Atera tow ball rack, not completely tightening on the ball

I bought an atera rack before Christmas second hand and tried to use it in anger for the first time today. It seems it doesn’t ever get tight enough to stop sideways rotation (which is obviously not right).

I can’t see any means to tighten it. am I missing something? Is there any way that it can wear to that extent (it is not just slightly loose, it is easily moved with one hand and the lever is all the way down)…

Not familiar with that exact rack, but normally you can adjust the clamping force in the same way you adjust a quick release. Sometimes via a spanner or toolless via a handwheel.

Also, ensure tow ball and rack mechanism is cleaned of any grease, and with my Thule rack, you need to raise the rear of the rack higher than expected to get the clamp lever all the way down.

Doesn’t sound right, I have a Strada DL and it clamps really well with minimal force on the lever. I think it has some sort of ratchet system – is it possible that something has slipped or come loose?

As Spooky said there is normally a means of adjusting the clamping force, I know there is on the Thule racks, but the ball and clamp must be free of grease.

Hopefully Stoner will be along soon as I know he has an Atera rack.

I have an Atera and mine is rock solid well before the handle gets to horizontal. Without looking at the mechanism I’m not sure I have any suggestions, apart from what about a bit of inner tube around the tow ball? (This may be very unsafe, I don’t know).

I’ve just been out to the garage to have a closer look.

It doesn’t look like the clamping force is adjustable. There are 5 positions (on a ratchet) to clamp it, the ratchet is fixed in place. On mine it starts to get tight on the first ratchet and is solid on the 3rd. The video above is good, if you’re following that and it’s not working something is wrong.

Have a look and see if the ratchets look OK. Is there a chance the towball is worn? Maybe worth trying on a mate’s vehicle to check that.

When this started to happen on my atera strada rack I couldn’t suss it out for ages, just kept thinking I was doing it wrong.
Then I saw the crack in the metal where it clamped the ball.
Took it back for a refund.
Shame cos it was a decent rack apart from that.

Is the towball an old imperial one by any chance? One is slightly smaller than the other but I can’t remember which?

Thanks I’ll check for any cracks, that wouldn’t be good.

There is as others say no obvious way to adjust tension.

I gave the ball a wipe but I certainly didn’t degrease it – balls are supposed to be greased afterall, a bit of a pita if I need to decontaminate it each time.

TGA, great minds think alike, as that is what I did for the short journey I needed to make (at low speed). It’s rock solid with a bit of inner tube on it, but not sure I want to do that at 70mph or over bumpy roads.

I will test on someone else ball but it’s not that old and not had much use so I’d be surprised if it was worn enough to make it loose.

balls are supposed to be greased afterall

Not when you’re wanting to clamp something to it solidly

It’s OK to grease the ball for an old trailer, but anything with an Alko style stabiliser hitch (just about every single caravan) needs a clean degreased tow ball.

Towball on my van has been polished to a mirror finish as I do a lot of towing (greased as it’s a heavy trailer and not an Alko hitch) and my Thule rack still clamps securely once I’ve degreased the ball. I just use a couple of heavy duty hand cleanser wipes to clean it.

My little green/red button thing doesn’t seem to pop up to confirm its locked on, which is a little annoying, but it always seems to be very secure, with no sideways movement.
Would like it “confirming” though.

Legend, I know what you are saying but my previous (Halfords?) rack never had any issues on a greased ball. I guess this confirms some of my original fears about the whole idea of clamping to a ball as a secure solution. I didn’t know about caravan stabileser hitches also ignoring the whole logic for the ball – I never tow anything that big.

It must be an earlier model as it doesn’t have the green pop up thing (and no whole where it could just have gone missing either).

Caravan stabilisers basically use a couple of brake pads to put friction on the ball to counteract movement, reducing snaking etc. That’s why they need to be clean and decreased, or they would get contaminated like your bike brakes.
Our Thule bike rack needs the friction adjusting slightly depending on whether it is going on my van or the wife’s car. Not a lot but it goes to show that there can be slot differences in ball diameter.

My Atera is absolutely knackered and it still clamps (on about the 4th ratchet). Switching cars, the ‘new’ towbar seemed bigger (I know that’s unlikely) and being ham fisted I broke the bit that lifts it from the tow-bar when you release the ratchet. Still clamps tho, so yours does sound odd..

i’m assuming you’ve checked the towball is tightly done up?

(I use a thule one and it swung as i moved off because of this numptyness – agree with comment higher up the thule one need to hold at the correct angle)

My little green/red button thing doesn’t seem to pop up to confirm its locked on, which is a little annoying, but it always seems to be very secure, with no sideways movement.
Would like it “confirming” though.

