Trailer Hitch Finally Installed

[motoguy128]

I recieved my trailer hitch this week from e-trailer.com. It bolts to the tow hook on the right, and passes under the muffler. You have to drill a 1" hole in the frame rail so you can pass a carriage bolt and rectangular washer inside the frame rail. It's a little tricky... but if you follow the instructions closely... it's not too bad. The hitch doesn't sit any lower than the muffler so rear clearance doesn't change much. I still need ot install hte wiring. I'm having trouble finding the correct wires to splice into. I might need to get a service manual... or just wire all lights as running light's only. It's just a small 200 trailer I use to tow my motorcycle... so the taillights are visible from behind.

I loaded up my motorcycle and went for a test drive. It's about 800lbs total weight. The Versa towed very well I liked it better than my 4 cylinder Accord. The 6 speed's nice low 1st gear and close gear spacing give it plennty of power. There isn't much bounce from the rear suspension, and the brakes have plenty of power. Actually it makes the car more stable on the freeway and ride smoother. I think 1500lbs is possible without any trouble, 2000lbs possible, but trailer brakes would be recommended. The motor has low enough gearing and plenty of torque. Definitely better than my '03 Corolla, which was rated for 1500lbs.

Overseas, the Tiida, is rated for 500kg (1100lbs) without brakes and 1000kg (2200lbs) with brakes. I think in the US, the lawyers decided, that only trucks and midsized or full size family sedans should be used for towing.

[Althalus]

I'm pretty sure I saw in the manual that you shouldn't tow anything behind he versa...but that could've been just for the CVT

[Ever Victorious]

Or for the lawyers' sake. Technically you're not supposed to dolly-tow a vehicle on anything less than a 3/4 ton truck. But I've done it with an old 1/2 ton Chevy truck with no problems.

[proxim2020]

Congrats on being the first person to tow anything behind a V

[c5neb]

I'd like to see some pix of the hitch on your V. Any possibility?

[motoguy128]

I took some pictures tonight, but I need to get them uploaded. I did notice one flaw in the design. The paint isn't high temp rated, and the exhaust heat has burnt off some of the paint right around the exhaust pipe. I did notice it sags from the weight of the tongue. The plus side is this dampens slightly the high frequency trailer vibrations.

[Cyclonicks]

how long until we see the pics? :p

I want to install one on my versa for the same purpose as you.. to tow my motorcycle:D

[motoguy128]

Sorry, I borrowed the camera from someone and need to get the USB interface cable to upload the photos. I wish you could just plug a thumbdrive into all carmeras and use a built in file transfer utility.

Right now there's been a backorder.. so you might want ot order it anyway if you need it. It looks pretty similar to most "hidden" hitches. It's not really hidden, but it doesn't stick out too much.

[motoguy128]

Rear view

It was getting dark, so it's hard to see. The only strange thing compared to most installations is that it is assymetrical because it uses the tow hook for the right side mount.


Modified by motoguy128 at 8:21 PM 11/12/2006

[motoguy128]

right view from below

[motoguy128]

Left side

[motoguy128]

The only issue I have is that the hot exhaust gases bake the paint behind the exhaust pipe. I'm going to take some high temp black or red RTV sealant and smear it over the affected area.


Modified by motoguy128 at 9:22 PM 5/13/2007

[proxim2020]

It looks good. Nice and subtle. If you believe it's the exhaust gases, you may want to just extend the tailpipe so that the gases dump out closer to the ground or further back. It would look better than blobs of sealant.

[motoguy128]

Update...

Here's a photo of my Versa hooked up and ready to roll. We're leaving Sunday for our honeymoon to Colorado. Hindsight, I should have bought a larger trailer, but I've customized this little one to fit my needs. I have some trouble getting enough tongue weight, especially with the cases on the motorcycle. It only has about 50lbs of tongue weight. To compensate, I have a nifty air hitch that works pretty well at isolating the trailer vibrations and smoothing out the trailer motions, and I installed a simple sway control bar (without a weight distributing hitch, which you cannot use on a Class I). It works great. The short, narrow trailer wiht high center of gravity and low tongue weight, makes it want ot sway pretty bad with any steering input. But the sway control bar keeps the motions minimized.

Overall it tows nicely at 70mph on the freeway. 75 or even 80 is possible, but I'd hate to see how much gas I'd be using, I don't like pushing the trailer bearings that hard and most inclines will require downshifting with the A/C on. 70 is nice too because hte motor is a little smooth at that speed than at 65 or even 60 where there's a little bit of resonance.

I can;t seem ot figure out how it attach a photo anymore.

[RochesterRhinos]

Hey everyone,

Rather than start a new thread on this I thought I'd just add on to this one. I'm planning on taking a 2600 mile road trip over the course of 11 days with my Versa hatchback CVT. In an effort to seat 5 people and carry all of our luggage and other assorted crap we're debating what we should do to increase the cargo capacity of the Versa. Option 1 is to get a rack on top of it with a cargo box, but that is proving to be quite costly ($550 in some places!), Option B is to put a trailer hitch on it and tow a 4x6 U-Haul trailer behind it.

