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Towing w/ A coupe?


dome24
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So i have a 97 coupe that ive upgraded the struts/coiils with 99 Forester units, Im wondering if i could tow a pop up trailer with the car, ive seen obs and leggys with hitches but never a coupe. With the coil swap i gained 3-4 inches of lift in the rear, the trailer weighs around 13-1400# with a 2" hitch.

 

Thanks for any help

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i think the car could pull 2500 lbs with no sweat. i have done 35oo lbs but i would only recommend it if you reall y know what you are doing!

 

if its an automatic you should get a trans cooler. you can get one at u-haul

 

the car could pull better than 3500 if the trailer had electric brakes. you would need a brake control unit and a 7-way harness

 

most receiver hitches are rated for 200-3500 lb, the ones i install on subarus is 3500 so make sure the drawbar and ball are rated for that much

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Do you know of any manufactuers of hitches for the coupe?

Im swapping the brakes for leg gt units on all corners, with new wheel bearings:banana: , sorry thats one of my fears that a wheel will fall off from a ceased bearing, it happend 2x on my festiva. but the new breaks are gonna be great and help with the control.

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i have seen hidden hitch brand on subaru. a lot of your manufacturers are going to be valley or thule which i believe are the same manufacture

 

the hitch is available for the wagon as it replaced the tow hook mounts. on the wagon its flat where on the coupe/sedan the roll pan curves up and you would have to make an angle bracket to make this fit.

 

the other style fits between the bumper on a wagon but the wagon bumper bolts on different than the sedan/coupe.

 

both these styles are reciever hitches

 

the hitch on my sedan was taken from an ea81 wagon and re configuresd tyong in with the bumper and the floor of the trunk.

 

you could go to u-haul and ask too see the itch pro and eye up one of the class one hitches that bolt thru the floor of the trunk, and get creative with the mounting.

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i would not really recommend getting a hitch from u-haul. not sure about the states, but here when you get a hitch from u-haul you get a choice of 4 hitches...

 

when they install a hitch they choose one of the 4 and make it fit. now to me this is complete insanity. the hitch going on the impreza would be the same as the one going on a jetta, echo, cobalt, ect ect... hidden hitch makes one specifically for the 97 impreza. part # 60823...

 

from what it looks like there is no difference for the hitch when it comes to the impreza however i can double check that on monday with my supplier and see what is available for the it... these cars a rated for towing 1800lbs i believe and the hitch is a class 1 (2000lbs). should be fine for a tent trailor...:)

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hidden hitch makes one specifically for the 97 impreza. part # 60823...

 

from what it looks like there is no difference for the hitch when it comes to the impreza however i can double check that on monday with my supplier and see what is available for the it... these cars a rated for towing 1800lbs i believe and the hitch is a class 1 (2000lbs). should be fine for a tent trailor...:)

 

Please keep me posted on what you find out about the coupe fittment. I will be all over this :clap:

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i would not really recommend getting a hitch from u-haul. not sure about the states, but here when you get a hitch from u-haul you get a choice of 4 hitches...

 

when they install a hitch they choose one of the 4 and make it fit. now to me this is complete insanity. the hitch going on the impreza would be the same as the one going on a jetta, echo, cobalt, ect ect... hidden hitch makes one specifically for the 97 impreza. part # 60823...

 

 

this is not entirely true.

for one, u-haul is the largest by volume retailer of hitch installation anywhere.

 

second, the hitch inventory is comprised of the top manufactures such as valley, curt, cequent, thule, everything but reese. reese is bottom of the shelf wal-mart.

 

third, hidden hitch is a brand name of draw-tite which is vendored by valley which is manufactured by thule. its all the same, just with a u-haul sticker. the hardware kits are supplied by fasten-all

 

the drop menus on my computer include ferarri and lamborghini for the hitch matrix.

 

fourth, a cobalt, volkswagon, and what have you all have their own hitch made for that specific vehicle. if there are any variations of the same platform the hardware kit will include the bolts for several applications for the same vehicle. something like a chevy truck or van my have up to 6 different hitches available for that platform according to the type of bumper, length of bed, weight class and receiver size.

 

fifth, i bet the part number you have there is the same part number with u-haul

 

sixth, i work there and install them all day long!

 

now, if you dont trust the competency of the hitch pro at your local u-haul, that doesnt mean the part is no good and you cant put it on yourself. but have fun doing so without an inverted drill press, ramps, and a jack made for hitch installation.

 

if you have any questions, want a quote or need a part number call me at work 608-221-4277. Right Equipment at the Lowest Cost, Guaranteed!

 

oh yeah, and one more thing, at least you canadians get the turbo diesels for the 14 foot rental truck while we get gas models.

 

and with my previous reply i was referring to ea series. i have installed hitches on the last 3 generations of subaru legacy.