I though the green/red thing was just there to warn you of over tightening? I.e. you should always be able to see a bit of the green.

Ooh, I dunno, didn’t read the instructions.
I think I can see a bit of both colours when it’s on properly.
Had three bikes on it a few times and nothing’s ever fell off etc so it must be on properly.
I just thought it was a confidence checker type thing…?

Some the the green should showing, just checked. The video above is a bit clearer.

The safety mechanism is that you need the key to lock it in place. You can’t remove the key unless it’s on one of the ratchets. Even if it’s a bit loose I don’t think it can fall off if it’s at least on the 1st ratchet.

Thanks for that, I’ll gave a look later on when I’ve got better signal

You can get a shim fro roofbox.com if your clamp is too loose. I had that on my last Atera rack and it sorted the problem fine. I was told it was because I was being too ham fisted in tightening up the ratchet in the first place (only 1 click is required apparently).

My new(er) rack is going the same way over time and I reckon I’ll need a shim in the next year or so.

Sorted it for 4 years last time, so no big worries.

+1 for ‘lifting’ the rack to present to the towball.

Mine is a V1 Atera rack and was solid on my old Saab’s towball. Hardly needed any clicks before it was on safe and secure, could carry the recommended number of bikes with no concerns – was well loaded IIRC!

Another possibility, towballs don’t last forever, they wear out. If you’re not the first owner could the last owner have done a lot of miles towing a caravan? Or maybe a loose rack has moved around and worn the ball?

antigee – i’m assuming you’ve checked the towball is tightly done up?

(I use a thule one and it swung as i moved off because of this numptyness – agree with comment higher up the thule one need to hold at the correct angle)

I’m not sure I understand? The tow ball is a proper old fashioned affair bolted with two bolts. It is not the ball itself that is moving – as per TGA I user an inner tube “shim” and its rock solid, but I don’t like that idea too much.

Another possibility, towballs don’t last forever, they wear out. If you’re not the first owner could the last owner have done a lot of miles towing a caravan? Or maybe a loose rack has moved around and worn the ball?

No the ball is relatively new <3 yrs old (we are its only owner), and done 30k miles in that time – my guess is 3000 of them at most would have had anything on the ball, 1000 will a small unbraked boat trailer [always with a well greased ball!] and the rest with a previous rack which never was loose to my knowledge.

I will get the calipers out when we have daylight and dry weather and give it a check though and test on a friends ball etc. I’ll get a shim if there is no sign of a crack and all is well.

tomd – Even if it’s a bit loose I don’t think it can fall off if it’s at least on the 1st ratchet.

You are right it can’t be lifted off / fall off but the rack will swing from side to side and either damage the car or the bikes.

Thanks for your help everyone.

Mine is also loose when I install it on the current car, I just made a shim out of a tin can to slot in there and it’s okay. The rack’s now 12 years old so it’s not done too bad..

I’ve done around 15,000 miles towing on mine, ball is polished but the rack clamps securely with no adjustment when swapped between that and my Wife’s car who’s ball has never towed anything.

However, my Thule rack does lean drunkenly to the right when clamped, I’ve heard of someone getting all the towbar bolts loosened, and then used the play to get the ball straight before tightening everything back up. But on ours, the main bolt goes through the rear central towing eye with some washers so can’t see that would work…unless the towing loop isn’t exactly straight…

Mine is not that tight – have to get it on the last notch. Had it and lowball from new – always been like that

Thought I should come back and close this out – in case anyone googling finds the same issue.

Tested my rack on another ball, still not tight.
Tested another (same model) rack on my ball, tight as it should be.

No signs of cracking or damage. Used old inner tube as a shim for a while and it worked well (too well – it was very hard to get rack back off the ball!)

Metal shim ordered from roofbox.com (£20 ish!) easy to fit, and the “tabs” bend into place so it stays in place when removed from the ball. Everything now working exactly as it should.

Thanks folks for your help, especially fat-boy-fat.

Interesting posts. I searched for this becuase I drove over a speed bump the other day and my atera dropped off! Now really vervous about using it again. No obvious cracks, as mentioned above, but will take another look. Wasnt going fast. Used it for over a year, no issues.

as the OP said he’s got an old style flange towball rather than the newer swan neck style, i thought i’d chip in with my experience.

I had the same old flange (hehe FLANGE) on my old car, when i used the Thule euroclassic bike mount (which granted probably has a completely diferent clamping mechanism) it would tighten up firm as i could get it, but it would still move.

Someone on here suggested changing to an ALKO style flange towball – the only difference i could see is that there’s a straight section immediately below the tow ball. This worked a treat and the rack was rock solid after.