Draw-tite 76919 Hidden Hitch installed

[johndenver]

Installed yesterday, install very simple. Basiclly this hitch looks exactly like the factory euro hitch, but the main cross tube is square instead of round. The attachment/release system is identical to the euro version, im going to order the ball part from europe as im sure it will fit.

The hitch comes with the attachment part in a nice case...once attached it gives you a 2" receiver. Of course for most trailers your going to need a rise hitch to go in it, and make sure its one of the angled ones so it clears the back of the car. I went with a 8" rise, to be at the same height as my Raptors hitch since all my trailers are setup for it.

For wiring you need: Draw Tite 118840 T-One T-Connector Harness. Plugs right into factory harness.

You can grab power for the lighting unit off the cig lighter plug in the rear of the trunk area. The purple is hot.

I HIGHLY recomend for the trailer connector wire you run it up into the trunk (Easy to do through a rubber plug under the strofoam compressor holder thing). DO NOT, and i repeat, DO NOT have the trailer connector wire come out by the hitch. Doing this is a sure bet it will get coroded and damaged. Leave it in the trunk and drape it out and close the trunk on it when using it. This way it always is clean and protected. (Done hitches on every vehicle i own for 25 years, and this is ALWAYS the best way to do the wiring if its a car).

Going to test this weekend towing my UTV on a trailer. Total weight about 2,800 lbs. Pics will follow!

--John

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[MONDO]

Pictures would be helpful.

 

[johndenver]

I got better than that, heres the video. Including towing 2,400 lbs through the Colorado Mountains!

 

[MachEMaster]

You can tow with this thing!?

 

[Mach-Lee]

I got better than that, heres the video. Including towing 2,400 lbs through the Colorado Mountains!

That's not very wise. You're grossly exceeding the tongue weight limit on the Mach-E. The limit is only 132 lbs and you probably have almost 1000 lbs of tongue weight on it with that trailer. The metal the hitch is bolted into is very thin, you're probably about to rip the washers out through the metal. The bolts ripping out has happened to several people that installed hitches and overloaded them. So your hitch is liable to rip out of the frame with that kind of loading.

Look how thin the frame metal is. Probably only a couple mm thick.:

FYI that's the European hitch with the black doubler installed inside to increase clamping area. US hitches don't provide this, so the clamping area is much less, consequently the thin metal is much more likely to tear under load.

2200 lbs at a maximum speed of 60 MPH with the 132 lb tongue weight limitation is all I would do with the Mach-E (unofficially). The little frame just isn't beefy enough to handle more safely.

 

[johndenver]

Tongue weight is 184lbs, measured on a scale. You can lift the tongue by hand yourself. Where you got 1000 lbs from I don’t know. Heck, the entire UTV is only 1800 lbs! Most of the weight of the UTV is in the rear.

Drawtite has rated the hitch for 200lbs tongue weight, so they are the ones liable if you have issues. However since I’m so far under their rating, I’m way good.

my towing with the Mach e is well within their limits. I do plan on loading a trailer to the exact limits they specify and testing with that.

As an engineer myself I know the strength of different materials. I estimate it would take well over 2000 lbs of static force to rip the attachment part, considering surface area of the hardware placed into the frame. But that’s static weight. On the road it would take a lot less with movement from bumps. lbs is a good safe number from Drawtite.

quote from drawtite web site:

CAPACITY: This Class III hitch is rated for up to 3,500 pounds GTW and up to 200 pounds TW.

(Edited to correct numbers as I was mistaken at first)
—John

That's not very wise. You're grossly exceeding the tongue weight limit on the Mach-E. The limit is only 132 lbs and you probably have 1000 lbs of tongue weight on it with that trailer. The metal the hitch is bolted into is very thin, you're probably about to rip the washers out through the metal. The bolts ripping out has happened to several people that installed hitches and overloaded them. So your hitch is liable to rip out of the frame with that kind of loading.

Look how thin the frame metal is. Probably only a couple mm thick.:

FYI that's the European hitch with the black doubler installed inside to increase clamping area. US hitches don't provide this, so the clamping area is much less, consequently the thin metal is much more likely to tear under load.

2200 lbs at a maximum speed of 60 MPH with the 132 lb tongue weight limitation is all I would do with the Mach-E (unofficially). The little frame just isn't beefy enough to handle more safely.



No, not approved in the USA. He'll be liable for any damages when it rips itself out from the frame.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Tongue weight is 184lbs, measured on a scale. You can lift the tongue by hand yourself. Where you got 1000 lbs from I don’t know. Heck, the entire UTV is only 1800 lbs! Most of the weight of the UTV is in the rear.

