AcMan24

Okay, I did a search on this and found nothing.

Any of you ever have a hitch installed? I want one for a bike rack.

I'm also looking at a pair of jet skies. I wonder how much wear and tear pulling them would put on my TL.

Any thoughts?

ResidualFreedom

There is a thread discussing this but I think the origionial topic was the infamous trannie. I believe the comment was along the lines of "towing a large ammount of weight was probably what helped my trannie blow"

I unfortunatly don't have any 1st hand information for you but I don't see how a couple of bikes would harm but I personally wouldn't go as far as putting a ski-doo or sea-doo. I know, a jetski is lighter .....but...I wouldn't personally..IMO

nym31mp

Big mistake man dont tow anything w ur tl

Severin

He's talking about pedal bikes, not motorcycles or a boat...

Anyhow, I wouldn't put a bike rack on my trunk either (will scratch it all up no matter what you do). I've toyed around with the idea of throwing a hitch for a hitch mounted bike rack but don't know how much longer I'll keep the car to justify it...

fsttyms1

i have the trailer hitch! its great. i use it for the bike rack,
towing a jetski, and i have also towed my malibu ski boat
(with out a problem)<--but highly not recomended..
you wont have a problem with a jetski and it wont hurt the tranny!
i love it for the bike rack

ou sig

If fsttyms1 has done it then we all can - this guys car goes through some shit and its still rollin.

AcMan24

Great! Thanks for the pic! I was wondering what it would look like.

Not having a truck/suv was really the only thing keeping me from getting the sea doos. Plus I only live like 15 minutes from the ocean. I wouldn't think that type of tow would do any damage. I'll post pics when I get it all hooked up with the doos hitched.

Wonder if Acura will give me s**t if/when my tranny goes b/c of the hitch. Could towing some how void my tranny warranty?

fsttyms1

nope! when my first one went (before i had a boat) they covered it and i had it on. they know they have a problem and towing something isnt going to make the part worse. its already faulty if you have a tranny thats gonna die

fsttyms1

oh and the hitch is designed to fit with the oem ground effects too just incase you have it

goldendragon576

I would never think the TL would be towing anything. Then again I have the MDX for that but still. Let us know what it looks like.

fsttyms1

let us know what what looks like?

EH03TL

Hi. I have a hitch on my 2003 TL as well. I bought it from www.hitch-web.com. Go to the site and do their search, not too hard to do. The hitch was like 132.50 for a no-drill Hidden Hitch just like fsttyms1 in the picture. Real easy to install. I occasionally pull a 4X8' stake bed utility trailer for various projects I may do for home improvement, taking away trash, etc. The cool thing is in the TL owners manual it says the car can tow 1000 lbs and 100 tongue (or somewhere close, I'm in bed and I'm not getting my manual!) and there is even a trailer wiring pigtail already in the trunk, how nice of the engineers. Towing my loaded trailer or a pair of jet ski's is no worse than 4 big guys going golfing and all piling in the car with gear or a family on vacation with the car loaded to the hilt, the trailer may add a little wind resistance but the car still does fine. I can't even really feel mine back there. I have one b1tch about my hitch and maybe fsttyms1 has the same but my ball mount rattles in the receiver a little and it causes enough noise to wake the dead when I am towing empty. Loaded, OK because of the tongue weight but empty, loud. I am thinking of machining a path of metal out of the top of the ball mount and inserting a strip of nylon or plastic to shim it or something but I have not. You probably will not have noise with a bike rack, though. Good Luck, Eric.

njtls

i wanted a hitch...but i was hopng it would be allittle more "hidden" then what you have pictured ...

pej7445

EH03TL - Did you have to buy the expensive wiring harness? How long did it take you to install?

AcMan24

Great info Eric! Thanks!

AcMan24

Will do! Got a few people I'm trying to low ball.

SK2003TypeS

a little cheaper at etrailer.com

EH03TL

It was not hard to install. There are 3 mounting locations with 1 bolt at each. One in the rear tie down and one in each rear frame rail. Just pop off the 4 rubbers for the rear silencers so the exhaust will hang a little and it goes right up. I had the rear of the car on jack stands since I am "big boned" ha, Ok, I'm fat, but it helped. The hitch even came with little wire things to help get the bolt and washer up and through the frame rail and down in the hole. The washers are just a tad bigger than the hole so a little persuasion is needed to get them in, next time I will either grind them or buy some just a little smaller. As far as the wiring, there is the pigtail in the trunk next to the left taillight but you have to have a 5 to 4 wire converter to convert the wiring to the trailer. Not an Acura problem, very common on todays cars. The converter comes up in the search for the hitch at like 37 bucks or something and it looks like it has the correct Honda connector on it too. A friend gave me one. Most auto part stores have them too or even Wal-mart without the Honda connector. Eric.

olsen_karl

I have the same hitch as fsttyms1 does (pic above), but I peeled off all the stickers before installing it -- this way it is completely black, and less noticeable. All I use it for is to attach a bicycle rack, not for towing. Works great for my bike rack -- nothing touches the paint on the car.

I realize it's a trailer hitch and is rated for towing something like 1000 lbs, but I personally wouldn't trust it for towing anything beyond a very small trailer, like for a motorcycle/ jetski. It attaches to the TL using 1 bolt through the tie-down loop, and 2 bolts through holes in the spare tire well (you have to drill these holes yourself). It's an easy installation with hand tools. Be sure to spray undercoating or some sort of rustproofing over the holes you drill through the spare tire well.

Severin

Can someone post a link to the bike Rack they are using that mounts into the hidden hitch and clears the bumper? (not ball mounted).

olsen_karl

Mine's an old (no longer made) Rhode Gear rack that is 2 parallel fork-mount trays (must remove front wheels). I would expect that any hitch-based rack with its own tongue (not ball mounted) would clear the bumper... just buy one that mounts all the bikes on the outward side of the rack. I have seen some cheaper racks that mount 2 bikes on the inward side, and 2 on the outward side, and those look like they would let the inward bikes swing in and hit the bumper/ trunk.

Performance Bicycle (www.performancebike.com) has a pretty good selection of racks:
http://www.performancebike.com/shop/...411&TS=1&Sort=

P.S. The TL trailer hitch is a 1 1/4" receiver, so make sure that what you buy fits it and not the more common 2" receiver.

fsttyms1

yea i had that too, but i found a reciever that was tight and now its dead silent. you could als wedge a piece of cardboard in there to help it from bouncing.
as far as what olsen_karl said about not trusting to pull much of any thing, ive pulled my 2300 lb malibu ski boat numerous time with out a single complaint from the car or the hitch. as far as seeing so much of it, its not that bad. but like i said it was designed to fit withthe rear ground effects which hide it slightly more.

EH03TL

I've not towed more than maybe 600 yet. Olsen karl, there are 2 different type hitches right now for the 03 and earlier TL. One is a no-drill that is a bit wider at the front and mounts in existing holes in the rear frame rails and the other is narrower and does mount through holes drilled in the trunk floor. Both use the factory tie down at the rear. Fsttyms1, is yours a no-drill? I thought it was like mine from the picture but maybe not. Either hitch would do a fine job IMO. Eric.

JeffNY

ACMan, see my post in here:
http://www.acura-tl.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59345

fsttyms1

yea mines a no drill 2000 lb hitch

AcMan24

Great Post! Thanks!

nucleusTL

Been wondering, What is the weight of the hitch assembly???

:ar15: :facelick: :lol1: :p :cop: :diablotin :banghead: :lol2:

fsttyms1

best guess 20-30lbs