Any avid bikers plan on getting a hitch receiver?

WesleyEng said:

There is no way in hell I'm installing this beast myself. My local shop quoted me $90 labor

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NO BALLS!

I'm going to come home after work with an hour to go before dark and do it.

With pliers.

And beer.

My local Midas did both the hitch and the muffler for 110$. I think that is very reasonable priced.

So so so so so glad I paid someone else to install this instead. Took my shop a little over an hour to install, but they spent 80% of the time trying to fish the damn bolts through! LOL. They ended up having to remove the hitch and file away all the paint around the bolt holes to be able to pull the bolts through but even then, it took them forever to get the angles just right, BUT even when they aligned the holes with the frame perfectly, the bolt wasn't in the hex slot in metal plate, so they spent forever just wiggling it around until it finally seated in the plate. :lol:

Also another great thing about having no mufflers is they were able to lift the hitch straight onto the frame without having to take the exhaust off the hangers

Finally decided on the design of the custom billet hitch cover. I decide to go with the original 1965 gt fender badge design without the top wavy part, but with all black instead of red insert. will be around the size of a credit card. Hope it will look decent.

yjack said:

Got mine installed today. No problem on fitment with Roush muffler. I kinda like the hitch look for some reason, the glossy black bars looks nice and beefy on my car. Going to have a nice metal cover made instead of using the ugly curt rubber hitch cover.

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Did you have to drop your Roush mufflers to install the hitch?
Thanks

If you have mufflers you will want to drop them. It only takes 10 minutes or so to do (6 bolts). This thing is a tight fit and took me and a friend a solid 2 hours to install on his lift. We did have to shave one of the side holes on the hitch about 2mm to get it to fit.

Received my one off custom hitch cover. looks so much better than the rubber curt plug. I am really happy with the design.

I really like that. I'm gonna make something at work to plug the hitch

You can't even really see it in the sun as the shadows hide it.

ok so the Curt page shows 30 min install. I hope it's easy to take off as well. I would only need this for track days (motorcycle). Then I would take it off. But my concern is what kinds of weight/trailers have you pulled safely with your Eco? I have an eco that I will be using to pull a small trailer with my motorcycle on. Bike is 410 wet. Trailer, not sure of weight but it will be one of those open ones you can rent from Uhaul. I'm not sure of sizes/height, or anyo other concerns as I've never pulled a trailer much less rented one so i don't know any of the details concerning tongue weight/height, total weight that the car can pull, etc...

Ideas? Suggestions? Recommendations? Opinions? All are welcome.

Alloy said:

ok so the Curt page shows 30 min install. I hope it's easy to take off as well. I would only need this for track days (motorcycle). Then I would take it off. But my concern is what kinds of weight/trailers have you pulled safely with your Eco? I have an eco that I will be using to pull a small trailer with my motorcycle on. Bike is 410 wet. Trailer, not sure of weight but it will be one of those open ones you can rent from Uhaul. I'm not sure of sizes/height, or anyo other concerns as I've never pulled a trailer much less rented one so i don't know any of the details concerning tongue weight/height, total weight that the car can pull, etc...

Ideas? Suggestions? Recommendations? Opinions? All are welcome.

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It's a pain in the ass to install, I wouldn't want to remove it and reinstall it all the time.

Alloy said:

ok so the Curt page shows 30 min install. I hope it's easy to take off as well. I would only need this for track days (motorcycle). Then I would take it off. But my concern is what kinds of weight/trailers have you pulled safely with your Eco? I have an eco that I will be using to pull a small trailer with my motorcycle on. Bike is 410 wet. Trailer, not sure of weight but it will be one of those open ones you can rent from Uhaul. I'm not sure of sizes/height, or anyo other concerns as I've never pulled a trailer much less rented one so i don't know any of the details concerning tongue weight/height, total weight that the car can pull, etc...

Ideas? Suggestions? Recommendations? Opinions? All are welcome.

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Stick to 1,000/100lbs to be safe. Pulling up to 1,000lbs should be fine.

You're not going to remove and reinstall for track days. I was hoping the same but once I installed I knew it wasn't ever coming off. It will take a good 2 hours with a lift and a friend to get it installed. I've done 5 of these hitch installs and this one was the biggest PITA.
This hitch is made stout and it rated to 2000 lbs. However where it connects to the car the metal is very thin and the car is only rated to 1000 lbs. so I would not go much over that. I have a Tractor Supply 4x6 trailer that is about 250 lbs. and I can put my motorcycle, ATV, or mower on it no problems with the 1000 lbs limit. Those U-Haul trailers are very heavy and you would be well over 1000 lbs if you go that route.

DR_ said:

You're not going to remove and reinstall for track days. I was hoping the same but once I installed I knew it wasn't ever coming off......

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This is true. Once you remove the bolt nuts I don't see how you could get the bolts (8 of them) out of the 2 frame rails without taking off the rear fascia. And this assumes the frame rail ends are open so you could use a coat hanger or something and drag the bolts (with flat support brackets) out of the rails. It would not be fun I'm sure. Also I'm sure no one would want to leave the 8 bolts laying inside the frame rails clanking around.

What about welding the nuts to the inside of the frame rails?