Thread: Bicycle Rack suggestions - Disco4

when i first got my ISI, i struggled to get the two pins out, due to powder coat, so i ran a drill down them to remove the paint, now theres a bit more wobble than i'd really like, but not a huge amount, i should have used a slightly smaller drill or polished the pins or something i guess. Most of the wobble is at the hitch, which almost goes away with the mitch hitch adjustment bolt, or goes away completely if you use the ISI anti wobble bolt.

theres a 2mm gap on either side of the two ISI pivot pins, if that gap wasn't there and they used nice big bushes it's be tight and smooth i reckon.

I have no movement at all on my ISI rack and I've had it on both the Discovery 4 and my previous Prado. Both were with the original manufacturer hitches.

@Steve, glad you liked the aerodynamic setup, I was going somewhere with it

I've certainly got the carrier going in as far as possible into the receiver (middle hole) which leaves a gap of around 4mm to the spare wheel. I doubt I can get it up to the last hole.

I noticed I had a slight bit of vertical play at the mount point between the receiver and the carrier. Dropped George a line and this was his response:

"The hitch stabiliser holds the pivot base stinger tube hard up against the inside side wall of the tow hitch receiver tube. Tighten the set screw through the stabiliser pad inside the stinger tube with all your might. And then some. Then just nip up the nut at the other end. The nut is just a secondary safety precaution.

The result I stable from side to side and rotation. There is a degree of vertical movement as a result of the 51mm tube inside a 52mm tow hitch receiver on the Discovery tow bar. There's actually a fair bit of engineering in that interface. We have designed a small amount of vertical float that is essential when travelling at speed over harsh corrugations. If the mount was rigid in the vertical plane, the vehicle would shake the bikes to bits. As the movement approaches the limits, the stinger tube radius climbs up the tow bar receiver tube radius and tries to pull off the side wall, thus cushioning vertical travel limits. It's just sensational Andrew and you'll appreciate it when you've been travelling up in the Gulf or the Kimberley and the bikes are always ready to ride. Hope that all makes sense."

No horizontal play at all.

Bit more buggering around on this weekend fine tuning it I reckon.

Glad to see the chatter on this topic it's been really helpful chaps

Originally Posted by eddomak

Just a quick survey on behalf of a friend - does anyone find any lateral (sideways) movement with their ISI in the hitch?

Update: With some encouragement from George and me he tightened up the bolt really tight and now all lateral movement has disappeared. He is very happy again. Thanks all for your responses.

Originally Posted by Crofty

Well gents, the ISI 4x4x4 arrived and I got her rigged up this weekend passed.
Those fellas at ISI-Carriers sure know how to engineer a master piece!!!
Utterly impressed!
Thought I'd share a few proud photos with you

That looks neat. I am considering one of these, but would like to see how it tilts, people have said it is very heavy to lift? How heavy are we talking, and, practically speaking, what's involved in tilting it down and back up?

I can do it on my own with 2 adult mtb's on board. It's all about having the right lifting technique. I find it easier to lift from the cross bar of the bike or one hand on the handlebars and one on the seat to lift into position.

To tilt to the ground it is easier than get the pin out if someone takes the weight of the rack of the pin from the back. I then hold the bike at the back and flick the retaining bar over with my foot.

I've tried a lot of different bike carriers and this is easily the best one I've used.

Originally Posted by Jimlr

That looks neat. I am considering one of these, but would like to see how it tilts, people have said it is very heavy to lift? How heavy are we talking, and, practically speaking, what's involved in tilting it down and back up?

How heavy it is depends on how many bikes there are. I can drop and lift it by myself (I am not a big guy, and of average strength) with 3 adult mountain bikes and 1 child bike but it isn't pretty, and I make sure I lift properly so that I don't strain anything.

Here is how it is done:


Actually you might need to swap steps 1 & 2...


And the end result can be seen from the iSi site:

Yes, it is definitely easier with 2 people. With the advantage of leverage, lifting from the furthest point from the pivot is easier.

Any having said that it is heavy, when I used a Yakima hang-on style rack that was a significant effort to lower and raise with 4 bikes as well.