Chosen Solution
Recently got a bike rack from a friend and the arms will not lock in the upright position. I disassembled it and it’s just not very clear how the mechanism works when the arms are raised. I am enclosing a few pictures (with the cover removed for clarity). I was unable to obtain any sort of manual or diagram from Yakima. To their credit, they have lifetime warranty for the original owner and they would simply have replaced the rack, but I am not the original owner and my friend does not have the proof of purchase info. If anyone has a Flipside or a Doubledown hitch mounted rack, I would greatly appreciate any photo’s of the internal mechanism in the arms fully extended position. You will need to remove the plastic cover on the mechanism (quick job, requires removing two allen head screws). I am attaching a few pics of my rack with the arms DOWN and UP. It looks to me that there is a piece missing, but without a manual or detailed drawing, it’s hard to say for sure! Thanks in advance.
Arms Down. This works fine
Partially Extended
Arms Fully Extended, View of Latch Mechanism
It looks like they were selling a defective product. Here’s what they said on another site: “All Flipsides produced after June 2011 are now improved with a longer spring pin and has the bushing pre-installed to eliminate the rack rotating in transit. Any previous issues with the Flipside have been addressed. The Flipside now offers a great price with some premium features.” I would write them and ask just how they addressed these old issues.
