StowAway Hitch Tightener, Anti-Rattle Stabilizer for 2 Inch and 1.25 Inch Hitches
- Hitch tightener prevents rattling, wobbling, rocking and hitch movement for cargo carriers, hitch racks, bike racks and trailer ball mount brands such as Thule, Rola, Yakima, Inno, Draw-Tite, Hidden Hitch, Reese and StowAway
- Includes a heavy-duty stainless steel U-bolt and thick powder coated plate that will stand up to all weather conditions and loads. Easy installation by sliding the U-bolt over the stinger, sliding the tightener plate into the bolt, and tightening it in place with the included hardware, can be mounted from the bottom if hitch ground clearance is low
- Hitch tightener is compatible with all hitch brands, including Curt, Blue Ox, Hidden Hitch and U-Haul, among others, and hitch classes I, II, III, and IV (1, 2, 3 and 4), both 2” and 1.25” models, ideal for hitches on SUV’s, vans, trucks, RV’s, sedans and trailers.
- Original anti-rattle hitch tightener design is proven to be one of the strongest and most effective on the market
- Manufactured in the USA with a lifetime warranty
Graham Brown
Stops all annoying banging & clanking
First, let me explain that I hate the banging caused by sloppy receivers so I have tried a very expensive cushion hitch and a cheaper imitation of this product. The cushion hitch worked well for a few years but wore out to use and was pretty expensive. The cheaper versions of this product will work on bike racks and lightweight stuff only. I tow snowmobiles, 19 to 25 ft. boats, firewood and other heavy trailers. This product is so simple it hurts, but yet IT WORKS. It is a few bucks cheaper on Amazon and the freight is also less than most other places. And IT WORKS. Your stinger will be in solid and the jerking & banging will be gone. It also deters theft because your stinger no longer comes off easily. It installs in a minute with common tools and I will say it one more time - IT WORKS. I have two of them.
Petrena Jones
Removes the rattle
Our new trailer hitch rattled. Drove me nuts! After doing some research found this solution. The configuration of our hitch set-up required the device to be installed upside down. I called the company and they verified the necessity of this installation modification. See photo. The rattle is gone and has not come back even after 4 trips hauling a boat.
Eun Hee Lee
Also a safety feature.
The StowAway Hitch Tightener was ordered through Amazon. It arrived in a timely manner, and was well packaged. I made one minor deviation from the application instructions accompanying this hitch tightener when I put it on the hitch. I fastened the hitch tightener differently than shown in the application instruction. My change was later found to be a significant safety factor in my favor. I merely turned the lower plate 180 degrees, so that the plate lip was under and slightly behind the end of the hitch receiver. Unknown to us, some moron deviously removed our hitch pin while we were parked at a shopping mall. Consequently, the hitch shank could easily have been drawn out of the receiver, but it was well-anchored by the StowAway Hitch Tightener for nearly 300 miles of travel before I noticed the pin was missing. This tightener has proven to be one of our better investments for hitching up to our travel trailer. During this past year we towed to Alaska in the summer, and Florida to snowbird, covering nearly 14,000 miles. This hitch tightener does what it purports to do. No more jerking, banging, and bouncing of the hitch shaft inside of the hitch receiver tube. Thus, no more oblong holes and burrs in the tube. Incidentally, before purchasing this hitch tightener, a new hitch receiver tube replacement was needed because of the badly worn receiver pin holes that developed over the years. I strongly recommend the reader explore website information on the StowAway Hitch Tightener, and to reflect on how it can be useful for a cargo carrier, bicycle rack, towing a boat, etc.
Nunik Milagros Bekasi
A Must-Have Accessory For Hitch Usage
Must have if you use a hitch cargo carrier. Without it, my cargo carrier had quite some movement and would definitely rattle like a mofo on regular roads. The vibration and movement would definitely loosen up the cargo carrier overtime, but this little thing kept it completely stable and secured with barely any movement. I tried standing on my cargo carrier and pushing it with all of my might and it would barely move. I used this in conjunction with the cheap Harbor Freight 500lb cargo carrier for a 3.5 hour trip to Joshua Tree, and when I got back home, it was still as tight as before we left for Joshua Tree -- easy installation, does its job, easy removal, can't complain.
