CX-5 Class III Hitch available

[Bcdad182]

The Curts are easier to install and personally I think looks better than the Hidden Hitch brand and also a lot more one piece. Curt is also cheaper also more people have bought the Cuts.
As for Yakima Double Down is nice, but Yakima/Thule are super expensive also you need to spend more because they don't come with locks, cables, etc.

But $140 for installation? Seriously dude. If you know how to tighten a wrench, you can install the hitch with a friend in about an hour. And that's an overestimation. I did mine in 30minutes.
As with visibility, the CX-5 does have a third brake light like all cars.

Personally I got the Curt Class II (I should have gotten the Class III, more options for 2" hitch) and the Rola 3 Bike carrier: http://www.etrailer.com/Hitch-Bike-Racks/Rola/59403.html
The Class III hitches have anti sway systems, Class II doesn't so the Rola on my Class II wiggles and moves around. But I guess it's meant to do that.
Got them both from eTrailer.com

Thanks for your comments. Part of the problem is that I live in Canada and it's prohibitively expensive to ship anything from the US here, and the prices for the exact same items are usually way higher. I've seen the curt hitch listed in the US for as low as $160, but here it starts at $240-260. I'm going to keep researching though. BTW, the installation is only $60, the rest of that is taxes - we love our taxes here in Canada :-( I'm going to check out etrailer.com and see what their shipping policies are.

 

[nXt]

Thanks for your comments. Part of the problem is that I live in Canada and it's prohibitively expensive to ship anything from the US here, and the prices for the exact same items are usually way higher. I've seen the curt hitch listed in the US for as low as $160, but here it starts at $240-260. I'm going to keep researching though. BTW, the installation is only $60, the rest of that is taxes - we love our taxes here in Canada :-( I'm going to check out etrailer.com and see what their shipping policies are.

I made a mistake.
I bought the Curt Hitch from autoanything.com They have the Class III for $152 USD, and right now, for me, it's giving me an extra automatic 15% off on the website site make it $130.
They DO ship to Canada, not free though. But it'll tell you in the cart. They sell Yakima Double Down Ace also.
http://www.autoanything.com/help/ordering#internationalorders
Check it out.
BTW, if you plan on buying, PM me, I have a bunch of 15% off coupon codes for AutoAnything for orders of $150 or more.

Nevermind, just checked, They don't ship Curts to Canada.

 

[Bcdad182]

Wowser! E-trailer wants $110 to ship to Canada, plus a $9 export fee. Due to the price, I'll get nabbed for taxes at the border, so its a wash, I might as well buy local as the cost is about the same by the time I fiddle around. I really need to get a US address!

 

[JTNY]

Just got my Curt Class III hitch and will be doing the install this weekend, dealer wanted $236 or (2 hrs of shop labor) .

Anyway, my biggest concern is removal and installation of the rubber muffler mounts. Did anyone use the special tool (that someone else in this thread mentioned) or was soap/water good enough? Any other concerns I should be aware of?

Thanks

 

[MarineMike]

Just got my Curt Class III hitch and will be doing the install this weekend, dealer wanted $236 or (2 hrs of shop labor) .

Anyway, my biggest concern is removal and installation of the rubber muffler mounts. Did anyone use the special tool (that someone else in this thread mentioned) or was soap/water good enough? Any other concerns I should be aware of?

Thanks

Hey JTNY. I just used WD-40 and a pair of gloves. Once you get the rubber mounts to move just a little bit the grease will help it the rest of the way. You will need a second pair of hands when it comes to lifting and aligning the hitch. My brother and I had it installed in about 30 mins. We didn't raise the car at all either. We both thought there was plenty of room under the vehicle so didn't bother to jack it up or use the ramps. The Curt instructions are very good but just make sure that you put the rubber mounts back on the car BEFORE you bolt on the hitch. There will be a bunch of swearing if you don't.

 

[philzzz]

Just got my Curt Class III hitch and will be doing the install this weekend, dealer wanted $236 or (2 hrs of shop labor) .

Anyway, my biggest concern is removal and installation of the rubber muffler mounts. Did anyone use the special tool (that someone else in this thread mentioned) or was soap/water good enough? Any other concerns I should be aware of?

Thanks

Same i used WD-40 to help remove rubber hangers, as the previous guys said a second pair of hand is needed. I used ramp beause i had them so it made it easier but its not absolutely needed

 

[CX-5tormtrooper]

The Curt instructions are very good but just make sure that you put the rubber mounts back on the car BEFORE you bolt on the hitch. There will be a bunch of swearing if you don't.

Were you watching me install mine!??! I was all excited to get the hitch installed that I completely forgot that one critical step. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to re-use the bolt-wire leads but thankfully they worked. I spent a good 30 minutes cussing myself out and apologizing to my friend who was helping me.

 

[MarineMike]

Were you watching me install mine!??! I was all excited to get the hitch installed that I completely forgot that one critical step. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to re-use the bolt-wire leads but thankfully they worked. I spent a good 30 minutes cussing myself out and apologizing to my friend who was helping me.

HAHA! I've seen it happen before on my friends CX-5. I couldn't stop laughing because the expression on his face was priceless when he went to lift the exhaust back into place. Classic!