My questions to my Versa Community would be:

1) Is this something that the Versa CVT can/should do for this amount of time? Vehicle specs check out with the type of trailer I'd get from U-Haul, I just wanted to see if it would be reccomended from experienced Versa drivers before I check with my dealership during it's tune-up this Saturday.

2) What would the cost associated with putting a trailer hitch on this baby be? Any ballparks?

3) (Failing favorable answers to Questions one and two)...does anyone have a rooftop cargo box they could part with on the cheap?

[motoguy128]

U haul trailers are too heavy. I can now tell you from experience, that you don't want to tow more than 800-1000lbs.

One option that might work well is to get a cargo carrier that goes into a the reciever hitch. It's a simple platform that you can load cargo on. You can get a rain cover or purchase one that includes a plastic lockable enclosure to put the luggage in. You can put up to 200lbs on/in there, so that should cover maybe 3 suit cases or some other misc. cargo.

I can also tell you from expereince that this car rides and drives great when loaded down, even with the rear suspension almost bottomed out it's still stable and very smooth on the freeway.

[ThirstyRoss]

U haul trailers are too heavy. I can now tell you from experience, that you don't want to tow more than 800-1000lbs.

Too bad. We used to tow a Boler trailer with VW Rabbits when I was younger, and they (the trailer) weigh in at about 1300lbs (pretty sure they don't have brakes, either).

Was considering doing the same with our V (thinking that surely a 2007 Versa can tow more than a 1980 VW Rabbit??) but after reading this thread it seems unwise.

Damn shame.

EDIT: Fixed a typo in the trailer weight.

[matt_a]

I hope you guys realize that when the owner's manual says not to tow with a Versa, if you do it, it can void your warranty. If you have any type of drivetrain problems, they can refuse to repair them by claming that the towing put undue stress on the car.
Modified by matt_a at 10:33 AM 8/13/2007

[Ever Victorious]

That consideration has been brought up. More or less it's just a way of Nissan to play it safe here in the NA. If you look at manuals for various countries overseas, Nissan has rated the TIIDA to tow roughly 1000 in just about everywhere else in the world.

But yes, tow at your own risk.

[R123]

Has anyone been able to find an after market trailer light hook up system for the Versa. I have a Hidden Hitch installed and it is fine. However, no luck in getting a trailer light plug installed.

[Woogie]

If you're just looking to tow cargo, I'd go with the roof rack with a basket or cargo box instead.

Hitches aren't cheap either. I called around for my mom awhile ago about putting a trailer hitch on her Aerostar van, and was quoted around $250 plus extra for wiring. I don't know if I would trust a bolted on trailer hitch, either. The last thing you want is for the hitch to fall off when you're towing. Welding is the only safe, permanent way to attach a hitch IMHO.

[motoguy128]

Bolted on hitches attach in the same place you would weld on a hitch. The only way it's comming off is for the bolts to shear. For Class I, II, or III a bolt on frame hitch is perfectly fine and you'll find that most OEM hitches such as those for small SUV's and minivans are bolted on as well, not welded.

For the wiring. I used a Drawtite wiring adapter. This type uses a seperate fused power source and isolates the signals for the car's lights, so they aren't powering the trailer and a short circuit in the trailer cannot affect the car's electrical system.

I use a mini fuse splitter connected to the accessory circuit on the fuse block on hte drivers side under the dash. I then fished the using a stretched out coat hanger along the door panels and under the rear seat into the rear wheel well. I made my connection by removing the access panels to the tail lights. I fed the connection for the right turn signal under the lip of the tailgate to the left tail light. I pushed the adapter box inside the space behind the panel and cut a notch out of the left tail light cover to allow room for the 4 wire pigtail.

As I said before, the car tows up ot 1000lbs without any problems and still gets about 26-30mpg (about 3-5 less than normal) in freeway driving at about 65-70mph. Wiht my set-up using a single sway bar and with the proper 15% tongue weight, the car is actually more stable in a straight line and less affected by corsswinds. I'm also using an air ride hitch which isolates about 80% of the trailer motion and vibration.

I towed my new BMW motorcycle 200 miles this weekend. the motorcycle is 630lbs wet, and the trailer is about 290lbs, so it's about 920lbs total. It towed beautifully! I only had to use 5th gear up steeper hills and could cruise 70 without any problem.

I hope the Hidden Hitch works better for others. They claimed I was the only one that had a problem. The Curt is a defnite imrpovement, better paint job and the reciever is inset further.... although a litle more expensive.

[ThirstyRoss]

Thanks for the extra feedback!

[R123]

Thanks for the Information !Which model did you use: the Modu-Lite?How did you connect to all those wires going to each tail light? Did you use special connectors or cut & splice?If you have any photos of the hook-up they would be much appreciatedCheers

[bennyal]

Thank you all for info and photos. Currently gathering info on a hitch for a 2008 Versa 6M. I have decided to get the Curt from etrailer. I will like to know as well about what draw tite connection to get for the wiring.