DIY- Trailer hitch

[Fleethammer]

I plan on installing this hitch to tow a 5X8 enclosed single axle trailer. Empty weight is probably around 850-900 lbs, with a 75 lb tongue weight, so I should be fine there. It has a standard 2 inch receiver, so I will have to buy an adapter to work with the Curt hitch. My concern is about height. It is a bit higher than most of the trailers I've seen in this and other threads. It has full size wheels (I think 15 or 18 inch), so to hitch it to the 135, the front of the trailer will have to be angled down. Will this be an issue at all? Also, has anyone towed something with that kind of profile before with the 1er?

[JimD]

Do you mean the coupler of the trailer is for a 2 inch ball? I have a class III receiver hitch on my SUV but I don't remember seeing any trailers with a receiver connection on them.

With respect to the angle of the trailer it may transfer a little more load forward or help your load in the trailer to shift forward but I think it is primarily a cosmetic thing if you load the trailer correctly. If it bugs you, you could try to find a 1.25 hitch bar with more rise. There isn't nearly the variety in 1.25 inch as there are in 2 inch, however, so you could have to have somebody weld you one if you want the trailer to be level.

If the trailer weighs nearly 1000 lbs are you going to have to be careful what you put inside to stay within the 135i's tow rating?

Jim

[Fleethammer]

What is the maximum towing capacity of this car? The hitch is 2000 lbs. I'm pretty sure the 5x8 enclosed will be less than that fully loaded. It's not a V-nose or anything fancy, just a box with wheels and lights. Looking at trailer manufacturer websites, I can't find a 5X8 enclosed that looks like this one and weighs more than 935 lbs. I'll be carrying two sport bikes and a few tools, one empty 5 gallon gas can, a cooler with some food and ice, and that's it. Gear and clothes can all go in the car. I estimated the weight of the bikes higher than they are just to be safe; 420 for the R6 (more like 380 wet since it's a full dress race bike), and 440 wet for my buddy's EX500. If the trailer is 950 lbs empty, which I have some doubts about, that puts me just under 1800 lbs for trailer and bikes alone. That should give me some room to play with any additional things I want to put in there. Figure another 60lbs for a ramp, 40 lbs for my cooler with food and ice, and 50 lbs for a my medium size toolbox.

[john08135i]

Wow.. enclosed trailer with 2 race bikes and gear?
i think thats too much..
the ONE does not have a tow rating but i pull my ski which loaded with trailer is around 1k pounds. I would not go much higher.

you setup would be closer to 2k wet..
+ plus being enclosed less aerodynamic than my single jet ski..

your pushing it my friend.

[Fleethammer]

Yeah, it would be cutting it close. I found out the trailer weight empty is 840 lbs. Like I said, gear is going in the car, so tongue weight would be lessened, but there is still the weight of trailer and load to consider.

One other scenario is to use a small HF open trailer for the two bikes, but that also may be cutting it close. The GVWR of this car is 4255, so when you back out the 3400lb curb weight, you are left with something like 882 lbs +/- for trailer and cargo. That seems really low, much lower than the 1000lb or so loads others have towed with this car. I figure our gear, bikes, empty trailer, and misc. tools and such would weigh in around 1245, plus the weight of me and my buddy of 170 each, brings the grand total to 1585 total weight of occupants and cargo. Would this be too much for the 1?

Originally Posted by john08135i

Wow.. enclosed trailer with 2 race bikes and gear?
i think thats too much..
the ONE does not have a tow rating but i pull my ski which loaded with trailer is around 1k pounds. I would not go much higher.

you setup would be closer to 2k wet..
+ plus being enclosed less aerodynamic than my single jet ski..

your pushing it my friend.

[john08135i]

How much do the bikes weight? Most sportbikes are over 400lbs each WET..

[Fleethammer]

The EX500 is heavy, about 450lbs wet. The R6 comes in around 405 wet. The more I run the numbers, the more I think it's really not going to work, even with a cheapo HF trailer.

I might just buy a cheap SUV or pickup for hauling the bikes. It would also double for winter duty, so the 1er can stay in the garage

Originally Posted by john08135i

How much do the bikes weight? Most sportbikes are over 400lbs each WET..

[Racing135i]

At first I was like, "WTF why does he need a trailer hitch on a BMW" then I saw the Pic of the Jetski's and understood! Heh....

[JimD]

It would be a little light for your bikes but I have a little fold up HF utility trailer that only weighs about 300 lbs. It's good for 1000 or 1100 lbs. You should probably go up to the 1800 lb trailer. If you want to do this, the other thing you could do is to put surge brakes on the trailer. That is not hard but adds cost. I would just put hydraulic brakes on because they're easier. Your coupler would change to one that has a hydraulic cylinder in it. The way it works is when you brake the car, the trailer pushes on the hydraulic cylinder which pushes brake fluid to the brakes. You also have to put the backing plates and brakes on the trailer and run the lines. You can buy a kit. Especially if you plan to tow on the highway, I would be thinking of brakes if you want to get up around 2000 lbs. You have plenty of power but would have to watch the temperatures on a long uphill pull. Bimmers also do not seem to be real robust in the rear end. I saw a piece on a M3 who stripped the splines off the axles drag racing. Our rear ends have very little fluid in them which makes me a little concerned about cooling. You have enough hp and torque and weight to pull 2000 lbs. The question would be transmission, possibly clutch, and rear end. And brakes.

