Trailer hitch

[Eric]

I plan on switching to a Thule trailer hitch style bike rack when we get our XC.  I got tired of hoisting my mountain bike up and down, the wind noise, the possibility of dropping it on the roof, and driving it into the garage as I have before.  Can you order the 2 inch trailer hitch from Volvo, and is it a clean low vis design like Toyota does on their 4runners or do you recommend an after market hitch?

Thanks,


Eric http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Stu in Oregon]

Hello Eric,

We have the factory hitch on our '02 Ocean Race. It is very "clean" in it's appearance. Our car came with the aluminum skid plate option and that really ties the hitch into the bumper's design quite nicely. I prefer the look of our '02s rear with the factory hitch and skid plate over the rear of our '01 with out them. My hunch would be that the aftermarket hitches might not integrate cosmetically as well, but maybe someone else in here can help you with that.

[wiz]

Eric, get the OEM 2" square receiver with, as Stu mentioned, the rear skid plate. A very functional and good-looking solution.

Do a search here on trailer-hitch and you will find a rich collection of threads covering both OEM and 3rd party hitches, their installation, pros & cons, etc., etc. complete with pictures.  You can purchase all the parts online from Jaffarian or Borton.

[budrichard]

Have 2" factory on my 03XC and 1 1/4" Drawtite on my 99XC. The 2" factory is far superior. In 99 the 2" was not available from Volvo or anyone else as a bolt on unit. Be aware that each accessory for the 2" requires the hitch adapter, a beautiful piece of equipment but pricey. The design is clean and low with a rubber Volvo plug! -Dick

[Swamped]

I also recently had the factory hitch, wiring harness, and rear skid plate installed on my 02xc.  I also agree that it's a nicely integrated but pricey addition to the tune of over $900 installed.

The trailer wiring receptacle though appears to be european, and doesn't match up with the 9-pin plug on my Coleman pop-up.  Although I have the 4-pin adapter for the Volvo receptacle this doesn't help me.

Has anyone else run into this problem and what have they done to solve this?  For what I paid for the wiring harness I hate to cut the harness and wire in the standard receptacle, and I don't know where to buy a european plug so I can make a converter.

[wiz]

Swamped, the 7 pin to 4 straight pin connector should work with most U.S. trailer wiring.  Your Coleman camper doesn't have a standard flat 4 prong connector?

[Hiro's XC]

There is a 4pin to 9 available at any camping or U-Haul store. I have the fatory round hitch that I installed a few, well 7 months ago. I made a CD that I sent to a fellow board member of the photos of the install and the instructions. It is a long, time consuming, frustrating, some times angering job to install the hitch. It is all the issues of getting the bumper BACK on the car. You have to remove it to install  the hitch. PERIOD, no bones about it, it has to come off. That is why the dealer gets 4 hours labor. The aftermarket hitches available pale in comparison to the nice integrated tucked up look of the factory unit. You do need to get the skid plate though as I have stated in the past or it will look like heck from the cut outs that need to be done in the bumper cover.

Jason

[kersti]

I also installed the factory hitch and I do not have the rear skip plate. It looked great to me, I will have to give it another look, I did not notice any unsightly cutouts.

Kersti

[Hiro's XC]

Kersti,

Sounds like the dealeer did the minimal cut out for you. If you follow the assembly instructions the cut out is pretty big. Then again you have to get pretty low to see the cut out.

Jason

[so_long_suv]

kersti,
as i am considering having this installed, but was hoping to not have to spring for the skid plate, any chance of you posting a pix or two?
tia,
sls

[kersti]

I will try to remember to take some pictures when I get home tonight and post, also take a closer look ( I just realized I haven't even lifted by hood to look inside yet  http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/blush.gif )

kersti

[picklehead]

I had the hitch installed by my dealer without the electrical hookup (only using it for a thule bike rack) and the total cost for the hitch and the 3.5 hours of labor was $471.00.  I crawled under the car to take a look at the hitch and they did an amazing job.  You can see that they trimmed the bumper around the hitch, but the job is so clean and close to the hitch that you would swear that it came that way from the factory.  I definitely do not feel the need to get the rear skid plate.  I also do not mind the hitch being integrated that closely to the bumper, it results in very little additional ground clearance loss.

