Coastal Tech Hitch and Prius Warranty....

Somebody on Ebay is selling a Prius Hitch for $99.95
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...item=7944975777

 

That trailer looks quite nice. I have the Coastal hitch, and use it with a bike rack. But I would not worry at all about a lightweight trailer such as yours, for a sunfish-class sailboat or a couple of sailboards.

Which hitch did you use? If the Coastal, did you fit safety chains, and if so, how? Also, does the trailer have lights, and if so, how did you connect to the car's wiring?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TFlohr\";p=\"60869)</div>

i ordered the Coastal hitch, and it arrived last week. it sure does look a lot like the one in that eBay ad....(see photo).

my goal/intention is to tow a small enclosed trailer 'cross country later this year.

if anyone has any suggestions for where to look, or any experience with 'em, please email me! plusaf at plusaf dot com. thank you!

i'm looking for one that would hold a few small pieces of luggage and other misc. travel stuff. maybe 3-4' wide, at the most, 4-6' long, and about 2-3' high/deep. max. Coastal specifies tongue weight of about 250# max, and i don't see any need to come close to that limit. i think that if a rounded box of those dimensions fly in the Prius' slipstream, it wouldn't even hurt the mpg's on flat terrain.

help?
thanks!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(plusaf\";p=\"62708)</div>

I browsed the web a bit some time back. If I recall, the ones for cars all seemed too big for a car with "Toyota does not recommend towing" in the owner's manual.

I think a trailer meant to be hauled by motorcycles would be best. There were a number of styles and sizes. Some have coolers mounted on the tongue, some very streamlined, some more utilitarian in design. You can get some color matched to your bike (or Prius, I presume). Of course they don't sell for pocket change.

 

i've bought one of the Coastal hitches, and i'm going to find someone in my area to add safety chain loops.

then i'm buying a trailer that'll hold maybe 1-200 pounds of luggage and other junk, and be reasonably aerodynamic.

then, late this spring, my wife and i are driving cross-country in the prius with the trailer, our luggage and our two dogs!

if anyone can help me find a shop that will modify the Coastal hitch for safety chains, and even recommend a nice little trailer, we're going to do it.

and all your griping about gross vehicle weight is nonsense, guys! that only counts if all of the trailer's weight is tongue weight, and it's all on the ball hitch! which it isn't! likely not more than 50-100 pounds of downforce will be on the hitch, and that'll just mean i can put another 5psi in the rear tires.

after that, it's all starting torgue (of which there's plenty) plus air resistance (of which there should be little additional.)

the only problems will be pulling the trailer up hills, as a pretty dead weight, but since i'm aiming for not more than maybe 3-400 pounds of total trailer plus contents, i think the little motor should be able to do it. if not, we can give it a breather every once in a while.

if it'll drag the car up route 80 at 84mph on cruise control, it probably can drag a trailer up the same hill at the legal limit of 65 without too much strain.

anyone want to do the math of 84mph wind resistance versus 65mph and the tow force of a trailer up an 8% grade?

i think you are worrying about nothing.

i'll keep y'all informed throughout the rest of the year.......

 

Look in your local yellow pages under "welding" or "fabricating" and start calling people. All you need is two tabs with holes in them to attach the saftey chains too, welded on to the tounge portion of the hitch. 1/4" thick flat bar with a 1/2" hole in the middle to put the hook on the saftey chain thru. Mine is a dual holed piece of 1/4" flat bar about 1 1/4" X 4" long welded to the bottom of the tounge.

 

"and all your griping about gross vehicle weight is nonsense, guys! that only counts if all of the trailer's weight is tongue weight, and it's all on the ball hitch!"
sorry but this statement is wrong. Look at a semi. he's still pulling 115,000 LBs but only about 35,000 of that is weight on the rear axle of the tractor. It's the load capaicty of the tires,springs,rubber blocks, etc. But he' still moving 115,000. Your Prius will still be moving whatever the gross weight of the car, passenges, dogs, and trailer with all your luggage in it. The max weight in the manual is what Toyota recommends for the maximum load for the car. As they don't provide a maximum trailer weight, assume they want the car to move no more than the stated maximum weight. If you live with that, I don't see any harm coming to your Prius. Go over that at your peril.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(plusaf\";p=\"63875)</div>

Earlier in this thread, there is mention (by derevis) of the successful use of a small trailer carrying a go-kart. If you are careful there should be no trouble.

