Anyone interested in a tire trailer?
 

A shop is about to build a custom trailer hitch for my car, I just want to see if anyone else is interested in it. The cost will be between $300-$450, just want to let him know if it is worth while to start putting a kit together. The hitch will most likely bolt onto the stock bumper with reinforcement plates on both sides, there will probably be changes to the nuts on the stock bumper in order to strength it. The exit of the hitch will be at the rear fog light.

There is a guy here in the ATL area that had a custom hitch made for his 370Z for the EXACT same reason. Supposedly they modified a Curt 350Z Hitch and made it fit. It looked decent and integrated with the factory reverse fog light blank.

Here is a pic of his Z:

http://www.z1motorsports.com/imageGa.../370ZHitch.jpg

Yes, similar to that. I had actually bought one and tried to use it, but I didn't like how much work it went into it and how it mounted. We are going to take a different approach to it, hopefully it will be done next weekend.

I want one and would jump on it for that price, but the nismo seems like a no-go.

Without going near the diffuser, is there structure behind the license plate?

I went back to the creator. If you want to do this properly, there is no way you can do this easily. He is doing it with two plates sandwiching the aluminum bumper beam, he also replaced the nuts and bolts that mounts the bumper beam to the uni-body. Lastly, he is probably going to add additional braces from the mount to the body (optional). Hopefully he will have it done by tomorrow so I can use the car this weekend, else it is time for the Prius to come out of retirement.

Let me know what the result is. I need it for my bike (hitch) rack. If you can make it where the hitch can be covered up with the fog light that would be wonderful.

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.

Sounds very interesting, do you have any pics of your install?

My tire trailer is 24 feet long :) Oh and it holds my car too.

I think if you publicized it a bit you will easily find at least 5 people that would want it.

hitch for Nismo
 

Has anyone seen a hitch solution for a NISMO Z? I would be very interested, both for use with a bike rack and for a small track trailer.

I will have everything up Sunday night. I didn't have a chance to bolt the rear bumper back on tonight, but the wiring works. I drove to work with no rear bumper today, not pretty.

Hitch
 

I am in for one. No need for the lights.

But since its only $50 more for the light connection does it come with a modified rear fog light that plugs into the hitch?

The hitch and bumper are in. Here is a quick picture with my crappy camera.

http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/3952/dscf2384os.jpg

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

We are not done with the rear foglight setup, but the plan is to build a LED setup into the stock lens. It would then be mounted onto the car like a hitch where it is locked in by the pin. Obviously with this setup, we would need to have your rear foglight as a core.

Hitch
 

Looks good. Send me a PM if you need a rear fog light. I will see if i can get mine removed.

Any updates?

It is done. I just have an engine problem with my car, I am waiting for the dealer to fix it before we officially complete the project. Right now the only thing we need to add is the fog light and make a tab for the rear bumper center screw.

I carried a bicycle hitch yesterday, works perfect except the pin is a pain in the rear to put in.

i think i would be in for a hitch, no need for the wiring part as i need it for a bike rack.

Sorry I had my crappy camera with me, also do yourself a favor, don't get the Harbor Freight bike hitch.

http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/427/hitchm.jpg

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

id get one of those. with a big message board attached saying "BACK THE EFFF OFFF" for those who think that 4 feet from my bumper at 75mph is perfectly okay.

Don't worry. With the Harbor Freight rack, the bike is so loose that it looks like it will fly and hit them :)

Okay boys, I sat down and crunched numbers with the welder and mechanic and the designer. I can say for sure the hitch can be sold for $350 without the chain hook and light hookup, $400 with the chain hook and light hookup plus shipping at a limited scale. If I can get up to 10 people, the hitch can be sold for $50 less! The price is for the hitch and the bumper reinforcement bolts (CURT's 350z setup doesn't reinforce the bumper bolts) and extension pieces. Installation will take about 4 hours, but for the most part pretty simple if you can remove the rear bumper and can drill 4 holes in the correct spot. You don't have to modify anything on the body except the big stryrofoam. I am sad in reporting that I won't be able to get the stock rear fog lights back in even though there is room for it as the bracket simply won't bolt in with the hitch in the way. You can either cut and glue something together like I am doing or I can send it to the shop to have it done for you for a small fee. Here are some pictures.

Here are some pictures taken form the crappy camera

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/6...cf2374w.th.jpg

http://img807.imageshack.us/img807/9210/dscf2368.th.jpg

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/3...cf2338g.th.jpg

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/3131/dscf2328j.th.jpg

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/968/dscf2376h.th.jpg

The stock bolts only holds down the bottom layer of the bottom, the reinforcement goes down the top side of the bumper and then the inner part of the bumper bar.

http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/427/hitchm.th.jpg

http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/3...f2384os.th.jpg

This won't fit a NISMO. NISMO guys, do a search on Porsche Cayman hitch, a guy made the hitch behind the license plate. You might be able to do somethings along the line with that. Good luck.

I would want one. I just want to take my bike(s) with me and that is it. I tried the Boofsquire rack and it's not what they promise and this would be perfect. I don't need the light but would like for the cover or an LED to fit back into it so that when my bike rack is not there no one knows it's been modded.

What is wrong with that Boofsrack? I know I would hate removing wheel each time.

Yeah the cover is a big issue as the stock unit is huge, the back side of it interferes with the hitch. We are trying to attach a little 1.25" piece to the back of the fog light, so we can just stick it in there like a hitch cover. Mine can also light up because I have the trailer lights already. It takes a good hour of gluing and cutting to get it to work.

The problem with the Boofsquire....

Let me first say Matt @ Boofsquire is a great guy and has done everything he can do to try to fix these issues. I think the product is just needing a bit more work.

1. The rubber pads that touch the trunk lid mark the car with yellow marks that can not be removed using rubbing compound. I have a white 370Z and they are all over my lid. I have spent well over $200 having someone remove them and they are still not gone. That said Matt sent me 3M body film and while it's not on the paint, it is still marking them with yellow marks. It' just not what you want for a car as pretty as a Z. If this were a truck I would not care.

2. It moves. No matter how hard I yank on the straps, and they are nylon strap, I can't keep the thing from sliding and moving around. I have done everything from wetting them and leaving them over night to shrink to letting the rack sit on the car with no load for days and they still work lose.

3. The hooks that attach to the edge of the body to hold the rack, since mine move, leave black glue on the edges of my body too.

If the thing would not mark up my paint and stop sliding around it would be perfect. The construction is great and it's solid as a rock, but I can't have something on the back of my Z that is constantly destroying my paint and moving around. If it had a better fastening system it might be a great product but as it stands right now it's not perfect.

sucks man. i just ordered a new thulebike hitch to replace the harbor freight one. i just need my car back to use it! i bought the one where the wheel has a slot to sit in to prevent any movement.

i dont know if it is the rack or the aero on the z, but the bike was being sent pretty high with the hf hitch

Probably should have taken the bike off the back before charging around WGI then.

with all the rain up there, might be faster to ride the bicycle around

can you tell me the contact i am interesting in a hitch
 

thnx

Cossie, if this thread ever gets some legs, I am in for buying one as well. No towing capacity, just looking for something for my bike rack to mount in and ideally be covered by the cap cover in the bottom middle.

he will do it if he gets about $1500, obviously the more people, cheaper it would be for everyone.

I think another member had done a custom one. check the DIY section. much cheaper alternative