Drawtite has rated the hitch for 200lbs tongue weight, so they are the ones liable if you have issues. However since I’m so far under their rating, I’m way good.

my towing with the Mach e is well within their limits. I do plan on loading a trailer to the exact limits they specify and testing with that.

As an engineer myself I know the strength of different materials. I estimate it would take well over 2000 lbs of static force to rip the attachment part, considering surface area of the hardware placed into the frame. But that’s static weight. On the road it would take a lot less with movement from bumps. lbs is a good safe number from Drawtite.

quote from drawtite web site:

CAPACITY: This Class III hitch is rated for up to 3,500 pounds GTW and up to 200 pounds TW.

(Edited to correct numbers as I was mistaken at first)
—John

I guess I don’t know the weight distribution of those off road UTV things, it must be pretty heavy in the rear to get the tongue weight that low.

So with the ripping out, think about a 1g panic braking event and a 2-3x safety factor for shock loads. If you slam on the brakes, you could have a shock of 4000+ lbs trying to rip the hitch off.

The hitch ratings are misleading because that is the weight the hitch itself is designed to handle, not the rating of the assembly (hitch+frame). The fine print says “do not exceed vehicle manufacturer weight rating”, which is 0 lbs in the USA and the figure I cited previously in Europe. The hitch itself might be rated for 3500 lbs, but the thing it’s bolted to is only rated for ~2000 lbs. Think about that carefully during a shock load situation before you consider trying to max it out.

In Europe the maximum tongue weight is 4%, vs. 10-15% here. Because the Mach-E was only designed to tow there, you have to keep the tongue weight really low.

 

[generaltso]

Drawtite has rated the hitch for 200lbs tongue weight, so they are the ones liable if you have issues.

I'm not sure an attorney would agree.

 

[johndenver]

So your saying, when Drawtite guarantees and warranty's a hitch on a particular vehicle, they are not liable if the hitch is used within those limits. That would mean, any product made, no company holds responcibility for. This of course is not true, i think we all agree on this.

Drawtites testing procedure includes a mock vehicle, stress testing on that mock vehicle, then real world testing. The hitch has been out for well over a year now, i think its proven itself.

Also keep in mind these ratings are *normally* 3x less than what the hitch can actually handle. Being in the business of selling other towing products, and dealing with drawbar MFGs, this has been explained to my by them, and how they get their weight ratings.

If you really feel Drawtites rating is not safe, possibly you should contact drawtite and tell them their engineers are wrong.

--John

 

[generaltso]

So your saying, when Drawtite guarantees and warranty's a hitch on a particular vehicle, they are not liable if the hitch is used within those limits.

Drawtite (and every hitch manufacturer) also says not to exceed the maximum tow rating of your vehicle. Obviously, they're selling it for this purpose, but I wouldn't want to test their legal liability in court.

 

[johndenver]

Very true. When i get a chance i will pull the bumper and make then add some brackets in there (like the euopean hitch) so it can distribute the weight over more surface area of the steel.

The max GTW rating in Europe for 2'3 is 3306 lbs as far as i can tell....

In the US the fact that ford doesnt give any rating may actually be a good thing for liability, as curt and the other hitch MFGs are giving the number out and thats the only number to go by.

--John

 

[johndenver]

Guys, i was way off on numbers. My old numbers on my trailer were based on a different UTV, this one was way different! Also i was wrong on hitch rating.

Hitch Rating:
Max Trailer Weight: 3,500 lbs
Max Tongue Weight: 350 lbs.

With the new UTV my trailer actually has over double the tongue weight. It showed 450 lbs on the scale, so, about 100 lbs over the hitch rating. It was pretty rough on the last trip towing, but when i removed bumper there was no damage....i didnt expect damage from going 100lbs over, but just FYI for you guys. That said, at 450 lbs and knowing i will be towing frequently with the car i wanted to re-enforce this hitch at the weak point (Frame Rails). I looked at the european hitch, then at the stainless hitch to see how they get their 525 lb tongue rating.

They tie into the side of the frame rail, and into the bumper mounting pad. I did just that, in what i feel is a much better way then they did it.

Jumped into autocad and came up with a design, ran it on the CNC in the shop, and installed. My hitch is defiantly good for 500 lbs now.

 

[nIceWhite]

For wiring you need: Draw Tite 118840 T-One T-Connector Harness. Plugs right into factory harness.

This part doesn't seem to be available anywhere. "Out of Stock" or "Discontinued" at every vendor I've seen.

 

[johndenver]

I see what you mean, glad i got mine when it was in stock! Defiantly not discontinued, many sellers on ebay selling it with the hitch as a package...

 

[737flyer]

I installed a drawtite hitch several months ago and lost about about 80% of my auto rear liftgate function. Has any one had the same problem?

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