gotten it through [online vendor] for the same price, quicker. Not a big deal, just be aware.

Always impressed with etrailer. They have an abundance of knowledge and are extremely responsive. Highly recommend!

This is a great product and works beautifully! The only issue was some sloppily made plastic turn knobs that were cross threaded on arrival. However, Yakima immediately shipped out replacements. It carries two large E bikes easily. They fasten solidly and are easy to load and unload!

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etrailer: prompt delivery, fair price! Rack: It does fit my (2) Gazelle T10 eBikes. 1) I found I had to adjust every setting to get bikes to fit. Until you learn there are many adjustments, it does not seem like the center/vertical clamps will reach both seat posts. 2) The ramp is barely usable; my wheels are max it will fit and you must have at least 12ft of clearance on each side of car to get bike lined up with ramp. 3) My bikes have a "walk" feature, this is not usable as its too awkward to hold the walk button down and move around the rack. I found its easier to abandon the ramp and load front then rear wheel. I will rig up a wheel stop, on ends of each wheel holder so bike will not roll off while I strap it in. 4) Rack did NOT come with a lock for hitch pin; this is very disappointing as they say in manual this is an optional item. Every rack I have seen at least has a clip that would otherwise hold the hitch pin in if somehow the bolt loosened up. 5) The rack weight is the lightest I have found. 6) You must load the first bike (closest to car) from car passenger side. This will avoid you bike pedals hitting the vertical bar. That means you must load the 2nd bike manually as there is no way to get the pedals past the vertical bar. I will get used to this, I hope. 7) The rack is a few inches above the receiver (part that goes into hitch) so if you have a low hitch this might be an issue with ground clearance. With both bikes mounted up, it seems very stable and hopefully will be secure in travel.

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Using the Grippers for carrying 2 ebikes, weighing 55 & 75 lbs. I know this is above the rated bike weights but so far they have performed well. My short bed keeps the 75# bike pretty well locked in front to back so that may help.

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I am disappointed that they don’t hold my bikes better than they do. I still have to strap them down so they don’t fall out. They are pretty expensive for what you get. I need to modify them so they will actually work. Not really what I was expecting to do, but I need to so my bikes are secured.

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I was impressed with this bike rack from the minute I unpacked it. The assembly was simple & straight forward. I looked at quite a few bike racks & for the price point this product was hard to beat. It is well designed & the keyhole pins make it easy to remove & fold up when not carrying the bikes. The locking hitch pin & locking frame bars are convenient and fairly secure. I will add my cable lock to make the bikes even a little more tamper proof. So far I’m very happy with this his purchase. Now the test of time!

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I looked at a LOT of bike racks, but when I saw the product video for this Hollywood rack and it was holding the bikes rock solid, no loose bouncing anywhere, I decided to try it and I haven't been disappointed yet. It is solid in the mount, it holds the bikes securely and the locking bars are a good deterrent to anyone wanting a quick steal. I don't leave mine on the car all the time, but so far in the weather here in Florida, it's holding up nicely. Add all this to the great price and customer service from etrailer.com and it's a big win for the average consumer. Thanks, etrailer!

The fit for a 2014 Ram was spot on, no issue with the wide style tailgate top and the access flap for the tailgate handle lined up perfectly. Material is durable and easy to clean, the only thing holding it from a 5 stars is if it had the padded dividers on top to keep the bikes separated. But for the price, the fit and finish was exceptional, great value !!!

The product review/installation video helped me make my selection. I selected the full size pad for 2001 Silverado 1500. Installs easily, fits nicely, flap in pad is positioned for easy access to tailgate latch.

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