Hitch play with North Shore rack - this amount normal?

Updating this... finally fixed it, my (stupid ass) mistake was trying to tape washers onto the rack and then insert it into the hitch... installed the rack in hitch then jammed a large washer into the gap (while pressing down on rack to make gap as large as possible) and then taped in place.

Oh yeah and didn't realize the torque specs of the locking pin and bolts were as high as they are so I use some decent box wrenches to crank those suckers down.

Only a small amount of play from the lower mast pivot now, I think that will always be there because the sliding pin you use to choose which of the 3 layback positions the rack is in is it not super tight tolerance so there's some wiggle room... no biggie though, it's night and day improvement from my video in this thread.

Posted by: grambo

Updating this... finally fixed it, my (stupid ass) mistake was trying to tape washers onto the rack and then insert it into the hitch... installed the rack in hitch then jammed a large washer into the gap (while pressing down on rack to make gap as large as possible) and then taped in place.

Oh yeah and didn't realize the torque specs of the locking pin and bolts were as high as they are so I use some decent box wrenches to crank those suckers down.

Only a small amount of play from the lower mast pivot now, I think that will always be there because the sliding pin you use to choose which of the 3 layback positions the rack is in is it not super tight tolerance so there's some wiggle room... no biggie though, it's night and day improvement from my video in this thread.

I never folded my NSR so I replaced that blind pin with a big bolt which reduced some noise.

What’s the torque on the locking bolt supposed to be?

Might be better to use a nyloc. A nut with a plastic insert, so the nut & bolt will not come undone.

When I refinished my NSR-4 I reassembled with SS hardware including nylocs. 

I’ve went to a locking anti sway pin now too

Posted by: Endur-Bro

What’s the torque on the locking bolt supposed to be?

75lbs/ft on the 2 inch (4/6 bike) racks. I don't have a torque wrench besides my dinky bike one so I just reef on it pretty good with a normal size box wrench.

I take the rack on/off the vehicle too often to replace the blind pin unfortunately, especially in the winter I prefer to store in the shed to reduce rusting.

I just refinished my Gen 1 NSR-4 rack. Bought in 2007, was a bit rusty, but nothing too bad. The end of the prongs was probably the worst part. The rubber covers held water in there and caused a bit of rust. I stripped/sanded it all down with a die grinder and some hand sanding. Removed the tie downs and masked off the parts I didnt want coated. Two coats of rust reformer followed by three coats of semi-gloss rust black paint. Looks brand new apart from the sticker which I left in its original (weathered) condition. Put some black polyurethane adhesive on the tips of the prongs to keep the water out this time around. Replaced the bolts and new nylock nuts. I think the first gen NSR4 has less issues with hitch play.  Locking hitch pin keeps the base in place and the rest is all one piece.

Id insert a pic, but have no clue how to do that if the pic isnt in an url?