 

[Bladecutter]

I installed the Curt Class III hitch onto my car on Thursday afternoon, during my lunch break.

I wound up in the same predicament as a few have when you go to hook up the exhaust system, and now the rails of the hitch are in the way of sliding the rubber hangers onto the car.
I wound up loosening all the nuts holding the hitch in place, and installed the hangers onto the car closest to the bumper first, with the rear hangers fully installed already.

Once the rubber hangers are installed on the car mounts closest to the bumper, I then tightened the hitch back into place, and then muscled the rubber hangers onto the muffler mounting points.

As for physically installing the hitch, it was just me working on it.
I used a pair of jack stands to be my helping hands as I slowly fed the hitch into place, and got it high enough to have the bolts slide into their proper holes on the hitch.
Then I just tightened the nuts onto the bolts, and torqued them up in stages with my torque wrench.

Not really that hard to install, and a whole lot easier than my 2007 Nissan Altima that I did 3 months after getting it back in '07.

Now, it's time to install the wiring.
I bought the kit from etrailer, but the hitch from Amazon.

I'm going to hook the power feed to the outlet plug in the cargo area, because why in the world should I run it all the way to the positive lead on the battery just for a very low amps drain that is only occasionally used?
My trailers all use led lights on them, for even less power draw.

BC.

 

[enicholson]

Any tips on getting the Curt Class III past the muffler during install? I'm having a hard time squeezing that big metal plate behind the receiver past the muffler to get everything up into the bumper.

Help!

 

[LOEzell]

Hello Bladecutter and enicholson.

I also installed the Curt III myself. It was a struggle for a 65 year old man, but I got it done. I also installed the Mazda wiring harness, but an aftermarket harness should be fine. I tried pretty hard to run the power feed wire back through two connectors to the battery. However, I was unable to get the supplied pins installed into those two connectors. So, I also obtained power from the power outlet in the cargo area. That outlet is always on so the wiring harness controller is always drawing some power. However, I measured its no-load current, and it was only a few milliamperes. Therefore, the wiring harness controller should not draw the battery down.

enicholson,

Did you drop down the muffler per the Curt instructions? If so, you should have plenty of clearance to get the hitch in place. Be sure to use soapy water (or other good lubricant) to lubricate the rubber exhaust hangers to make them much easier to remove and reinstall. I also purchased the $15 special exhaust hanger remvat tool from Amazon. It was worth the $ but you can get by without it.

 

[enicholson]

I got the hangers off fine, but I had to push down on the free hanging muffler harder than I would like to get the big hitch past it before I could tuck it into the bumper. I did finally get it on though. Looking forward to throwing the bikes on and heading biking with the kids this weekend!

 

[Bladecutter]

Hello Bladecutter and enicholson.

I also installed the Curt III myself. It was a struggle for a 65 year old man, but I got it done. I also installed the Mazda wiring harness, but an aftermarket harness should be fine. I tried pretty hard to run the power feed wire back through two connectors to the battery. However, I was unable to get the supplied pins installed into those two connectors. So, I also obtained power from the power outlet in the cargo area. That outlet is always on so the wiring harness controller is always drawing some power. However, I measured its no-load current, and it was only a few milliamperes. Therefore, the wiring harness controller should not draw the battery down.

I went one better with the power lead in the cargo area.
I bought a power plug, and wired the trailer harness into it, so whenever I need trailer lights, I just simply plug in the cable, and when I'm done, I unplug it and store it.

BC.

 

[LOEzell]

I went one better with the power lead in the cargo area.
I bought a power plug, and wired the trailer harness into it, so whenever I need trailer lights, I just simply plug in the cable, and when I'm done, I unplug it and store it.

BC.

Good idea!

 

[Woodys2718]

I went one better with the power lead in the cargo area.
I bought a power plug, and wired the trailer harness into it, so whenever I need trailer lights, I just simply plug in the cable, and when I'm done, I unplug it and store it.

BC.

Could you post a pic of this?

Thanks,

 

[CX5fly]

First post......I'm thinking of a CX-5 but wondering about towing and it's capabilities. I know Mazdas website says it will pull up to 2000lbs but is it capable? I'm trying to trailer a couple dirt bikes and occasionally 600lb BMW 1200GS. Anyone doing this already? Thank you for your time.

Cheers.

 

[ourlee]

I'm getting my hitch next week. I'll be testing the cx-5 with my waverunners (2000lbs). I'll post my impressions.

 

[CX5fly]

I'm getting my hitch next week. I'll be testing the cx-5 with my waverunners (2000lbs). I'll post my impressions.

Cool, post some pic's if you can.

 

[JTNY]

I'm selling the special tool to help make it easier to remove the exhaust hangers from the rubber washers. PM me if interested.

 

[baddad]

Just installed the class III Curt hitch. Spent about one hour, did it alone and used a jack stand to hold the hitch up. The class III hitch is probably overkill and quite heavy. Left the fish wires on and fed them thru the bolt holes in the hitch in case I pushed the bolts back in the frame. Ordered via Auto-Everthing for $118 delivered, ordered Monday am and was delivered Thuesday afternoon. Tips on this forum were very helpfull. Thanks everyone !