So yes ... crazy

But I need a way to get stuff home from the store without having to pay Uhaul $100 for a truck every time I need to pick something up so...

Purchased a Trailer hitch its a Curt and a wiring kit.

I started working on the rear bumper .. just taking a look to find the nuts and my bumper is really rusted bad... chunks of it are coming off as i work under the car and I am concerned that if i take the bumper off to attach the hitch I am going to waste my bumper... and thats not going to be good.

We do have another car in the family but I really don't want my car off the road for weeks just because i had the brilliant idea to put a hitch on it.

So I have been searching and it seems that the Front Bumper Reinforcement is pretty easy to find but the rear reinforcement is hard to find.

the steel part

I don't really want to go with a junkyard one because its going to be rusty too... and searching is leading me to come up with only the OEM from Honda that includes everything for $500 ... wow crazy...

My bumper cover is fine .. I actually just painted it recently as i painted the whole car.. and the Styrofoam is still in there .. I can see it...

Does anyone know if i turn this into toast is there a source for a new rear bumper reinforcement for about $100...

I mean i would pay $100 but the fronts only cost $65 new on ebay or from an autoparts place online..

as you can guess if i am insane enough to put a hitch on it to save some money .. I am on a budget. .. but the car is nice so rust is not an option.. maybe $10 for a junkyard one but really .. you know .. anyway..

Your thoughts

your recommendations... about the bumper not the hitch heh

and have you gone through this and what should I expect?..

Have you replaced just the reinforcement and not the whole cover and foam.


the inside nuts look fine .. the outside ones look like i could torque them off with a wrench used on eye glasses... heh




thanks a lot guys

oh yea the hitch doesn't mount to the bumper it mounts to the bottom of the car... but i do have to take the bumper off to do this....

maybe i will take some pictures of me doing it if anyone is interested.

 

Junkyard is really the only way. Im sure you can find one that is in decent condition.

 

I have one that is brand new sitting in storage I would sell, but being in Canada shipping would probably cost quite a bit.

I suggest not putting a hitch on a CRX, they cant handle much weight, I tried the kurt hitch years ago and wasnt pleased

 

I dont think you should attach to the bumper. It held on with only 4 nuts through thin sheet metal. You may pull it right off the car. See if you can fabricate a brace to attach to the tow plates.

 

As I said the hitch does not .... NOT attach to the bumper
but you have to remove the bumper to attach it to the trunk wall.

Actually if I can get it installed there are quite a few people that have even towed vehicles and boats with this hitch..

however the problem I have is not mounting the hitch....

but the fact I have to remove the bumper at all

it is rusted and may fall apart


Yeah canada shipping would probably be $40

and junkyard like I said.. will be the last resort ..

 

A good hitch should bolt to the same holes used by the tow hooks on the frame rail.

I can't imagine even thinking of trusting a hitch that uses the bumper mounts.

 

I would use the other car in your family to put a hitch on. putting one on a crx is just asking for trouble.

 

gees depressing much? guys?

The hitch is made by Curt... they wouldnt make it if it wasn't going to work.



It mounts under the trunk not to the bumper.




Its rated at 1000 pounds but many people use it for even larger loads.

 

why do you need a new bumper reinforcement?

ramble much?

sounds like great advice....

 

The pic of the Crx pulling a Crx, that is not the kurt hitch, its custom

I also dont see myself drilling into my subframe anytime soon

 

That doesn't seem like the strongest place to mount a hitch. That sub-frame rips out. It would be better to mount where the rear tow hooks are.

 

^^^

You are not seeing the whole picture. That part is not supporting any weight, it's there to keep the hitch from being ripped off as you drive. The weight is being supported by the vertical piece that bolts to the rear frame of the car. The red CRX with the milling machine on the trailer is mine. I have towed even heavier loads with no problem at all. Still good after more than 5 years of towing all sorts of stuff.

 

so why does it need a new bumper reinforcement? im still confused about that from the OP, can you help clarify?

i'm sure it "works". i just dont think its all that smartly designed. and just saying its made and used doesnt make it "good".

but good luck. im happy to see CRX's used in all different ways.

