Review on CURT 18112 Black Aluminum Hitch Cargo Carrier with Ramp: 50 x 30-1/2-Inch, 2-in Folding Shank - Ultimate Versatility for Easy Travel by Devin Tanner

My first statement is: THIS THING IS A TANK! I had another hitch carrier which measured about 60”x20”, it did a good job for about 4 years of mostly car camping and being loaded with heavy canvas tent, coolers full of food, propane gas tank, chairs, and other large camping essentials. When I saw the size of this one, I thought 50”x30” might be small, but I was really surprised when I opened the box to assemble. Thinking about mathematically it makes sense (my old had 1200 Sq Inches while this one has 1500Sq inches). Because of the ramp it is much heavier than my previous one and I actually need my wife’s help to install it in our SUV.Assembly: It took me exactly 35 minutes to put it all together alone, if you have another person to help you align the parts and tighten the bolts it could be done in around 15-20 minutes. All of the parts align perfectly, once you have the second half of the ramp and you try to lay it down flat to lock it, it feels as if you made a mistake because the ramp will not fully lay flat to alight the ramp lock with the hole, this is actually on purpose to ensure the ramp stays in place while you travel. You need to push the ramp down about one inch or so and then apply the lock, it stays in place very securely. When the ramp is stored vertically (folded in half) it wobbles a bit, they added a rubber belt to reduce wobble but it still does, with the lock in place it will not come out, but shakes a bit.Installing to the hitch: It is common now to have an anti wobble screw like pin to hold the unit that you are attaching in place, and I would say that this is a must. The only downside of this is that you have to have a wrench in your car (I keep a medium crescent wrench in my car just for this purpose). But once you tighten that bolt, absolutely nothing moves, and I love it. Not noise coming from the hitch, and the cargo feels very well in place.Using the ramp: I tested the ramp by walking on it at first (I weight about 230 Lbs) and thought light it is super sturdy, It held my weight without giving much at all. It has a rubber anti-slip piece on the end of each side of the ramp that actually does add to the functioning structure to ensure it does not move while you are loading. Works great.Folding for transport: I absolutely love how the whole structure stays put very well when folded. That is due to the thickness of the steel used on the folding arm and the bolt that locks it in place. It is very simple to fold and lock and will stay in place very well.Construction: aside from the holding arm (which is made of thick steel) the whole body is made out of aluminum, which sure makes a lot of difference in weight (the whole thing is about 60Lbs - shipping weight was 65 Lbs). It feels heavy duty, but 6 clever ring bolts included to a tremendous job at keeping the unit secure and allowing you to put some good amount of tension on your tie downs. Very clever indeed. The only thing that I liked about my previous cargo hitch better than this one is the clearance between the car and the body of the cargo section. My previous one (was also a folding cargo) had about 12 inches of clearance, which was perfect. THis one feels as if it a bit too far from the car, about 18”. And adding the 10” of the size of the cart section, though that also does not impact functionality, it makes the overall length of the vehicle quite long.Overall I am VERY impressed and satisfied with the quality of the build, attention to details, no rough edges, reflectors, ring bolts, aluminum material for weight. Well thought out and put together. The cost is higher than your usual cargo carriers, but I would consider it worth it.Thanks for reading this and please do let me know if this is helpful, feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions or would like to see new pictures and I will do my best to answer it. Thank you, cheers. Cass