JM1FE

Don't worry about it - weight-distributing is for heavy-duty towing apparatus to prevent the rear of the car from sagging. If you were towing a travel trailer with a pickup or SUV, you'd want it. It's irrelevant for what we'd be doing with the RX-8... I'm sure they just put it there as a CYA disclaimer.

JM1FE

Update from hitch-web.......

Should be shipping in 2 weeks Initial production run is 17, with 11 sold already. I'm in the queue, so order away! :D

It's now advertised on their site, priced at ~$234.11.

I guess it's the only option for us now, nothing else seems to have worked out.

woan

I have been looking for some way of hauling a couple of bicycles with my RX-8. Is this the best bet with a hitch attached bike rack attachment?

Also, how easy/expensive is it to get someone to install this thing?

Ron

JM1FE

WHEN I get it, I'll post info on the installation.

The forum member who initially was working on a hitch seems to have dropped off of the planet and taken his designs with him.

Ski season's almost over, so my intentions of designing a sportube carrier for the hitch are a waste, now.

mlx8

Until very recently, there've been no commercially available hitches for the Rx8. The originators of this thread were huricaned, and of recent time been too busy to get back their project. In the interim, D'lan was supposed to have begun production of a hitch built for the Rx8. I was "told" D'lan should have been shipping by @ February 15th. I placed an order through "Hitch-Web" (www.hitch-web.com) around January 28th, with the understanding they should be shipping by mid February. I got a call @ February 18th or so to say "there were going to be delays..." So, there still appears to be no readily available hitch kit for the Rx8.

Can any one point me to the "Stinger" tire attachment thread, or suggest a good source for a track tire trailer, or pictures, tips & hints on building a good light weight tire & tool kit trailer?

Thanks
mike

bmc

I spoke to hitch-web again today, they said they talked to the manuf. on tuesday. They should be shipping monday. The first batch is 17 hitches, hitch-web has the first 12 pre-sold.

Brian

StrokerAce

Got a tracking number.

JM1FE

So did I. After I sent them a nastygram this morning. I'm still waiting to see that it's REALLY on the way, since UPS indicates: "UPS has received shipper's billing information electronically. Billing information received does not indicate shipment pickup or drop-off." So the shipping lables were printed, but that doesn't mean they're on the truck yet.

I'm considering a post in the "good guy/bad guy" forum, and not a favourable one.

typerr

I also have a tracking number and my hitch should be here Thursday.

While I wish the hitch would have arrived earlier, I have no complaints at all with hitchweb and feel they have been honest and professional everytime I have called to inquire on the status of my order. They have always offered to cancel my order and refund my money if I chose.

JM1FE

Posting multiple times to get the pictures up...

1. Out of the box with the accessories shrink-wrapped to it
2. Side view with profile of the bracket
3. Accessories box removed - you can see the main brackets are asymmetrical
4. Rear view (I'd peeled off the Da'Lan sticker and relocated it to the back)
5. Corner detail of the main crossbar

JM1FE

Rest of the pics...

1. Accessories kit contains ballmount, pin/cotter pin, and mounting hardware
2. Ballmount is nice & heavy-duty, glossy black like the rest
3. Rated for 2000 towing/200 tongue (pounds)
4. Ballmount in the hitch with the holes lined up (no pin inserted)
5. Sooo close, but can't hold it up because the black rear valence is in the way

bmc

wee!!!

on the bathroom scale, its 22 lbs. I loose about 45 from ripping the exhaust off at the site (non-fun if the drive to the site is longer than about 5 minutes... HOT!), so adding 25 isn't too bad.

A simple down turn is HELLA loud. I'm going to need a decible gague to make sure I don't violate some site regs. Many of the sites, the simple down turn is just not gonna cut it. A supertrapp with a downturn is looking rather good at the moment.

mlx8

Ok so the hitches are here. Where does the reciever for the ball etc. come out? I take it this isn't as stylish as the Florida pilots project with the reciever located in the Rx8 rotary emblem? or is it.

If it isn't, could the reciever location be adjusted to fit inside the rear bumper rotor symbol/

JM1FE

No, I wish it came out through the rotor symbol, but it doesn't. The receiver will appear just below the lower black valance.

There's no way to 'relocate' it without some additional engineering. Installation is scheduled for Friday, will post pics of the finished deal Friday night.

JM1FE

Earlier in this thread I posted the Da'Lan install instructions as a PDF. You can refer to that for the following tip:

When installing the hitch, you do not have to pull all the carpet out to get to the two rubber plugs under the jack box. I wanted to prep this area before taking it to the installer since I don't trust anyone else to be careful with trimwork.

1. Open the jack box, remove the two plastic clips from inside against the rear bulkhead.
2. Remove the jack, and use a philips-head screwdriver to remove the screw/bolt under the jack. The jack box then lifts right out.
3. Where the jack box was, to the left-of-centre there is a flap that was partially cut in the carpet material. Trim the two tabs to free up the front edge of the flap, then trim back the side slits to make the flap open up to reveal the rubber plug. That plug gets removed to install the hitch. You'll see what I mean (sorry, no pics tonight).
4. By poking in the area where the jack box was, you'll find the other rubber plug to the right-of-centre. There's no flap already cut in the carpet over it, so you'll need to do that with a razor blade or scissors.

Now whoever installs your hitch can get to the two rubber plugs (per step 2 in the Da'Lan instructions) without messing up any of the rest of the carpets/panels in the back.

Wiring is a different story.... still working on that.

