For a friend:

He needs to have a hitch attached (welded) to his car in order to add a bike rack. 


Who does this kind of work? 


Is there a place where he can buy the rack and have the hitch mounted at the same time?

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Uhaul used to do that....
where does he live ? I have a good friend in Villa Park that owns a trailer company.
pepboys on elston
There is no hitch on the market, that I know of, that needs, or should, be welded onto a vehicle unless it is something VERY non-standard or a vehicle which should not have a hitch on it in the first place.

If it does need to be welded on please be sure to take it to a qualified welding shop and not just some random yokel or exhaust shop where they have a guy who thinks the ability to install a muffler makes him a qualified welder.
very true and good points doug.

having a welder near a gas tank (especially indoors) is not a good combination.

I had a hitch put on a station wagon years ago and it's a very simple job to bolt it to the chassis.

DB

notoriousDUG said:
There is no hitch on the market, that I know of, that needs, or should, be welded onto a vehicle unless it is something VERY non-standard or a vehicle which should not have a hitch on it in the first place.

If it does need to be welded on please be sure to take it to a qualified welding shop and not just some random yokel or exhaust shop where they have a guy who thinks the ability to install a muffler makes him a qualified welder.
I bought mine at U-haul .I've priced them for some time & found that they are cheaper. How many bikes does he plan on putting on the rack. They sell hitches in different classes. Like ( class 1, class 2, etc..) I have a class 3 which is more than enough. I bought that with future towing needs in mind. like a trailer, boat, etc... I could put install it if he buys the hitch. Just call me & we'll talk about it.
I think through the Uhaul website you can plug in the make/model of vehicle and it will tell you what trailer options you have.
Yes ,
I believe so . You still need to know what you want to haul as far as weight go's. It's an easy web-site to work.

Tiberculosis said:
I think through the Uhaul website you can plug in the make/model of vehicle and it will tell you what trailer options you have.
I think what this friend of yours wants is called a receiver. There are two different sizes of receiver. Your friend will have to find out what size receiver his/her rack is designed to fit. The receiver is a square box to which the hitch attaches. The hitch slides into the receiver and is held in by a pin and clip. Check the car's owner's manual to see if a receiver can be mounted.
You don't know very much about cars but felt like answering the question anyway, didn't you?

While none of this is technically wrong it is not very good info.

It is true that what your friend wants is technically a receiver it is marketed as a receiver style hitch because it is one where the hitch itself does not bolt onto the car but a receptacle for a hitch bolts onto the car; this was an important distinction years ago when non-receiver style hitches were not yet the extreamly uncommon exception to the norm.

The owners manual is not going to tell you hitch availability for your car; almost all hitches are aftermarket these days. What the manual will tell you is the capacity your vehicle has both in it's ability to pull and stop as well as the weight it can bear (tongue weight). When it comes to bike racks tongue weight is the only real number that matters and even a new Corvette has a tongue weight rating of a couple hundred pounds so pretty much anything you can purchase a hitch for is going to be fine rating wise.

I would stay the hell away from a U-haul brand hitch, they are pure junk; there is a reason they are cheaper then anyone else and they are often universal fit pieces that tend to fall apart or work for crap. Get a good hitch made for your vehicle; I recommend Resse.

Barry Niel Stuart said:
I think what this friend of yours wants is called a receiver. There are two different sizes of receiver. Your friend will have to find out what size receiver his/her rack is designed to fit. The receiver is a square box to which the hitch attaches. The hitch slides into the receiver and is held in by a pin and clip. Check the car's owner's manual to see if a receiver can be mounted.
Doug,
I agree with you on most of this, But when it comes to u-haul . I don't agree with you. I've had them all my life and pulled boats with them & never had a problem with them . I know of a lot of others that will swear by u-haul as well. Reese is fine I do think overly priced. I'm not for sure on this one , But somebody one time did tell me that u-haul & reese were made in the same plant.

notoriousDUG said:
You don't know very much about cars but felt like answering the question anyway, didn't you?

While none of this is technically wrong it is not very good info.

It is true that what your friend wants is technically a receiver it is marketed as a receiver style hitch because it is one where the hitch itself does not bolt onto the car but a receptacle for a hitch bolts onto the car; this was an important distinction years ago when non-receiver style hitches were not yet the extreamly uncommon exception to the norm.

The owners manual is not going to tell you hitch availability for your car; almost all hitches are aftermarket these days. What the manual will tell you is the capacity your vehicle has both in it's ability to pull and stop as well as the weight it can bear (tongue weight). When it comes to bike racks tongue weight is the only real number that matters and even a new Corvette has a tongue weight rating of a couple hundred pounds so pretty much anything you can purchase a hitch for is going to be fine rating wise.

I would stay the hell away from a U-haul brand hitch, they are pure junk; there is a reason they are cheaper then anyone else and they are often universal fit pieces that tend to fall apart or work for crap. Get a good hitch made for your vehicle; I recommend Resse.

Barry Niel Stuart said:
I think what this friend of yours wants is called a receiver. There are two different sizes of receiver. Your friend will have to find out what size receiver his/her rack is designed to fit. The receiver is a square box to which the hitch attaches. The hitch slides into the receiver and is held in by a pin and clip. Check the car's owner's manual to see if a receiver can be mounted.
Bought the hitch for my Jeep at AutoZone, I think it is a Reese. It was a model made for my specific year and make so it bolted on to the frame at the back of the Jeep and came with a wiring kit that was easy to connect (although you won't need the wiring for a bike rack).
Very solid and a perfect fit. I think the total cost for the hitch was around $150 - 160.

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