My biggest concern would be brake fade on long downhills. You will be inhibiting the downhill progress of the combined weight of the car, its contents, the trailer, and its contents. You must assume that this will be accomplished using only the engine braking (the regen ends quickly when the battery is full) and the front disk brakes (drums tend to fade, due to heating). So I would recommend that your combined weight not exceed the recommended total by very much, unless the trailer has brakes (unlikely for a small one).

Care is definitely needed. That trailer is 260 lbs, and with its load you will be using up 400 lbs or more of your total. If you each weigh 150 lbs, and the dogs another 50, and a full tank of gas whatever, you have almost no capacity left for dog biscuits, souvenirs, and other incidentals w/in the car.

Also, you will need to tap into the car's lighting to work the trailer lights.

I'd be curious how this all works out - I may want to tow a lightweight trailer w/ sailboards or ?? at some point myself. So please post details re who did the work, the cost, and your experience. It is valuable to have pioneers!

 

most automotive parts houses can supply an adapter to convert from 3 light to 2 light as most of the small trailers have 2 light systems. Most of these adapters cost about $20 That is what I used on my Prius. Works fine.

 

With all of the discussion about towing a trailer here on this thread, I found this http://yves.fungiart.com/pages/trailer.htm on the Mixed-Power site. This guy is towing a trailer with his Honda Insight!! If he can tow a small trailer with a Insight, I think it would be a piece of cake for the Prius to tow a Teardrop Camper??

Charlie

 

those trailers are made from a 4x4' Snowbear trailer. That is the same trailer that I tow with my Prius. The container on top is the type you can by at most places that sell roof racks. For you Canadian Prius owners you can buy the trailter for $350 from Canadian Tire. Watch for them on sale at about $285 The Prius tows this trailer just fine even with the side kit on it, as it's all in the slipstream. To mod the trailer like in the photos on the website you'll need access to a welder and a chop saw and some steel supplies but what I see here is about 2 hours extra work from when you open the box the trailer kit comes in.

 

besides places to secure the chains you'll also need to be able to hook up the trailer lights. With some cars this can be easy with other cars, especially those with sophisticated monitoring systems you can cause a problem.

 

Taillight wiring?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Frank Hudon\";p=\"63931)</div>

Frank,

Can you let us know what color the stock wires were that you tapped into, and what wires they drove on the adapter?

 

Wow, I'm stunned! I'm not the only Prius driver that races shifter karts. I also tow my kart with my prius using a similar arrangement. (Sorry, no picture yet). I live in Colorado, and even hills haven't been much of a problem. Braking is still pretty good, and it's still fairly quick off the line. I'm guessing the kart and trailer weigh about 400lbs, with the spares and tools plus me I'm probably carrying about 700lbs total. MPG does take a hit, I get about 40MPG instead of 48 or so on the highway. I didn't go the coastal route, but bought a DaLan Hitch from Hitchweb.com. It was about the same price, includes the safety chain loops, and is also a bolt on installation. I have purchased hitches for all my cars from them and have had good results. I added the wiring harness myself, there's nothing special or tricky about the Prius lighting.

As far as warranty, usually a dealer will have to prove a reasonable probability thatt your misuse caused the failure. They can't just look at the hitch and say sorry, no warranty any more.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(talonts\";p=\"85512)</div>

Frank,

Can you let us know what color the stock wires were that you tapped into, and what wires they drove on the adapter?
[/b][/quote]
I just went out and tried to see the wire color codes but I've taped the harness up and the wires are inside the tape. With out cutting it open I can't say for sure. Also this is on a 2k3 so the wire code might be different from the 2k4-5 models. A volt meter and a few moments will tell you which wire is which. The only wires that go to the adapter are left turn and right turn and brake light Tail lights and ground are seperate. If you've not sure a garage or RV dealer can do this in a few minutes for you.