BritSti

Well just received the hitch a week ago, got the car up on rhino ramps and realized that this install is not so straight forward. I do have a Borla exhaust, so the fit is tight, it will work thought, some contact with the exhaust hangers, not sure the stock exhaust hangers were in the exact same place as with the Borla.

Anyways, the two bolts in the trunk, no problem.

The two bolts in the frame rails, will take real work. Need to drill a 1/2 in hole in the right place into the frame rail, my exhaust is totally in the way so that will have to come out, then you need to "enlarge" an existing hole in the frame rail with maybe a die grinder or drill and drop down a backing plate and bolt on each side for the hitch.

Does not look like a 60 min job to me. Will report progress.

S

gc1bflyr

http://www.izoomgraphics.com/index.p...=page_tiretail

JM1FE

Got it installed on Friday. The hitch shop that I took it to did it in an hour, but of course they're used to installing hitches every day, a weekend warrior would probably take a bit longer.

Here are some photos of the interior. Despite what the instructions say, you cannot simply 'reinstall the jack box', because the left reinforcing plate and carriage bolt (Item 2 on the install sheet parts list) interfere with it.

The jack box is held in by two of the plastic pin-clips, and one machine screw. The right plastic clip went back in OK, but the original screw was too short to reach the threaded hole, and the left plastic clip was nowhere close to lining up. I went to Home Depot and got a replacement metric pan-head machine screw, 6mm diameter x 25 mm long, and neoprene washers. Total cost was less than $1.00. Now the jack box is held down securely, but the left plastic clip cannot be installed. I don't see how this could have slipped past even the most rudimentary QA at Da'Lan, but whatever...

1. Left reinforcing plate and bolt, with flap cut in carpet (see my previous post)
2. Right plate and bolt, as above
3. The original screw/washer (left, black), and replacement screw/washer for the jack box

JM1FE

Exterior, with nothing attached...

1. Peeking out under the rear valance
2. Side profile view
3. Straight on rear view, low.... hardly noticeable
4. Bracket attached to the frame rail, left side

JM1FE

Finally! It's ready to be used, just in time to pick up her new bike next week. Next I have to work on wiring so it could be used for a trailer of some sort.

1. Bike rack attached!
2. Plenty of clearance
3. Cat's-eye view of attachment
4. Ballmount - side view
5. Rear view with ball in-place

(Yeah, I know the deck lid wasn't shut tight - leave me alone... :D)

More info once it's (a) actually used, and (b) wired for trailer lights.

beefyjoe

Fantastic!! :D
I was worried that the hitch would hang too low, but your side shot showed that it is higher up than the muffler.

Thanks for the pics.
I'm buying one tomorrow.

BTW, where did you buy the bike. Did you visit a "Trek" factory concept store, or a LBS (local bike shop). If it was an LBS - was it Mom-and Pop (dingy and awful), or a well-lit, well merchandised shop that treated you like a real person?

I am in the bike industry (almost) and am very interested in your customer experience.

Thanks, Joe.

JM1FE

Low is relatively-speaking... look at it with the bike rack installed, and imagine how the incredibly-shallow departure angle will interact with a driveway or a speedbump. We'll see. That's why I think the through-the-rotor design has more than cosmetic appeal.

Good luck - you may get it by next winter . Order it COD so they don't charge you for it months in advance of it actually shipping.

As for the bike... a co-worker is a competitive cyclist in the Philly/south Jersey area. He recommended the model, the Trek website directed us to the local dealer which is BikeLine in Newark <spit>Delaware</spit>. Retail chain, well-stocked and nicely-equipped/furnished. Staff is knowledgable, helpful, normal people instead of cycling geeks. They were having a sale, and gave the sale price (+2x free bottle cages +install/setup, including computer & pedals) even though the 51cm frame was not in-stock.

Back on-topic... the receiver opening is a little larger than necessary. Makes it easy to stick in the ballmount/bike rack, but expect a lot of play. The bike rack has a threaded pin so that should hold it somewhat steady, but a trailer will be noisy over bumps and in start/stop situations. The clearance between the valance and the safety-chain cleats is pretty tight, so I got a deep socket for the 3/4" bolt-in pin for the bike rack.

bmc

I put the delan hitch on my RX8 today. The installation went smoothly, with only a minor ammount of drilling. The drilling of two small holes in the bottom of the frame rail wasn't bad. However, the enlarging of the side holes on the frame rails to get the bolt & back plate into the frame rail was not gonna happen with any of the bits I have.

You would need one of the stair step style bits that are $30 from sears in order to drill the whole like the instructions suggest. I bought one, but none of my drills, nor my dads chucks open up to a 1/2". So, a quick zip from a dremel and we widened the whole big enough to fit in the bolt and the backing plate.

The muffler's heat shield DOES rub against the hitch, but some steal braided tubing works great as a grommet to keep the heat shield from vibrating against the hitch.

With the enlarged hole we cut with the dremel, we patched it with two small squares of plastic and some silicone. It works great, and it didn't cost us a cent. That, and if/when I need to get back into the frame rail (aka, to take the hitch back out), I will only have to slice away the silicone. No frame rail rust for me, though with 17500 miles on it in 9 months, I doubt I'll have this car around long enough to notice any rust either way.

bmc

It worked just fine for me. I used the handle side of my socket, pushed down a small amount on the plastic and the clips went in just fine.

Why did you cut your carpet? When installing mine, the carpet came up just fine. No cutting of any carpet was needed, plus it was much easier to work with the carpet up and out of the way.

BritSti

That heat sheild can be bent to mold around the hitch very easily, I used a pair of pliers to bend it away for no contact... also if you have access to air, a air die grinder is the way to go to open up that hole on the frame rail.

S