Reese Towpower 37042 Class 3 Multi-Fit Trailer Hitch, 2 Inch Square Receiver, Compatible with Selected Models (Please Verify VEHICLE APPLICATON)

I needed a Class 3 (2" hitch) for a Ford Focus in order to put a rear rack on, but you can't buy a Class 3 hitch for Ford Focus, so this was my only option. It took 1 1/2 days to install and it pushed the limits of my skill and my luck but it worked. There are three main challenges. The first is positioning it under your car so that the two longitudinal brackets are positioned directly underneath the two square beams that frame your car. This is not easy because its quite heavy, will take several jacks and hammering to slide it in place correctly, and you have to get it out of the way of any attachments of obstrusions, in my case the tailpipe. The second challenge is drilling holes in the support beams, that wasn't too bad but you will need 1/2 inch bit and maybe smaller ones to get started. The third challenge is threading the bolts and support plates through the end of the beam and into it so they stick out and you can attach the hitch (the bolt locks to the plate with a square hole so it won't rotate when you tighten it). This was much easier than I thought and was very pleasantly surprised because when I got the kit and saw the difficulty I was almost ready to throw in the towel. There is a provided wire that you can thread the bolt in, then you take another wire and push it through the hole in the beam and out the end, attach it to the provided wire and the bolt, and pull it back in through the hole, hoping that it will get through correctly with the bolt seated in the plate (this always works, to my surprise) . You will have to do this at least 4 times, and in my case I also manufactured a piece to attach the rear bar to the car vertically, which is how the commercial Class 1 hitches work for a Ford Focus (do your research on commercial hitches that fit your car so you know how it should work first). The instructions are good if your car is one of the supported ones, but as I say the Ford Focus is not, so I had to figure all this out. Miraculously it worked, and I now have a 500 lb rear cargo rack on my Ford Focus which doubles my cargo space and which all cost me $200 ($150 for the hitch and $50 for the rack). Eureka! Adding the electrical (in case you want to tow as opposed to adding a rack) isn't too hard either, check Uline.

A great Towbar. It took me about an hour and a half to install but I was very surprised that it was so easy. All the parts, plus many extra were included to provide for easy installation on many types of vehicles. I had to drill two holes into the frame of my truck but it installed extremely tight to the frame and it towed my first 4,000 pound load without any problems. I don't think that a factory installed towbar would be any stronger. I looked for several days to find the right bar at the right price and this surely fit the bill. I highly recommend the Reese Towpower to anyone looking for a replacement towbar or for a first time install. All the strength needed to pull up to 5,000 pounds. Great Tow Bar.

The hitch itself is great. It is solid and works as advertised. The problem can be the installation. This hitch kit is designed to go on over a dozen different vehicles. I followed the directions to install it on my pickup, but it did not fit. After studing the different ways to adjust it and doing trial fits, I finally got it to work fine. Be sure to trial fit the hitch before you drill any holes. If you are not a little handy, get someone else to do it that is, or at least keep them around to help. The hitch is great but watch out on the install.

It installed just great on my skoolie. One problem I ran into is the tolerances for the bolts and nuts is off quite a bit, and as a result many of the nuts couldn't go on the bolts, even with an impact driver/drill. I had to take a lot of time trying to match bolts to nuts, and in the end I couldn't use the carriage bolts on one side because the nuts just didn't fit. The kit only comes with 2 different sized nuts, 1/2" and 3/8", so it wouldn't have been hard to fit them on. I'm not sure if it's the nuts themselves that are off, or if the bolts are off, I'll have to test the nuts on other bolts that I get from lowes and see how they fit. Beyond that, it was EXCELLENT. Once you understand that there is a "fishing wire" that helps you to get the bolts into the frame of the hitch, and that on each side they offset the holes so that the bolts don't get in each other's way, it was easy to do alone. I did use a jack to hold the hitch up so I could drill the holes in the frame in the correct spot, but that's more a strategy to know I did it right, which this is a skoolie, so of course I will have to do manual work, and that is not a flaw with the hitch itself. It came with more then enough hardware to mount it to whatever vehicle you had. The instructions weren't the clearest, but it was enough that you could figure it out. If I had something more difficult than a skoolie, I think the instructions would be much harder to understand. I did find it kinda silly how they packaged this from Amazon. They had used a big box, about 1.5 feet longer than the hitch box and about 4 inches too wide, and with no padding, to deliver it. Not really a big problem, but is annoying as I had to carry this in a wagon, and had I known the outer box was that big in comparison I would have opened it and saved myself some trouble.