Curt Manufacturing 18131 2-Piece Basket Cargo Carrier with Folding Shank

by Curt

• Hitch-mounted cargo basket provides extra room to transport luggage or gear
• Basket dimensions: 60" x 20" x 6"
• 500 lb rating
• 2" hitch receiver
• Durable steel construction with power coated finish

Product Description

Don’t leave your gear behind! This large CURT Cargo Carrier is 60” long by 20” wide and features 6” high sides which, allows you to secure more in each load. This product features a folding shank so the carrier can be folded up against your vehicle when not in use. The heavy duty, all steel tubular construction ensures a durable product that holds up in different weather conditions. With the capacity to carry 500 lbs, you can be sure to pack all you need. Finished with a black powder coat, you won’t find a better looking cargo carrier. CURT is confident in their product so it’s backed with a one year warranty.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 76 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars good basket January 26, 2011

By Jenos

Color Name:Black|Amazon Verified Purchase

I will start with the cons (the reason I gave it four stars)
* Expect the box that it comes in to be broken and have pieces sticking out
* Expect the nuts/bolts/pins to be scattered all over the place and possibly missing
* Expect the basket to sit at least 10-20 degrees higher than expected

Now the pros
* Expect the basket to be solid
* Expect the basket to mount easily
* Expect the basket to hold the weight advertised

I order this basket for a road trip (600 miles round trip) that I recently completed. It did not disappoint and I didn't even know it was there while driving. I will add that I also installed an anti-rattle pin lock that I bought at U-Haul for $19.99 exactly like the one sold on Amazon.com but $10 cheaper. Having the anti-rattle pin really made the difference in my opinion.
I ordered the basket around Christmas, giving myself plenty of time to put it together before my road trip. I'm glad I did because as I mentioned I was missing pieces. I contact amazon.com and told them the pieces I was missing, their solution was to overnight me a new basket (which also arrived missing pieces) but having two baskets I was able to piece together one COMPLETE basket and sent back the extras.
If you have bought or are planning to buy you should think about installing turning/stop lights and safety chains, especially for night driving, the basket is all black and sticks out about foot away from your car plus the width of the basket, which might not be seen by another driver especially if you vehicle is black as mine is.

Note for Curtis Mfg:
Place the bolts and instructions in a 4 mil plastic bag and zip tie it to one side of the basket pieces

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Curt Folding Cargo Basket - Excellent! September 22, 2010

By Edgar LaCombe

Color Name:Black|Amazon Verified Purchase

I purchased this a couple of months ago and have since had the opportunity to use on a vacation round trip of over 1,600 miles. It secured well to the hitch on my Ford Flex and you wouldn't even know it was there. I used in it in combination with a ROLLO waterproof cargo bag, which also performed excellently, even in eight hours of downpours on the trip home.

I could have purchased a cheaper knock-off product, but chose instead to stick with Curt and their quality build. Glad I did.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great product in so many ways January 5, 2012

By Matt

Color Name:Black|Amazon Verified Purchase

Let me first say that the product itself--the item you have in the end--is great. That should be 5+ stars. I'll get to the 4 star rating in a few.

The basket is well made with good welds and nice, glossy black powder coat. It has an expanded metal ("mesh", if you will) bottom and the design with the tube around the edge is great. All the hardware is robust and I was able to put mine together in about 30 minutes. At the very, very least you'll need two adjustable wrenches. To do it right, you need a 9/16" open end wrench and ratchet, and also a 15/16" open end wrench and ratchet. I understand some people don't have these tools, and that's OK- you can do it with the adjustable wrenches, it'll just take you a bit longer to put together.

Instructions are a little lacking but quite frankly you don't need them- there are essentially 6 parts, and a photo of how they go together. You aren't building the Space Shuttle here. :) If you aren't up to putting this together, ask a friend or neighbor.

Once it's all together, it can be handled by one person although it is pretty heavy. IMPORTANT TO NOTE: The basket can be used with the folding shank, or without it. Without the shank, you save (estimate here) about 15-20 pounds, and it sits about 16" closer to the rear bumper. For my application--behind a Jeep Commander--the basket only configuration was idea. It puts the basket about 3" from the bumper but I can still open the rear gate. I just put the shank in the garage and maybe someday I'll use it. I haven't carried anything it the basket yet but when I installed it and stood on it, it's immediately obvious that it's going to work great.

Ok, now for the 4-star rating: Packaging! Aughh! I read the reviews, and true to form my box showed up looking like it had been dropped out of a UPS plane, not delivered by truck to my front door. It had a huge gaping hole in the front of the box and someone had to wrap it with tape at some point along the way to keep it together. Thankfully all the parts were there, but the two basket halves had rubbed together during transit causing 2 paint chips about the size of a dime. I don't really care- that's easily fixed with a little spray paint. So, all's well that ends well. But here's my message to whoever is in charge of packaging this: For such a great product, you're screwing the whole thing up. Yeah, it's heavy- pack it properly! Figure it out. Show some pride in your (great) product rather than telling the world you don't give a damn by putting it in a flimsy box without enough padding.

That said, I'd buy another one in a heartbeat. Great value.