[pqsteve]

Originally Posted by pqsteve

I'm going to try the Draw-Tite 24857 for holding a bike rack. I've tried one of their other hitches on another car and it went smoothly. Has anyone tried this one? Their pix look exactly like the u-haul unit, but I think they ship from stock.

The fine folks at e-trailer steered me wrong. This hitch will not fit the convertible since there is nothing to bolt the right angle extension on to. There is another one with a flat extension that looks like it will fit the cabrio.

[BB_cuda]

pqsteve, you posted in a thread specific to us diesel owners. You are of course welcome here but we have extra equipment to work around namely the urea tanks. The hitches shown here are specific to our needs. 328 sedan is very easy I'm told but since you have an E93, it me be completely different. Best of luck

[Chief Orman]

Originally Posted by Puerto Rican 335d

Ok amigos I took the jump and just ordered my execuhitch and will keep everyone posted anyone interested in it please pm me for that matter. Im looking at the

Yakima rack
http://www.autoanything.com/bike-racks/69A4017A0A0.aspx or the

Softride rack

http://www.autoanything.com/bike-racks/69A3766A0A0.aspx

You guys have until 2:30 pm EST to help me pick one before I decide, I really like the softride but open to suggestions

PROBABLY thanks to you I got one too...fantastic!!!!!!

[Puerto Rican 335d]

Chief hope youre doing fine and gracias for the input i STILL have the hitch on!!

[briansjacobs]

anyone come up with a good solution for wiring harness. I have the Uhaul hitch that I use for a bike rack but may tow a small boat

[Chief Orman]

Originally Posted by briansjacobs

anyone come up with a good solution for wiring harness. I have the Uhaul hitch that I use for a bike rack but may tow a small boat

If you are going to tow a boat get a quality hitch even though they are a ripoff. I tow my motorcycle and it is worth it. I got the execuhitch...expensive but very high quality.

[Lexx.md]

Originally Posted by briansjacobs

anyone come up with a good solution for wiring harness. I have the Uhaul hitch that I use for a bike rack but may tow a small boat

I am running some universal wiring from Curt i believe, make sure it is external powered.

[rulonger]

Originally Posted by BB_cuda

The uhaul one you can see the receiver all of the time. For $500 less, I will accept this. I painted the bolt heads with black paint. I only removed the msport valence and all was simple to install.

BB_cuda, did you have any interference between the upper plate of the receiver part and the two braces for the actual metal bumper?

I ask because I wrestled with this last night for about 2 hours and could not complete the install. It seems that the upper plate is a mm or two too wide to slide up between those braces. If I try to get it in diagonally, then it hits the bottom bolt on one side and will not slide up. I could never get the bolts aligned in the four holes in the plate. Is there a trick I am missing?

My fall back, next time I have a few minutes to spare, is to grind off a mm or so from both sides so it can be aligned without any interference.

[WreckerX5d]

What class is the Uhaul hitch? A 3 or 4?

[rulonger]

Originally Posted by Wrecker335d

What class is the Uhaul hitch? A 3 or 4?

It is a Class 2

tongue weight rating is 350 lbs and total weight is 3500 lbs, IIRC

[BB_cuda]

Rulonger, I removed the lower valence on the msport bumper and it gave me plenty access room to rotate it in from the rear. Are you trying to squeeze it in on a standard bumper? I recall reading about this on the bimmerfest diesel forum where a guy had to flex the standard bumper pretty hard to get it in. Mine went in pretty easily but I came at it from rear I recall. It is easier to see what you are doing without all of the urea tanks and dimpled covers in the way.

I read back through the earlier part of this thread and realize I didn't mention that I unbolted the exhaust hangers to let it hang down to get better access. That would be three hangers on each side with forward most ones disconnected just forward of the differential. Big 19 mm nuts up there. This may provide that rear access I've mentioned.

[rulonger]

I removed all six exhaust hangers. I have the bumper flexed so that the plastic is not bothering me. The issue I'm having is metal on metal - there are two metal braces (rectangular tubes) that extend from the frame to the actual metal plate behind the plastic bumper cover. It is those two metal braces that are a few millimeters too close together causing interference on the outermost edges of the receiver plate, where the two uppermost bolt holes are. I wish I could get it in a picture, but hard to do that with only two hands.

But your answer helps. You moved the plastic and the receiver slid in, you were able to align the bolts and it was done.

I will try to find a few minutes in the coming weeks to unbolt everything again and wrestle with that receiver.

[a.j.c.]

