Mounting Curt Hitch

[DriverOne]

MadScientist's L Plus will receive a Curt hitch within the next few weeks, and instead of using the original hardware (which I did not get with the hitch, as it is used) I'll be spot welding some nuts to the inside of the bumper and spare tire well to make the hitch removable, with little to show that the hitch was installed. Pics to follow.

[pyrothehitman]

spot welding or tack welding?

[Grey Vw]

I don't think something as important as that should only be spot welded. Try to get as much surface area as you can without melting the bolt.

[TominMO]

I once had a Datsun pickup truck. I found out that the bumper was only spot-welded on when I tried to pull a trailer with it!

[rollertoaster]

He's talking abut tacking the nuts so they don't spin when the bolts are run in from the other side. It's just to make it easier to install and remove, doesn't really effect strength.

[pyrothehitman]

^^ I was wondering how he was going to spot weld that...because you need two contact points....maybe you could on the bumper, but i cant see it being done on the spare tire area.

Tacking a nut or even a hex head bolt is the way to go......I would probably weld the entire hitch on...lol

[DriverOne]

Sorry for not replying sooner, guys. I pulled the bumper of the car and pulled the cover off the bumper to find where it was that the hitch mounted to, and how. You really have to cut up the bumper cover just to get the raised bar to touch the steel of the bumper, and you've got to use square U-bolts mounted through the bumper steel to hold it on. It seems like an extremely weak design (100lb tongue weight limit!), so I'm going to alter the hitch and the bumper to see if I can't get a bit more support and keep from breaking through the bumper cover any more than the 4 times it'd require to send some bolts into the strengthened section. The U-shaped section that mounts to the spare tire well isn't quite perfect either. Instead of spot welding a few nuts in, I'm going to get some 1/4" thick steel plating and weld that to the inside of the spare tire well. I'll then drill through it and tap the holes. Hopefully that will give me some more uniform support. I'd really rather mount one of the U-haul types that mount to the tow hook location, but the price was right for this one, and although you can still order them from U-haul, I don't think they actually carry the hitch. The trailer that I'll pull with this hitch only weighs 80lbs and has a carrying capacity of 870lbs, so I'm not giving up on the hitch, but I'd enjoy a cleaner install.

Just in case anyone was wondering, my biggest worry is someone coming along and stepping on the hitch so that it rips out of the bottom of the car...

[Safety Guy]

I did it this way:

Removed my bumper and cover, then reinstalled the bare bumper.

Used the hitch as a template to mark and drill the holes.

Bashed a couple larger holes in the bumper face (using drill and cold chisel) so I could get some nuts on the straight bolts I used to install the hitch to the bumper bottom (instead of using the U bolts that the hitch instructions tell you to use).

Reattached the bumper cover to the bumper beam with hitch attached. Had to cut some of the bottom of the cover to fit the hitch, but it wasn't too bad.

Installed the bumper assembly with hitch, then used bolts, nuts and large washers as spacers underneath and washers on top to attach the hitch "U" shape to the spare tire well.

I can stand on the hitch with my full weight and nothing bad happens. I weigh over 200 pounds.

I think as long as you keep under the specs for the hitch (100# tongue/1000# pull weight) you should be fine.

Also, taking apart the bumper and cover, etc. will allow you to examine the bumper for excessive rust, which some bumpers will have.

Karl

[Movin]

I turned my cell phone video on to record the the huge wreck and possibly
my ending as well, this is on a logging road with a trailer load of wood..
BEWARE !! these hitches can bring on moments of shear terror like no other!
That said I am not giving up my hitch, no way!!

[DriverOne]

I turned my cell phone video on to record the the huge wreck and possibly
my ending as well, this is on a logging road with a trailer load of wood..
BEWARE !! these hitches can bring on moments of shear terror like no other!
That said I am not giving up my hitch, no way!!

That's way up into the revs! Still awesome.

Safety guy, could I see a picture of the hitch installed with the bumper cover on?

[Safety Guy]

Here ya go:





You can see I tucked the bumper bracket underneath the cover. IIRC I only cut a small part of the cover for some clearance. You can tell the cover is bulging out a bit because I didn't cut enough. On the other hand, it looks okay to me, and if I ever want to use the cover without a hitch, there is more plastic there and it's not likely to show any damage.

Karl

[DriverOne]

Thanks, Karl! That's different than I expected it to be. How long have you had your hitch on your car? This one's got some flake rust on it, and I'm probably going to grind it off before I mount the hitch, and maybe take it over to Line-X. If yours could be removable without taking the cover off, would you find it to be any better than it is now? I ask because I've bruised the crap out of myself unloading groceries from my dad's Astro 'cause his hitch was sticking out. I've got an idea to change that drop-down piece with one that would come down and meet the thick part of the hitch but run along the top so I can run bolts through it to make the part not attached to the bumper removable like this. V

[Safety Guy]

I bought mine used. It was not all that "nice looking" when I installed it. When I redo Luxstiva I'll either paint or powdercoat it so it looks nice.

As for bruising your shins on it, I don't ever recall doing that. When you stand directly over the rear bumper edge and look down, the hitch extends less than 4" out. You'd have to try hard to hurt yourself on this one. If you're still worried about it, then it'd be a whole lot easier to make a pad to fit over the hitch end instead of modding the whole thing.

The Curt hitch is a nice, reasonably quick install hitch for a bike rack (my only use so far) or a small trailer. Also, as I noted, I can put my full 210# weight on the hitch and not see, hear or feel anything deform, so the 100# tongue weight limit is probably conservative. Just make sure your back bumper beam is not too rusted (mine wasn't perfect) and you use appropriately strong bolts and nuts, plus nice large flat washers inside the spare tire well to prevent pull through. I also used washers underneath the well as spacers so nothing would flex too much (not everything lined up perfectly on the horizontal plane).

Karl

[DriverOne]

Thanks again. I'll go with the cover. Bebandit's locating the correct hardware soon, and I'll have pics of the install. I know it's not necessary, but maybe it'll help someone. The bumper cover's been removed, and aside from a lot of dirt, it's just about brand new.