 

and the class of hitch available (class 1 up to 200 lbs, class 2 up to 35oo lbs, class 3 up to 5000 lbs) depends more on how it bolts up to the vehicle more so than the construction of the hitch or the power of the tow vehicle. u-haul will approve a tow dolly on a 3500 lb hitch so long as the vehicle in tow is no more than 3000 lbs on a 500 lb tow dolly.

 

i could go on all day

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didn't mean to make a fuss. i work for rack attack. (hitch and rack specialists;))

 

all the uhaul places i've been to locally have been super sketch... i've had customers come in with uhaul hitches and seen some of the stuff they do. bare metal access holes, hitches that aren't designed for the car, exposed wiring, wires just twisted together then taped, ect ect... however from what it sounds like you know what you're talking about so i think the places in the states are much better.

 

my drop menus have ferarri and lamborghini in it too...:-p

 

we actually recently put a hitch on a prowler. the guy had a utility trailor made out of the back end of another prowler... was kinda cool.

 

i to, sell and install this stuff all day long...(that and roof racks)

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This is a semi-related quesiton. 95 Subaru Legacy Sedan, and all the sites selling hitches offer Class II hitches for my car. However, I'm in need of a Class III hitch in order to use a hitch-haul on my Legacy. There are these really cool hitch-hauls to use to with off-road motorcycles, but they require a Class III hitch. The bike is 249 lbs dry, so it's probably 275 wet, and then the hitch-haul is another 30 lbs, so that's 305 lbs, which exceeds a class II hitch limit of 300lb tongue-weight.

 

What are my options for this? A class III will support 350+, but it's not offered for my Legacy. Can I beef up a class II so it will suffice?

 

Much thanks in advance!

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the hitch for a gen 2 legacy ties in with thru-bolt on one of the factory tow hooks, and bolts ino twhere the other tow hook bolts onto

 

generally tongue weight is 10 percent of the rated capacity. so in theory that would allow 350 lbs. although the hitch is likely stamped with a 300 lb tongue weight.

 

i wouldnt worry about the extra 5 pounds.

 

there would not be a 2 inch receiver available for this car, but there are adapters. but the adapters will increase the leverage on the setup

 

if anything you oculd try to beef up the rear suspension with coil boosters or helper springs

 

if you hitch is from u-haul the warranty will replace it even if damaged from overloading

 

really the way to go wold be to tuy in some guy wires or something similar to supprt the weight of the hitch-haul platform to somewhere off the back of the top of the car

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the hitch for a gen 2 legacy ties in with thru-bolt on one of the factory tow hooks, and bolts ino twhere the other tow hook bolts onto

 

generally tongue weight is 10 percent of the rated capacity. so in theory that would allow 350 lbs. although the hitch is likely stamped with a 300 lb tongue weight.

 

i wouldnt worry about the extra 5 pounds.

 

there would not be a 2 inch receiver available for this car, but there are adapters. but the adapters will increase the leverage on the setup

 

if anything you oculd try to beef up the rear suspension with coil boosters or helper springs

 

if you hitch is from u-haul the warranty will replace it even if damaged from overloading

 

really the way to go wold be to tuy in some guy wires or something similar to supprt the weight of the hitch-haul platform to somewhere off the back of the top of the car

 

:banana: Thanks for the info! I'll put some loops on the back side of the roof to allow me to offset a few pounds using guy-wires as you suggested, run with a class II hitch, and then get an adaptor. :) Woot!

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:banana: Thanks for the info! I'll put some loops on the back side of the roof to allow me to offset a few pounds using guy-wires as you suggested, run with a class II hitch, and then get an adaptor. :) Woot!

 

guy-wires? don't you mean guide-wires? and another thing, am I reading correctly that you're going to re-route some of the weight on the hitch to your roof? I am sorry, but sounds like a stupid plan, don't overload a hitch or your car, that is asking for trouble

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  • 2 weeks later...
guy-wires? don't you mean guide-wires? and another thing, am I reading correctly that you're going to re-route some of the weight on the hitch to your roof? I am sorry, but sounds like a stupid plan, don't overload a hitch or your car, that is asking for trouble

 

i meant guy wires, like what you see holding utility poles in place, that is wat they do.

 

the idea is to stabilize the platform. its not a stupid idea. i am more or less suggesting ideas based on the fact that i install hitches all day and put on coil springs, towed subarus with subarus and am knowledgeable with towing systems.

 

300 lbs is not necessarily overloading a subaru

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i meant guy wires, like what you see holding utility poles in place, that is wat they do.

 

the idea is to stabilize the platform. its not a stupid idea. i am more or less suggesting ideas based on the fact that i install hitches all day and put on coil springs, towed subarus with subarus and am knowledgeable with towing systems.

 

300 lbs is not necessarily overloading a subaru

 

alright, if you know what you're doing, I'll shut up :)

 

it just sounded wrong in my opinion, but I misunderstood what the wires were really for (I thought they carried a part of the weight, instead of just stabilizing it)

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