Just installed the uhaul hitch. I had some clearance issues when fitting the hitch up inside the bumper. I used a jack to help. I started on one side and carefully jacked up the hitch while using a pry bar to make sure the hitch cleared the bottom bumper bolt. Then I repeated this step on the other side. Once I did this, it fell into place. Make sure the hitch receiver is pointing down while doing this so the hitch doesn't hit the top two bumper bolts while jacking it up.

[rulonger]

Originally Posted by a.j.c.

Just installed the uhaul hitch. I had some clearance issues when fitting the hitch up inside the bumper. I used a jack to help. I started on one side and carefully jacked up the hitch while using a pry bar to make sure the hitch cleared the bottom bumper bolt. Then I repeated this step on the other side. Once I did this, it fell into place. Make sure the hitch receiver is pointing down while doing this so the hitch doesn't hit the top two bumper bolts while jacking it up.

Thanks for the post. I was very close to success, but one of the bottom bolts always seemed to catch I will attempt with Jack and a pry bar.

[a.j.c.]

Originally Posted by rulonger

I removed all six exhaust hangers. I have the bumper flexed so that the plastic is not bothering me. The issue I'm having is metal on metal - there are two metal braces (rectangular tubes) that extend from the frame to the actual metal plate behind the plastic bumper cover. It is those two metal braces that are a few millimeters too close together causing interference on the outermost edges of the receiver plate, where the two uppermost bolt holes are. I wish I could get it in a picture, but hard to do that with only two hands.

But your answer helps. You moved the plastic and the receiver slid in, you were able to align the bolts and it was done.

I will try to find a few minutes in the coming weeks to unbolt everything again and wrestle with that receiver.

Check out what I just posted. Had the same issue as you. Took me 4 hours to install the stupid thing. Plus, getting those carriage bolts seated in the crossmember sucked. I ended up using a small piece of steel wire and wrapping it around the bolt threads leaving enough to feed down into the hole and pull trough. I say it every time, next time I will pay someone to do this...

[rulonger]

Originally Posted by a.j.c.

Check out what I just posted. Had the same issue as you. Took me 4 hours to install the stupid thing. Plus, getting those carriage bolts seated in the crossmember sucked. I ended up using a small piece of steel wire and wrapping it around the bolt threads leaving enough to feed down into the hole and pull trough. I say it every time, next time I will pay someone to do this...

After reading the instructions, I thought those carriage bolts in the sub-frame would be the worst. I pulled them into place with a magnetic picker. I surprised myself at how that worked so well.

For the receiver, I wrestled with for nearly two hours before having to stop. Next time I will use a jack and a pry bar as you suggested.

[Thecastle]

Originally Posted by rulonger

After reading the instructions, I thought those carriage bolts in the sub-frame would be the worst. I pulled them into place with a magnetic picker. I surprised myself at how that worked so well.

For the receiver, I wrestled with for nearly two hours before having to stop. Next time I will use a jack and a pry bar as you suggested.

i just removed the rear bumper cover and it was fairly easy to install. But I think the haul hitch is a bad design for install. It would have been a piece of cake if the two bumper plates were detachable, and bolted on to the center beam, like some of the other hitch designs I've seen for this car.

Also this bolt fishing tool makes easy work of putting the carriage bolts. I had some of these left over from my GTI hitch install when I installed the haul hitch.

https://www.etrailer.com/Tools/Curt/C58400.html

Would totally agree this was more of a pain in the ass then saving 75 was worth.

[BB_cuda]

I only had a little difficulty with the fishing of the bolts through the sub frame. I used old bread twist ties ( I save them for tying labels to things). I wished I'd thought of the magnet trick. I've had to remove the fore/aft bar to do work. I QUICKLY put the nut and washer back on before those suckers got up inside the channel.

[Whitbread]

Bolting my westfalia on didn't require any jacks, pry bars, fishing, or swearing ☺.

[rulonger]

Originally Posted by Whitbread

Bolting my westfalia on didn't require any jacks, pry bars, fishing, or swearing ☺.

Rub it in

[taibanl]

Originally Posted by Whitbread

Bolting my westfalia on didn't require any jacks, pry bars, fishing, or swearing ☺.

I didnt realixe they worked with the scr tanks. They are not listed as an accessory part for the D

[Whitbread]

Originally Posted by taibanl

I didnt realixe they worked with the scr tanks. They are not listed as an accessory part for the D

It doesn't exactly, I used a heat gun to put a custom dent in my urea tank. There's pictures in my thread.