Anyone interested in a tire trailer?

cossie1600

The hitch is done. We had to remove the bumper again as we forgot to wire the lights. Here are some key points we found in this whole process.

#1 Hitch is mounted to the rear bumper. We reinforced the bumper bolts to much stronger ones, we also added some stiffener inside the bumper to prevent the bolts from crushing it as we torque the living jesus out of it.
#2 The hitch will be completely hidden from view. The rear fog light will be converted into a hitch cover/brake light. We can make it a functional brake light by plugging it into the trailer wiring. The hitch pin will actually hold the rear fog light in place since you can no longer use the original housing behind the lens.
#3 The safety pins will go underneath the plastic bumper and onto a hook that is built onto the hitch.
#4 The hitch is mounted onto the aluminum bumper with 4 giant bolts. You need to remove the aluminum bumper to mount it.
#5 Weight is roughly 8lbs with the new bolts for the bumper brackets
#6 The wiring box will sit behind the rear bumper and not in the trunk area.
#7 No modifications to plastic bumper or exterior at all
#8 Install time should be around 3 hours to remove the rear bumper, install hitch, reinforce rear bumper, do the wiring and reinstall the bumper.

There is virtually no market for it as no one seems to need or want one, so I think this will be a one time DIY project like my oil cooler. There is no plan to remake and sell it. We might consider building more if we can secure about 5 orders and build them all at the same time since the only working template is on my car. We would also have to do a complete write-up, which would take about 4 hours. With five orders, this can be done for about $400 for the trailer set (with wiring adapter/chain holder) and around $350 for just the bicycle setup since it doesn't require the hook for the safety chains or trailer lights.