Curt Hitch Installation in Houston?

[drewtx]

I recently purchased a Curt hitch from etrailer.com with the intention of installing it myself. But now I am getting cold feet - particularly about cutting the plastiic molding under the car. Plus, on reflection, I don't have the tools (eg ramps). So, I'm now tempted to find a company willing to installl it form me. *BUT* I want a company who has *EXPPERINCE* installing the Curt on a Prius. I don't want a hack job!

So ...
Can anybody recommend any place in Houston for Curt hitch installation?

MANY thanks!

[darelldd]

Installing the Curt hitch is insanely easy! There really isn't much that any installer could do wrong besides not torque the bolts properly - something that you could check even if you don't do the installation yourself. But do yourself a favor, and do it yourself. If you're skinny, you don't even need ramps.

Cutting the plastic is nothing to fear. It is flimsy stuff, and a utility knife is all you need. Sturdy scissors would likely work as well. There's no rocket science going on!

[bac]

Originally Posted by darelldd

Installing the Curt hitch is insanely easy! There really isn't much that any installer could do wrong besides not torque the bolts properly - something that you could check even if you don't do the installation yourself. But do yourself a favor, and do it yourself. If you're skinny, you don't even need ramps.

Cutting the plastic is nothing to fear. It is flimsy stuff, and a utility knife is all you need. Sturdy scissors would likely work as well. There's no rocket science going on!

Gotta say ditto to the above. I did mine without ramps. You don't need much in terms of tools either. So save yourself some green and do it yourself. You'll be glad you did.

Good luck!

... Brad

[drewtx]

OK - Many thanks to you both for your support! :-)
I'm not skinny, but I'll still have a go at installing it myself.

Also, thanks to darelldd for the EVNUT pages; I read them avidly, especially the reviews of hitches and bike racks.

I have ordered a Yakima DoubleDown4 bike rack (from Amazon.com) to try with my Curt hitch. I *occassionally* want to be able to carry 3 bikes - never 4.

Thanks again.

[Cheap!]

Drewtx,
If you still need help, let me know. I have ramps, jacks, and a soldering gun! ;-)

Oh and even it you don't I will be adding one to my car soon let me know when your going to add it.

[Rest]

Do you really have to cut the plastic so much? Can't the opening just be cut enough to slip the curt end into it?

[drewtx]

Hi Rest,

Yes, you pretty much have to cut it like they show. I tried cutting less initially but had to remove it a few times to remove more material - and eventually ended up taking out as much as they showed.

Because of the way it all lines up on the car, the slot has to be cut all the way to the back of the plastic panel. You can make the slot a little narrower if you like - but it does need to extend all the way back.

Like everybody else - I guess - I was rather concerned about cutting chunks off my Prius, but now that I see the finished result I don't have any regrets/concerns. It all seems to fit fine and there are no gaping holes or flapping pieces of plastic.

Good luck!

[drewtx]

Oh, by the way, I meant to post that installation was indeed very easy.
But there is one fairly MAJOR point to note:

The Curt is essentially a long beam with perpendicular arms on either end. On the one I received one of the arms was not at 90 degress to the beam - so once I had bolted the other end to the car the 'bent' end would not line up. On mine the two arms were not parallel; one was straight and the other wasn't.

I called Curt and they explained that this can happen during stacking/shipping (though that is a little hard to see given that the box was undamaged).

The SOLUTION was to bolt the non-straight end to the car FIRST - which allows you to use the whole beam as leverage to straighten it.

It sounds worse than it was :-) Really it was more a case of just easing one of the arms a little wider to allow all the mount holes to line up.

Installation took about 1 hour - and that was partially because I had initially cut the hole in the plastic smaller than recommended so I then had to extend the hole while it was attached to the car.

The worst bit of the whole installation for me?
Well, I'm a pale English guy living in Texas. In order to avoid sunburn while working on the car in mid-summer I wore full jeans and a long-sleeve sweatshirt. I figured I would be hot but protected from the sun. However, lying on my back with my head and arms up under the rear of the car, I guess my shirt rode up a little - because I ended up with a lobster-pink 'smile' of sunburn on my stomach :-) Doh!

[Rest]

Originally Posted by drewtx

Because of the way it all lines up on the car, the slot has to be cut all the way to the back of the plastic panel. You can make the slot a little narrower if you like - but it does need to extend all the way back.

I had an idea, I could make a cut and only widen it where the Curt has to go through. That way the cut near the back of the car pretty much flaps itself closed, Then I could use some black duct tape to seal it.