What I do is to use my SUV. I had a 3 year old Suzuki Grand Vitara when I bought my 128i vert and just kept it. The bimmer has 50 more hp and 15 more ft. lbs but I tow with the zuk. It has a class 3 hitch and handles my boat well (about 2000 lbs). The bimmer would handle my little utility trailer well but since I have the SUV, I haven't bothered to put a hitch on it. I've towed U-haul's biggest trailer (which has surge brakes) with the zuk moving my daughter and it was fine. But I'd rather not try it with the bimmer.

Jim

[BrokenVert]

any idea of where to grab the hitch from now? The original link is dead.

[cricri]

I ended up removing my Curt hitch today... I removed the rear bumper and found that the hitch was installed properly and not sandwiched, so with no hope of fixing the occasional rattles I took it out. I have no idea how the exhaust came into contact with the mount since theres at least an inch of free space in between the two parts. But some marks on the exhaust mount confirm that sometimes they do come into contact.

If someone in the Montreal area wants it it's up for sale.

[spoolin_gt]

Are there any issues with sandwiching the hitch between the beam? I jusy installed mine following the instructions on the first page of this but dont have any vibration issues (yet).

I just want to hear people's feedbacks that had the hitch indtalled for a while now. Did it vibrate from the moment you installed the hitch or is it something that happened after a wwhile?

[igzekyativ]

Originally Posted by spoolin_gt

Are there any issues with sandwiching the hitch between the beam? I jusy installed mine following the instructions on the first page of this but dont have any vibration issues (yet).

I just want to hear people's feedbacks that had the hitch indtalled for a while now. Did it vibrate from the moment you installed the hitch or is it something that happened after a wwhile?

mine vibrated right away and I had to move the hitch to the outside of the bumper, it has been fine ever since.. I am now looking to find a trailer to pull to motorcycles (like this).. trailer weighs ~400, and each bike is ~400

[JimD]

Here's a link to the hitch:

http://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Hitc...eid=2011308208

Jim

[igzekyativ]

hauling motorcycles

[jjbardell]

Ordered my hitch at:
http://www.thehitchstore.com/class-1...84-p-1989.html

The 2011 fits perfectly on my 2012. Followed the directions:
1) removed screws holding on difuser
2) pulled off difuser
3) mounted hitch, (not sandwiched), bolted down with 19mm socket
4) put difuser back on, re-install difuser screws

No vibrations. 30 minutes. Fits perfect. Thule 4 place bike rack installed. I love it! No bikes near or on my car. No garage height issues. Truck accessible.

Happy 2012 135i owner.

[mattm]

Originally Posted by jjbardell

Ordered my hitch at:
http://www.thehitchstore.com/class-1...84-p-1989.html

The 2011 fits perfectly on my 2012. Followed the directions:
1) removed screws holding on difuser
2) pulled off difuser
3) mounted hitch, (not sandwiched), bolted down with 19mm socket
4) put difuser back on, re-install difuser screws

No vibrations. 30 minutes. Fits perfect. Thule 4 place bike rack installed. I love it! No bikes near or on my car. No garage height issues. Truck accessible.

Happy 2012 135i owner.

Coiuld I/we trouble you for some pictures? I'm wondering if one would fit my 1M.

[FactorX81]

Mine rattled I thought I installed it incorrectly so I removed it, reinstalled it but it still rattled. I noticed that it had plenty of clearance when cold however when the car was fully up to temperature the hanger would touch the tow bar so I filed it down a bit and no more rattling.

[TheBurro]

Originally Posted by jjbardell

Ordered my hitch at:
http://www.thehitchstore.com/class-1...84-p-1989.html

The 2011 fits perfectly on my 2012. Followed the directions:
1) removed screws holding on difuser
2) pulled off difuser
3) mounted hitch, (not sandwiched), bolted down with 19mm socket
4) put difuser back on, re-install difuser screws

No vibrations. 30 minutes. Fits perfect. Thule 4 place bike rack installed. I love it! No bikes near or on my car. No garage height issues. Truck accessible.

Happy 2012 135i owner.

So do you not have to trim the underbody panel like the instructions say?

[TheBurro]

Installed today, thanks for the instructions. The bumper cover was a little rough getting it off on the sides, but it worked out in the end.

The underbody panel that it says needs trimming, I just left off completely like a few others did. It didn't seem to hurt anything.