# Thule Insta Gator Bad Experience



## Guest (Jun 16, 2011)

So I finally got tired of taking on and off my front wheel to transport my Morewood to the trails. I searched and searched the forums and finally decided I would purchase a couple Thule Insta-Gators and permanently mount them in the bed.

Went down and purchased one to try out for a couple weeks before I commited to 2. Spent about an hour drilling and mounting in the back of my Tacoma. Got the bike in there and was immediately not impressed with how much it moved, but oh well I can live with that. 

Installed the lock cylinder and attempted to lock the bike in place, but was able to overcome the locking mechanism and still slide the fork head off the tire. Went back to the rack shop and showed them the issue. No problem, they swapped out the head as they had seen this once before and had one in stock. All seems well, so I drive away from the shop and on the first turn on to the freeway, the head pops loose and on the next bump, the bike comes free and falls over, luckily inside the bed of the truck.

I was pissed to say the least, mostly because I drilled holes on my bed and the rack failed dumping my $7K bike in the bed. 

Went home, unbolted the rack, took it back and finally got my money back after some arguement with the manager of the shop who told me earlier that they stand behind Thule products. Most of the arguement was over the fact that I drilled holes in it to hard mount the sucker, which had nothing to do with thte failure...

I am sure there are hundreds of folks who have had positive experience with these, but make sure you driveway test the hell out of this thing before you set off on the highway and be prepared for the bike to have a lot of movement when it is mounted.

Might try the pipeline next, but I hate waiting for things to ship, plus it seems to take up quite a bit of space and I would want to hard mount this one as well...


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## boardguru (Oct 3, 2009)

Just did a 700 mile round trip road trip with Thule Insta Gator. I had two of them welded to a 1" bar that is held down in the front of the bed using the racheting straps going through "D" rings on the bed floor.
Absolutely no problems. Even driving off road to get to some of the trails at our destination. My truck is a Toyota Tacoma Dual cab with a short bed, tailgate down and bed extender. Bikes were Ibis Mojo HD's.
I'm pretty happy with this setup. Sorry that you had trouble. Maybe you just had a bad ratcheting mechanism.


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## Scarsandtears (Sep 18, 2010)

I drive a Tacoma as well and just got the Rocky Mounts 1085 DriveShaft SD. Slides in the existing bed rails, no drilling and is secure as hell. You do have to take off your front tire, but its solid as a rock and locks. I add a cable lock anchored to the d-rings while at work, or anywhere for added security.
cCeck it out, it is bomber.


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## Colddiver98 (Jul 20, 2009)

ebnash,
Did you ever get the Pipeline? I was thinking about trying one of these out, but want to know if anyone has had experience with them.


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## L J (Mar 16, 2011)

Could you post some pix for us to see your set up?


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## pitbullandmtb (Jul 31, 2011)

I'd love to see pics too...


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## Saxon9598 (Sep 15, 2008)

I dont know why you drilled them, But I have used them in my Tacoma for 4 years, never take them out, they just sit back there and work fine every time. I have thousands of miles on them with no incident, and this is with everything from 40+ lbs DH bikes all the way down to road bikes. I even take the truck off road with the bikes on the racks. Strange.


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## SharkRescue (Mar 23, 2011)

The problem that I have is that you cannot get the straps tight enough to hold the rack well. It seems the buckle system slips before the plastic straps are tight. I am not really satisfied with the design, but have not found a good alternative.


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## kdiff (Apr 25, 2010)

boardguru said:


> Just did a 700 mile round trip road trip with Thule Insta Gator. I had two of them welded to a 1" bar that is held down in the front of the bed using the racheting straps going through "D" rings on the bed floor.
> Absolutely no problems. Even driving off road to get to some of the trails at our destination. My truck is a Toyota Tacoma Dual cab with a short bed, tailgate down and bed extender. Bikes were Ibis Mojo HD's.
> I'm pretty happy with this setup. Sorry that you had trouble. Maybe you just had a bad ratcheting mechanism.


I'm looking at picking up a new short bed taco to replace my current longer bed tacoma. I might like to copy you setup if you don't mind. When you have a moment would you please post some pictures? Thank you :thumbsup:


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## alshead (Oct 2, 2007)

Bump- I'd also like to see your setup, boardguru. I have a Taco DC w/ Shortbed and am picking up a bed extender for just this purpose- was figuring if I could put the Insta Gators in the front of the bed, it should work...


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## SharkRescue (Mar 23, 2011)

Well, I cant figure out how to attach the pictures from my I pad. Sorry


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## alshead (Oct 2, 2007)

*Tapatalk*



SharkRescue said:


> Well, I cant figure out how to attach the pictures from my I pad. Sorry


Download Tapatalk and use it for the forums- awesome app and I'm pretty sure it's free. You can post pics


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