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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
I purchased the basic rack second hand and don't have the installation instructions. There are two small aluminum tubes with rubber caps that extend underneath the tailgate but don't seem to connect to anything? There is a hole in each rubber cap that was apparently put there for a reason but yet there's nothing to connect these to. Thanks!
 

· King of Smart Gadgetry
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There are several different versions of a bike rack that was available for the Smart. There is a couple of metal pins that stick up through the air vents that may be what you need for your installation. You can see them in this picture. The driver side sticks up right above the turbo emeblem and the passenger side is right there beside my trailer connector wire. If this helps I might be able to find a picture of them with the rear plastic off.

 

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If you have the OEM model you are probably missing the major part of the rack. There is a quite a bit of rack structure that going under the skin of the 451 if I remember you need to remove the back end plastic and add the internal structure that the basic rack for one or two bikes mounts to. That's one of the reasons most of us purchased a hitch type solution. Good luck and I hope I'm wrong.
 

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If you have the OEM model you are probably missing the major part of the rack. There is a quite a bit of rack structure that going under the skin of the 451 if I remember you need to remove the back end plastic and add the internal structure that the basic rack for one or two bikes mounts to. That's one of the reasons most of us purchased a hitch type solution. Good luck and I hope I'm wrong.
The two pieces are not very big, but do require taking the rear "CBS" off. I quote CBS because somehow I remember that, but don't remember what it stands for. Basically you have to remove the side skirts and then the rear bumper, which IIRC requires unscrewing the rear hatch bottom. I still recall my son telling my dad that I was actually "crying" during the install... One needs to drill 4 holes for each of the brackets. There were screws provided that needed to be torqued to a specific value. If it started to give, then pop rivets could be used. My EPC subscription just ran out, but I tried to take a peak for the parts/part numbers just before it expired and didn't see them....

Sorry about that. Lots going on. Probably find out today whether they total my smart or not. Geez it took a long time to estimate the damage.....
 
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