Very Respectfully,
Jim Miller

[kersti]

Here are the pictures of the dealer installed hitch.

[kersti]

Whoops! http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/blush.gif

[kersti]

and another

[kersti]

another

[kersti]

and

[kersti]

and the dogs in the back.

[stevel0923]

HiroXC sent me a CD-ROM with pictures of his hitch install along with scans of the installation instructions. I was all ready to purchase the hitch and install it myself until I saw his pictures and they stopped me cold in my tracks.

I have installed two trailer hitches before on other cars but I have never seen anything as complicated or as involved as the Volvo one. For most other cars, you only have to strap on 4 bolts at the most and you are good to go.

The Volvo on the other hand requires a good part of the day just to remove all the necessary components. Plus you have to drill out rivets and cut up the bumper cover as a part of the normal installation. Also, if you plan to add the wiring harness, you will have to perform a software update to your car which only the dealer can do.

If you are planning to only carry your bikes with the 2" receiver, it's not worth it! $400 for the parts, $200-300 for labor plus another couple hundred for the bike carrier. I opted for the interior bike rack which only cost $150 and no installation cost. It keeps the bike clean during transport and it is easily removeable. Of course, this only works if you don't have additional passengers in the rear seat.

[budrichard]

Dealer installed my 2" with no ugly cut outs, at least all you can observe is the rear of the hitch and nothing else.
Steve, does the interior bike rack require wheel removal? and will it accomodate both road and mtn bikes? -Dick

[so_long_suv]

kersti,
thanks so much for the pix, and so quickly also!! http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/thumbs-up.gif
nice looking wheels! think i'm going to go for it.
sls

[Swamped]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (wiz @ May 29 2003,11:14)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Swamped, the 7 pin to 4 straight pin connector should work with most U.S. trailer wiring. Your Coleman camper doesn&#39;t have a standard flat 4 prong connector?[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
As I said, my pop-up camper has a 9-pin standard American connector. &nbsp;The extra pins include control for the electric brakes, a Volvo requirement for towing trailers over 1500 pounds. &nbsp;So using the Volvo 9-pin to 4 pin converter, then using a 4-pin to 9-pin adapter is not an option.

My point is that for such an expensive hitch installation it seems a shame that the trailer wiring harness from Volvo that is sold in America does not fit American trailers. &nbsp;Isn&#39;t the US one of their largest markets? &nbsp;Could it have been so difficult to have a harness manufactured and available for the US market?

[stevel0923]

Clean cut in the bumper cover is totally dependent on the skill of the technician with a jigsaw tool. &nbsp;I was talking to the service manager about this and he admits that the hitch installation is rather complicated and requires the right tools. The XC90 has the same issues.

As far as the interior bike rack goes, yes you do have to dismount the front wheels but it supposely has a fork for you to mount them. &nbsp;At the same time, if your bike is rather tall, you might have to remove your seat as well. &nbsp;So there are pros and cons to this alternative.

[wiz]

I agree that you cannot go 9-4-9 because you lose the connection. I am wondering how old your camper is. On the Coleman site (http://foldingtrailers.com/), at least in the folding trailer section (which is what I assume you have) they show a pin-out for a 4 prong connection.

[Hiro's XC]

Hey Dick,

Do you have the square reciever? That one as you stated, might or might not require a cut or the bumper. The round one sits further up under the bumper and requires the cut out.

Jason

[budrichard]

Jason, I have the square 2&quot; hitch.

Steve, my mountain bike(YO EDDY/CAMPY) was built with three goals, 1.fast, 2. no Japanese parts and 3. not break. Therefore the wheels do not have quick releases. When I carry one bike I just put the seats down and lay the whole bike in the back. I will get another carrier for the rare times I carry more than one bike. I have a Yakama 1&amp;1/4&quot; carrier for my 99XC that is still in the box unopened, so I guess I don&#39;t carry two bikes very often&#33; -Dick