Trailer Hitch, Which One?

The stores you are shopping should have other examples in stock from the same companies that are built roughly the same. You want good beefy tubing, and wide spreader plates with lots of bolts to transfer the loads to the chassis rails - or the unibody 'frame' sections if there isn't a separate chassis. Make sure they use quality strength-graded bolts and nuts (they'll have the hash-marks forged on the heads) and torque them.

I prefer custom welded hitches if you have a nearby shop that installs them, because they're a lot cleaner, and there are no bolts to loosen up or shear off. Plus the installer can make sure that the hitch isn't blocking a service access point or the spare tire storage mechanism. Well worth an extra $25 to $50.

And a custom hitch can usually be tucked in tighter to the bottom of the car for another inch or two of road clearance. (Less scraping on steep driveways.) They can put the electrical connector bracket exactly where you want it.

By the way, you do know the trick about putting a second sacrificial nut on the hitch ball, right? That way, when you scrape in driveways the 50-cent nut gets wrecked and can be tossed, not the threads on the bottom of the $20 ball...

--<< Bruce >>--

I prefer the Reese and Draw-Tite because I've had good luck with them. Another source is a Toyota dealer if a factory hitch is available. Whatever route you decide to go, I recommend applying a liberal coat of grease on the inside of the receiver box so that it doesn't rust and make the draw bar hard to install or remove.

XYZ ABC wrote the following on 3/19/2005 9:45 AM:

I put a hitch on my '98 Avalon. It is a HiddenHitch, purchased from

. It is a Class I, 2000 lb, and that is what my car is rated for by Toyota. There were no holes to drill. It bolted right on to existing threaded holes where the rear tie-downs can be mounted. I bought the wiring harness tap that they sell, and it all worked fine. The HiddenHitch that I got (60646) has a flat-style draw bar which makes the whole thing very low-profile, and it comes with a plastic cover for when you remove the drawbar.

I would highly recommend HiddenHitch and hitchmart.com, and also recommend not buying a higher-rated hitch than your vehicle is rated for.

When I bought my 02 Highlander, the salesman recommended I go across the street and buy a receiver hitch from U-Haul.

I did. It looks the same as the Toyota hitches I have seen. If I remember right it was several hundred bucks cheaper than dealer installed.

Its a type III receiver (2").

How mucha da mon you speak?...

Wal Mart doesnt make the hitch, they just sell it. Buy a good one from them. Maybe you should try to get a crappy one from Harbor Freight. HAve you tried the dealer? Just a thought.

But the dealer unit also INCLUDES the tail lamp converter. And you hitch will not be a class III, only a class II max, the van is only rated for

3500# and thats ONLY if you add a cooler!

Thanks everyone for the info. I ended up buying a Reese Class III with 3500 / 350 capacity. My sienna has the tow package and supports 3500/350. I also looked at the Class II hitches from Reese and HiddenHitch. Although they can tow 3500lb, their tongue weight is only 300lb which seems low to me and is lower than my Sienna can support. Besides Reese's Class III looks bigger and stronger in the picture,:)

It's strange that the CLass II hitch comes with a draw bar, but not the class III. I had to buy a draw bar separately, and a ball too. Why don't they sell this in a package? Marketing gimmick? Unfortunately Hidden Hitch does not have a class III hitch for Sienna and I have no choice. Their hitches are cheaper too.

Thanks again!

ZR

Hidden Hitch makes the best hitch for the Sienna ( last generation, I have know idea about the new Siennas). It bolts right on and form fits to the chassis so all you see is the hitch, no exposed cross bars.

I bought a Hidden hitch for my 04 Sienna, $111 and took me about 20 minutes to install. A floor jack is a big help if you do it alone. Bolt on installation. The wiring was done without much trouble at all, no side panels had to come off. The whole thing was much less trouble than I imagined.

Because everyone needs a different ball height for different trailers, and the "one size fits all" receiver theory fails on that. Some people get annoyed that they just "bought" a receiver they can't use - so you 'save' another $10 on the hitch kit, and buy the right one.

Same theory would apply to shipping a 2" ball with every hitch, some people need an 1-7/8", or 2-5/16", or a pintle hook, or a drop-pin...

I have three receivers from a 'flat' to 6" drop/8" rise, three vehicles with Class III or III/V hitches at different heights, three trailers with tongues at different heights (plus rental equipment), and a huge 18" Crescent wrench to swap balls - and I still end up with a trailer on a slant occasionally.

BTW, IMNSHO it's better to use a standard Class III/V hitch and 1" ball shank receivers for everything, even if you have a smaller vehicle that isn't rated to tow that much, and for one simple reason: Because then you don't have to have two (or three) different collections of receivers and balls. That starts getting expensive.

You know the limits, and you can make a little label on the bumper to remind other people that the car is only rated for 2,000# trailer/

200# tongue weight.

--<< Bruce >>--

mine had the tow prep package - in Redding the extra cooling is a must. So, I did it correctly. Pig-tail was up under the cover with the converter by the way.

Ron

Reese is quality stuff. HiddenHitch sould be OK too. I haven't heard of Putman.

Another one to look at is DrawTite.