Doing Hitches for Bike Carriers - Hitch Hauls - Mobility Chairs - Trailers

I put that exact plate on my AE111 if you don't know by the then that's a Corolla about an '02 model I have that exact well it's not that exact one mine actually has the two little holes for the safety chains from a trailer which I do use when I pull my plastic trailer made by FLOE and there is a way there's a plate made by Reese that also has the one and a quarter square in it with a bolt flange maybe that's what your picture is of I haven't mounted one of those to a Corolla or a Prius but it would be the same procedure on the AE11 I just put a plate with the two holes and the holes for the ball and that was it and it's been on that it's still on that car working just fine so it should go great on the Prius

 

square u bolts. Closest to the square of the bumper you can get . Double nut with a lock nut . Braise the threads . So they can't back off and should be pretty much permanent need to be squeezed on there good and I'm not sure how this would Fair with a trailer but I would try it My 5x8 plastic f l o e goes really well behind my Gen 3 and my hidden hitch is not as heavy as it seems and I already had it so I just put it on the car I need one for my Gen 2 and this would be the perfect workaround

 

My metal bumper on the Corolla is very similar to the aluminum square tubing bumper repair on the Prius on the Corolla I've had 200 plus pounds on that hitch without any trouble I mean that is a gas car but so what I shouldn't make much difference so I've had 2000 lb in the 5x8 trailer or something like that that winds up being right around 200 lb on the tongue with no trouble just going down a flat road moving some stuff you know 10-12 mi no speeding down the highway or nothing crazy but the bumper in the hitch where the least of any of the problems the weight of the trailer snatch in the car around was more of an issue if you got it in certain situations

 

You can get some pretty nice hardened U bolts square type whatever the width to the top of that bumper is and you'd be set like some grade 8

 

Would be concerned about the potential for an "obscured license plate" ticket.

 

My trailer was stuff in it blocks the tag on my 13 all the time sometimes for hundreds of miles so far down there in the southeast we haven't had any problems because if you can pull up alongside the vehicle you can see the tag I haven't even seen a cop do that but you never know. We've got some wild ones down here too but generally they don't bother Priuses they're out chasing Camaros and moms and minivans coming through school zones.

 

Hey camper if, you want to go with the 4 bolt rear hitch route I have 2 in stock leftover from last years build. I haul a cargo basket that houses my cooler/freezer and other supplies. The first one is a class 1 receiver that came with the car the next one if a class 2 receiver I got from E-trailer it's still brand new. I finally discovered a class 3 for the gen 2 sold by Prius Overlanding that's on the car now. I would cut you a sweet deal on either one and then you would't have to modify the bumper.

 

For this kind of use (and for Hitch Hauls or mobility chairs, as mentioned in the thread title), I would consider a hitch like this to be about the worst possible.

The bike carrier, mobility chair, or Hitch Haul might be carrying less weight than the tongue weight of a properly-loaded trailer. But they all put that center of mass out on a considerably longer moment arm than where the tongue weight of a trailer on a hitch ball would be. That ends up as a serious twisting force on the bumper reinforcement here.



Meanwhile, the attachment of the hitch to that bumper reinforcement has its own moment arm of only a couple inches, the thickness of the aluminum piece, basically. Imagine extending the above illustration to where the guy is trying to pull from a point two inches above the floor. The long moment arm out to the carried load, divided by this very short one, means a large magnification of the twisting force being put on this aluminum bumper reinforcement.

And it is not only static forces to consider. As the car goes down the road, hitting dips, speed bumps, and potholes, the mass of that bike, Hitch Haul. or mobility chair gets bounced up and down at the end of that lever, with accelerations that might be more than one g.

And aluminum, unlike steel, does not have any certain amount of limited flexing that is 'safe' from causing metal fatigue. As I understand it, all of the flexing that ever happens to an aluminum part counts toward its eventual fatigue failure.

For this kind of application (bike or chair or hitch haul way out on a long moment arm), one might be advised to start with one of the conventional two-point-mounted hitches and even mod it with a third attachment point further forward, so the mounting has a longer moment arm of its own.



It shouldn't be really necessary to make the third-attachment mod from such stout stuff as that guy did. The hitch already has adequate weight capacity from its two original mount brackets, and the long third piece just needs to resist the twist. Angle, or even flat stock, oriented vertically, could have done the trick.

 

Aluminum bumper reinforcement is exactly that, not designed for mounting hitches. Bad idea.

 

Well, it kind of is designed for collision ... the collision energy that goes into crushing the aluminum reinforcement is that much energy not going into the rest of the car.

 

I've been doing bicycle event support in my region for a long time, moving from the original roof rack to a hitch rack ten years ago, and haven't yet encountered any concern from police here or in neighboring states and provinces. Even when working with police at incidents. No fellow support drivers have reported any problems either. Outside of organized events, the only local case I'm aware of was on an episode of the TV fictional serial Grey's Anatomy, where the stopped character lacked 'white privilege' while crossing the mountains towards the series' supposed home in Seattle.

Cross-country travel was a different matter. Returning from a 1.5 month journey to the far coast and back, I was pulled over in South Dakota. While the nominal reason and resulting written warning were for "obscured plate", it quickly became clear that the real but unstated reason was for "marijuana state license plate".

And possibly he was already on the lookout for something specific. A day or two later, not too far away, several marijuana smugglers from my state very seriously beat and attempted to murder another trooper. They were later convicted, and variously sentenced to 10 to 45 years. The injured officer recovered and returned to capturing other smugglers.

 

I think that by itself could be a big improvement over the straight U-bolted hitch.

The strut going forward to the 3rd mounting point could even be made of a couple sizes of pipe, one in the other, so as to be telescoping. It only needs to resist the pitch forces, not any fore/aft movement. With it telescoping, a collision can still mash the bumper reinforcement without that being transferred ahead to the 3rd mount point.

 

well... your goal isn't clear. either way, you go, regular hitch or elevated... you won't be able to get around adding 40lbs to the car.

I have what you are trying to make already built with a winch mount built in just, what will you do leave everything exposed like that?

like all else stated, it's aluminum, and at best it can withstand a tow hook and be pulled a few times before it will warp.

this picture isn't a gen2 nor the rear but the only picture ive already posted online that I can share thats related to this topic...
now, I just need a gen 2 for a few days to 3d can and mock up something.... too bad you are not in socal, we could've had this done for you in a few days...

 

Same idea as RV bumper hitch.

RV Bumper hitch - Google Search