Ingredients: 2020 Toyota Tacoma, 2018 Santa Cruz Bronson mountain bike, 2019 Specialized Sirrus touring bike, and a 2023 FWC Swift truck camper.
Dilemma: Having access to all of these at the same time, i.e. HOW to make them all work together, such that I could easily carry both bikes and still have access to the door of my camper, which opens from the back and hangs 6” over the back bumper. Would it even be possible?
I did SO much research to figure out which rack to choose, with some trial and error, and eventually I did find a solution. However, in all my online research, I never saw anyone with my exact setup, so I’m doing my part to share my solution on the Interwebs, in case it’s helpful for someone else needing a kickass bike rack to fit with their Tacoma and/or truck camper.
I’ll share the details of what rack I tried first and why it failed, and what rack I landed on and why it works.
The Bike Rack and Truck Camper Problem
The main problem is that most bike racks completely block access to the back of a vehicle. Even with their fancy tilt functions, tilting is simply not good enough for needing to actually open a door (and climb in!) out the back.
I first tried a Yakima FullSwing hitch 4-bike rack (hang style), which I had high hopes for because of the swing-away function and the price. Sadly, it doesn’t even come close to working with a Santa Cruz Bronson, which no review ever mentioned (insert super annoyed eye roll here). Beyond that very essential detail, it was also surprisingly heavy, and the fastening and swing away elements just simply took too long for me to imagine happily doing this multiple times a day. Sold to the highest bidder. Sorry Yakima, I really wanted to like it.
Back to the drawing board, with a (maybe I should have seen this as obvious) word to the wise – if you have a full suspension mountain bike with the rear shock along the upper cross frame, a hanging rack probably won’t work for you at all.
The alternative is a tray rack, but the problem with a tray rack is that they don’t swing away on their own, the swing arm is sold separately, which adds money, weight, space, everything.
However…
The Kuat Sherpa Hitch Rack and Toyota Tacoma
If you’ve done any research for bike racks at all, I’m sure you can’t help but read endless amazing reviews about Kuat. It’s an expensive brand, but it turns out there’s a very good reason for all those two-sentence love stories.
Before I got my FWC truck camper, I decided to try the Kuat Sherpa 2.0 as is, without a swing arm, just to make sure I liked the rack itself.
It. Is. SO. EASY. To use. It’s lightweight and easy to carry, which is important to me – I can easily install and remove it from my Tacoma (2” receiver) and put it in storage when I’m not using it. I just used the word “easy” three times and will not edit them out. EASY is magic when you’re dealing with things like bike racks. The fold-down function is smooth and simple, and even the tilt allowed me access to my tailgate with the bike on it (remember this is pre-camper install). Without the bikes on it, the tailgate lies flat without touching the rack. Consider me smitten. I loved it immediately and still do almost two years later.
Note: You would also enjoy these results with the Kuat NV 2.0, I just opted for the Sherpa.
Even with the MTB on the closest rack to the truck, the wide handlebar just barely touched the glass of my topper. I sacrificed a running sock to be my handle bar/topper glass protector and slid it right over the end of the handle that touched the glass of the truck so it wouldn’t rub. Problem solved.
Kuat Sherpa Pivot and Toyota Tacoma with Truck Camper
Enter: FWC Swift truck camper. Time to get creative, because the fancy tilt no longer cuts it.
I ordered the Kuat Pivot v2 (a swing arm that works with a 2” receiver and a Kuat Sherpa rack). I opted for the passenger side swing over the driver side (which means it swings toward the passenger side of the vehicle) and I’m glad I did, because I find myself going back and forth from the back of the camper to the driver’s side of the truck more often than the passenger side, which just makes the position of the bikes more convenient while parked.
True to Kuat style, the swing arm was just as easy to install as the rack itself. It swings away to 90 degrees and 120 degrees, and while it’s locked in position all the way out at 120 degrees, the tires of the MTB on the closest rack still don’t touch the passenger side of the truck. Brilliant.
The combination of the Pivot and the Sherpa allow for the perfect amount of swing space, but that’s not even the kicker here…
Kuat Pivot and Kuat Sherpa at 90 degrees.
Kuat Sherpa with MTB on a Tacoma with a FWC camper.
The Pivot naturally adds 12” of space between the truck bumper and the receiver where the Sherpa rack installs. For me, these 12” were absolutely essential, because my FWC Swift hangs over the back of the truck about 6”. That’s right, no more tailgate. The need for this space ended up being the biggest problem when searching for a rack that would fit – I needed to clear the camper and still be able to carry the rack, with a mountain bike that has wide handlebars, have it swing away, etc.
It was a tall order, and had I stayed with the original Yakima rack, I would have had to get a hitch extender just to clear the camper. With the Pivot adding 12” of space in the back, that problem was ALSO solved. Can I love this setup any more?
Actually yes, yes I can. Because there’s one more thing I haven’t mentioned yet – stability. Once you crank the Pivot and the Sherpa into place (which, guess what, is super easy) there is no wobble. I’ve experienced wobble with other racks, but these two are both super solid once installed and tightened down. And they don’t loosen up on dirt roads.
Conclusion: My Toyota Tacoma + the Kuat Sherpa 2.0 + Kuat Pivot v2 + FWC Swift = a match made in Adventure Rig Heaven. The entire system is very easy to use, it’s all lightweight enough for me to handle on my own, and I can carry both bikes or just one at a time without issues, also no issues with wobbling or stability while driving, PLUS I can still access the door to my camper.
Worth. Every. Penny.
I know you want to know about those steps too, those are TorkLift International Glow Steps (they have glow in the dark tabs on the edges), and while they are admittedly a bit awkward and heavy, they are safe, sturdy, and a breeze to use getting in and out of the camper.
Read on if you’re wondering about any suspension mods for the Tacoma with the camper.
No, unfortunately I’m not sponsored by Kuat (yet!) so this really is just a love story about a couple of great products. Yes, there are affiliate links in this post, please use them!