Serban Vanessa
Stopped the Rocking of my Bike Rack
My bike rack, which is an Allen Sports Deluxe 2-Bike Hitch Mount Rack (1-2 Inch Receiver), is designed to fit either a Class II (1 1/4 inch) which I have on my car or Class III (2-inch) hitch receiver which I have on my motorhome. To fill the extra space in a Class III hitch receiver the bike rack uses two "L" shaped metal plates as shims. If the fit were any tighter, installing and removing the bike rack would be difficult, but the small extra space that allows easy installation also permits the rack to rock especially when the weight of our bikes is added. Without interfering with the hitch lock which protects my bike rack, this StowAway Hitch Tightener stops the rocking and stabilizes my top-heavy bike rack. There were enough threads on the "U" shaped bolt to enable me to fully tighten it even though bike rack's hitch bar is 3/4-inch smaller than my RV's Class III hitch receiver. The only disadvantage I see with this solution is that I now need a wrench to remove my bike rack, but is a small problem compared with the constant rocking of my bikes that I experienced previously without this tightener.
Ginny Farris
So simple, so strong.
I give myself a one star rating for not buying this sooner. The plate is a 1/4" thick so you do not have to worry about bending this thing, you will not have to gorilla torque it anyways. I had to set this up on the right side since my hitch does not extend past the rear bumper and because of the way Andersen MFG. makes their Rapid Hitch (short shank with the pin hole halfway down the length so there is no room for this tightener). After I tightened both nuts (flat and lock washers come with this fyi) I yanked and yanked on my hitch and it would not move any direction. I will update this review if I need to after I have my loaded trailer hooked up next week for a 1,300 mile road trip. That will be the real test.
Jerrie Pat Gale
I'm using this with an aluminum hitch and it works great! You need to remember that you are holding ...
This is a VERY heavy duty hitch stabilizer. The black plate is 1/4" steel and the U-bolt is well formed and heavy duty. Put a drop or two of 3-in-1 oil on each thread before bolting it on as per instructions (any light oil will do). I'm using this with an aluminum hitch and it works great! You need to remember that you are holding the ball hitch DOWN against the bottom of the receiver. This is important if you are hauling anything with a significant tongue weight (like a boat or heavy trailer). If you install it opposite, so the ball hitch is being held UP against the top of the receiver and you are carrying a significant load (bikes on a bike rack is not a significant load...I'm talking 400+ pounds of tongue weight or more) then I think you're going to have issues. Also, you don't need to tighten the nuts like a gorilla! Do not put them on with pneumatic tools - you run a big risk of over-tightening. If you are concerned about the nuts coming loose then you could a) add another nut to bind the two nuts together, b) add a nylon stop-nut, c) put a small dab of silicone caulk on the bottom of the threads after you put the nut on (would keep the nut from falling off if it came loose). Really, you should be checking your hitch every time you stop anyway. This thing is super heavy duty and I look forward to using it when pulling my 4,500 pound boat/trailer and my covered 2-place snowmobile trailer. Used it on one short trip so far and it worked perfectly!
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Finally Rattle Free
I have a 2012 Toyota Highlander Limited with the factory receiver hitch. I have used it occasionally to tow Uhaul trailers etc. It made so much noise it would drive me crazy. Because of how this particular hitch is constructed, there were not too many options for anti-rattle devices. This device worked perfectly, almost like it was made for this vehicle. Simple, sturdy, and it works great. What's not to like?
Ryan Lee
Big Boy Tightener
This tightener deserves more than 5 Stars! This is the very best lightener I have used. I have used lighter weight and strength lighteners, but this blows them out of the water. Installed properly with the instructions supplied, you will have years of use with no problems. Check the torque of the bolts, (as with any tow pre-check) before each trip. This tightener is awesome. I don’t understand the negative comments about this item. The plate is impossible to bend by tightening the U-bolt. The plate steel is .3” thick. The u-bolt is 2.5 inches wide. It would take several thousand pounds of force to bend the plate. When following the instructions properly, it recommends 40 foot-pounds of torque for the nuts. The 7/16” u-bolt will NOT rust. It would take several hundred foot pounds of torque to break/twist apart. As with any Stainless steel bolt or nut product, lubricate lightly before installation to eliminate seizing or galling. When using an equalizer hitch – mount the plate on top of the draw bar since that is where the equalizer exerts force on the receiver.
Amber Hawkins
Outstanding secondary use.
I found that the StowAway tightener to be the perfect 'tool' to tighten my Swagman XTC2 platform bicycle rack. There is an inherent flaw in the design of the Swagman bike rack. Within 1000 miles of use behind my towed RV vehicle, the rack becomes sloppy and the platform porpoises from side to side. The StowAway tighten the sloppy connection between the rack platform and its connection to the stem from the receiver. The StowAway is very well made and finished beyond what you require to work well.