Saris Bike Rack Stuck in Hitch Receiver

[doodlewalker]

Hello,

So I have a 2016 P90D Model X that I bought used (not CPOV) from Tesla in December 2019. It came with the hitch receiver which looked new. I installed it for the first time this weekend no problems. However when I went to install a Saris Superclamp EX 4-bike rack (new), it would not easily slide into the hitch. It went in maybe an inch and wouldn't go further - I put in some elbow grease and was able to push it in a little more but still not enough to get the holes in the hitch receiver and the bike rack aligned (not even far enough in to see the beginning of the hole on the bike rack). However I couldn't pull it out either! Looking at it closely from the side, looking at the portion of the bike rack visible through the holes in the side of the hitch receiver, I could see that the fit was so tight that the paint on the bike rack was being scraped off by the inside of the hitch receiver. Having no luck pushing it in or pulling it back out, I was able to remove the hitch receiver from the vehicle. I sprayed some WD-40 in and left it overnight but it didn't help with loosening them.

I took it to the bike shop that I bought it from and they had no clue. One guy thought the hitch receiver wasn't deep enough to fit but the rack definitely did go all the way in so that's not the issue (and if it was an issue that's different - because it is still stuck and I can't pull it out). They weren't much help other than offering to charge me $60 to try and unstick it without any guarantee they could. As well as saying I probably should have filed down the inside of the hitch which seems suspect to me.

Has anyone come across this before? I had one hitch mount rack from some other manufacturer years ago (I think a Thule) that fit easily into my old Jeep, so I'm really not sure why it doesn't fit, this is all standard 2" equipment right? Is it possible the Tesla hitch is defective and too small? Or the Saris rack is defective and too big?

Thanks in advance for any insight or help!

 

[RedXowner]

Never heard of this, and I use my MX hitch receiver frequently. I have two devices I use with my hitch receiver: a standard trailer hitch receiver and my Thule bike rack. They both fit in my Tesla MX-included hitch receiver with a tiny bit of room to spare, as one would expect. I suspect your hitch receiver that plugs into your car might not be the one that comes with the car when new, but that's just conjecture. The picture certainly makes it look exactly like the one I have. Only other thing I can think of is the bike rack part that gets inserted into the Tesla hitch receiver was somehow damaged/dented/deformed and is no longer perfectly square, causing binding when inserted into the hitch receiver. It has to be one of these things. I just can't tell which from here. All I can say is mine works perfectly. Good luck getting them unstuck. Might want to try a mechanical puller.

 

[ngng]

Put the hitch back in the MX then try to bang/wiggle the rack out. Alternatively, hook the rack to something secure and slowly drive away. I noticed the tolerances on the new hitch were really bad with the powdercoating. AFter I wore some of it away everything fit much better. Apply some moly lube next time and it should help.

 

[doodlewalker]

Thanks for the suggestions, I did have the hitch on the MX and couldn't get the rack out, I ended up taking it back to the bike shop and they were able to get it off. They tried another Saris Superclamp and had the exact same problem, they said it needs to go in about 3" but would get stuck at about 2.75 inches in. They tried a Swagman rack and it worked perfectly so I just exchanged for that instead. Appears to have been a weird one off issue I guess between my hitch receiver and the Saris Superclamp.