# Legal to leave hitch mount rack on car in CA?



## stib (Dec 29, 2003)

I have an '05 Legacy GT wagon with a T2 hitch mounted rack. I've been wondering for quite some time whether it is legal in California to leave the rack on the car folded up when not in use because it partially obscures the back license plate. I've had the rack for about one year and normally tend to leave the rack on the car because I'm too lazy to deal with putting it on and taking it off before and after each ride. But I have been curious about whether or not it is legal to leave it on. Thanks for any insight you might have about this.

Steve


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## Speedub.Nate (Dec 31, 2003)

Legal? I don't know. But for years I ran around with a hitch rack permanently attached to a Saturn sedan and a Subaru wagon, before making the switch to roof racks, and I never was hassled by any of the various Bay Area / Northern California law enforcement agencies for it.


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## stib (Dec 29, 2003)

Thanks. Got a little nervous when I had a CHP deliberately follow behind me for some time even though I hadn't been speeding, when I realized I had the rack folded up behind me. Just don't want to give anyone an excuse to ticket me...


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## Nagaredama (Aug 2, 2004)

stib said:


> I have an '05 Legacy GT wagon with a T2 hitch mounted rack. I've been wondering for quite some time whether it is legal in California to leave the rack on the car folded up when not in use because it partially obscures the back license plate. I've had the rack for about one year and normally tend to leave the rack on the car because I'm too lazy to deal with putting it on and taking it off before and after each ride. But I have been curious about whether or not it is legal to leave it on. Thanks for any insight you might have about this.
> 
> Steve


To answer your question, yes you can be cited for having the rack on. See this thread...http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=255778

I have an 06 WRX wagon with a T2. How much fore and aft sway do you get? How about bouncing on the freeway?

I'm trying to figure why the bikes move around so much on my rack.


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## notenoughtime (Sep 7, 2004)

Nagaredama said:


> To answer your question, yes you can be cited for having the rack on. See this thread...http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=255778
> 
> I have an 06 WRX wagon with a T2. How much fore and aft sway do you get? How about bouncing on the freeway?
> 
> I'm trying to figure why the bikes move around so much on my rack.


By "fore and aft sway," are you talking about the bikes while on the rack? I know my rack is rock solid on the car, with zero sway. With bikes on, the bikes don't wobble one bit either. Are you pushing down the front wheel arm enough? I do notice that the clamping section of the arm has some wobble when just sitting there, but once you press it down to the front tire, it's solid as a rock.


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## stib (Dec 29, 2003)

Thanks for that link. I figured it probably was illegal, but up to the discretion of the officer. If it's just a "fix-it" ticket, I may opt to leave it on my car because I'm too lazy to be putting it on and taking it off each time I ride. I figure my ride looks enough like a sedate station wagon that I won't get harrassed too frequently.

As for the racks and swaying... I don't really see any fore-aft sway, but with two RFX's loaded, there certainly is quite a bit of bouncing of the rack + bikes (as a single unit) when driving rapidly on concrete freeways. It was very disconcerting at first, but I haven't had any incidents yet. I think the flex has a lot to do with the fact that I'm using a 1.25" hitch instead of a 2". I think the larger cross-section of the 2" would have greatly reduced the sway. I wish companies offered a 2" hitch for the Legacy... and I didn't want to shell out for a custom, welded hitch... My biggest problem with the hitch is that it's mounted pretty low (newer Hidden Hitch design) and I scrape a lot on transitions from the street to driveway...


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## dusthuffer (Nov 30, 2006)

it will sway untill you put a big stack of massive heavy duty 2 inch diameter washers and a honkin' big bolt through the tow hitch side hole and through the rack. Crank that down like a madman and no more sway if your rack is sturdy. If you rack is a flimsy piece of junk then get two tie-downs, one on each side, go from left and right corner of your bumper to the highest point on the rack, ratched until tite. serves 4 hungry adults.


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## Nagaredama (Aug 2, 2004)

The bikes don't move at all. The entire rack sways from front to back in relation to the car. Either the hitch is moving or the rack.

It has an anti sway/lock pin on it.

I just wish it was more solid when driving over speeds bumps and on rough freeways.


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## stib (Dec 29, 2003)

I'm thinking that a lot of the sway might be due to the relatively small cross-section of the 1.25" hitch coupled with the rhythmic up-down movement at expansion joints on concrete freeways. Also, there is quite a bit of weight hanging off the back of the car on a long lever arm, so if the springs and shocks on your car are stock, they may be having a little trouble coping with the added weight. I'd love to get some decent coilovers, but the missus would kill me...


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## HarryCallahan (Nov 2, 2004)

You might want to pul the rack off every now and then just to make sure it isn't full of water and rusting from the inside out. :eekster:


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## nmba guy (Jul 28, 2005)

ive got the saris version with a 2" receiver, on my old vehicle there was very little "bounce" but on my new with a different model 2" receiver, there is significantly more "bounce". what I did was use some sheetmetal and made two shims that I slide in next to the rack piece that fits into the receiver and it makes a big difference, much better. I think there is just some receivers that are a little bigger than others, tollerance wise.


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## anotherbrian (Mar 18, 2005)

I've wondered about the obscured license plate enforecement in CA as well, especially since we have a number of red-light camera intersections around. I've had a T2 on the back of my Outback for the last year and have never had a problem.

I have received fix-it tickets before for missing registration stickers, missing front plates, etc., and I think they're different from a hitch rack, in that fixing them will require a demonstrable effort. Unless the officer is aware that you are leaving it that way all the time (in which case they could say you need to relocate the plate) or trying to hide it from a red-light camera, I think they'd ignore it.

As to how long you can go without plates ... we finally put plates on our Odyssey minivan that we bought 16 months prior out of state!

And my T2 bounces up and down, but not side-to-side. It is a 1.25" hitch and only has the anti-sway feature through the hitch bolt (2" models had a screw that pressed vertically?) ... I've used a thin piece of wood to shim the hitch in the receiver and found it eliminates most of the movement, though do need to be careful not to lose it when I pull the rack off.


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## HarryCallahan (Nov 2, 2004)

*Afterthought*



anotherbrian said:


> I've wondered about the obscured license plate enforecement in CA as well, especially since we have a number of red-light camera intersections around. I've had a T2 on the back of my Outback for the last year and have never had a problem.
> ...


There shouldn't be an issue with hitch racks and red light traffic cameras. The cameras are set up to take a photo of the car and driver entering the intersection. To get a conviction, the courts want to see not just the license plate, but the driver's face as well.


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