We travel with our bikes on every trip. When we got our new tow vehicle we decided to move them from the bed to the trailer tongue. On our Nissan Frontier we used the Swagman fork mount and put the bikes in the truck bed. This worked really well, but took up a ton of room that we could have used for other things. So, with the higher towing capacity and tongue weight rating of our Colorado Diesel, we decided to go with the Jack-It.
It looks pretty scary having the bikes up high like that but they stay pretty stable. I know since even when I’m towing I’m always checking the rear view mirror – so I’m looking at them a lot.
Net-net we’re happy with the Jack-It, but I’m not sure that I’ll still be able to get the bikes up there in another 10 years. Time will tell.
Pros
- We’re using room that isn’t otherwise used
- The rack is very good quality
Cons
- It takes a lot of upper body strength to get the bikes in place. If you, or you and your travel partner can’t lift the bikes over your head, you can’t use this rack.
- If you store your trailer on a hill (like we do) you have to pull the bikes before you park it. Otherwise they’re just too high to get to.
- It isn’t easy getting them on and off without hitting the front of your trailer. If you’re careful its fine, but it is a bit of work.
- If you want to rotate your power jack head so it doesn’t interfere with the bed gate, you can’t do that and use the Jack-It.