 

Read much?

 

cool story bro.

theres plenty of non rusted ones in the junkyards in the southwest.

find a junkyard supplier.

 

That hitch does not touch the bumper, you do not need a bumper reinforcement to install it.
It bolts directly to the body of the car "behind" the rear bumper.

 

The guy towing that CRX with another CRX is obviously not very smart... I shouldn't need to elaborate on that.

You can tow JUST FINE with a CRX, just to put it out there. If you are towing over 750lbs, you need to have bigger brakes, upgraded clutch, and ANYTHING but a D series(no torque, should be self explanatory). The best Civic I ever saw towing anything was a 94 CX with a B20, B16 trans, better clutch, GSR 4 wheel disc brakes, and heavier springs on gas adjust shocks in the rear.

Just keep in mind that there is a lot more to towing than getting it moving...

 

^^^
If you do it for a living, sure, but to tow something every once in a while a D series is just fine. Never speed, don't follow too close, in fact give yourself PLENTY of room away from the car in front. Be careful distributing the load correctly, you don't want too much tongue weight or too much behind the axle. If you have been told you don't have common sense, you should not tow, with anything.

 

Yeah, you can pull stuff with a D series, but 750 lbs is really pushing its limits. You would struggle on hill takeoffs or maintaining speed up a steady grade, stuff like that.

 

Follow up and a warning to all prospective Curt Hitch buyers.

The hitch that I received from Curt was the 11590
It is listed as a direct fit for a Honda CRX 1990 which I have.

When I received it the inner 90deg angle iron that mounts to the cross member was intentionally welded at an 85degree angle to the hitch's main beam which runs from the cross member to a plate that mounts to the trunk plate and then carries the ball for the hitch.

I had concerns that I received a bad hitch so I called Curt and talked with a technician who looked up the build sheet / welding plans for the hitch and he assured me that 85degrees was correct.

The only consideration that I could give that 85deg angle was the fact that the tow hook is just off center at the bottom of the trunk.

After their assurance I felt maybe a structural engineer had made the revisement to the plans.. for that or some other reasonable reason.

Unfortunately so few people have these hitches and after trying to reach out to two people .. 1 here on honda-tech and one on another crx form I was unable to have a conversation with them before I was faced with an ultimatum to install the hitch.

I have a very ill family member and my windows of opportunity are nonexistent. To take a half a day to install the hitch was really pushing it as I am a primary care giver.

I was assured and given a copy of that weld sheet .. and told it is the proper design.

I installed the hitch after forcing it in place. It was not a good matchup however I split the difference and because the cross member bolts did line up along the center line of the cross member within an 1/8th of an inch I installed the hitch.

Now that I am thinking I probably just set myself up for a bent cross member down the line when I tow anything of any weight including just a few hundred pounds on top of a utility trailer.

I do not plan to use the hitch often however since i do not have access to any other vehicle that can move large items even if they are not heavy I had no choice. I could not mount a hitch on our other vehicle and I could not buy a different vehicle or afford to rent one.

I am not going to go into all of my personal situations...

However I needed this..

I had a very short time period to install it.

I was assured by Curt it was the correct part and designed to fit.

I must warn you until Curt changes their design I would not suggest you install this hitch unless you are in the unfortunate situation like myself and find yourself with no other option .... and that was my situation .. along with taking advice from a manufacturer...

I needed the hitch and I needed one that was built by a company because although i could probably welded up something myself if i ever had an accident they would definitely look at that as a factor. So I took their advice and used their hitch.

The way I see it that 85deg angle or 5degrees will result in enough pressure on one side of the hitch to eventually torque the frame enough to throw the car's rear alignment out of specs that can not be repaired easily.

Again I was and am still in an unfortunate situation because of my responsibilities to myself and my family... this was a necessity and the only other option was buying a car or truck and selling mine.. which is not an option to me.. I am lucky to have what I have .. it is a daily driver.. it is not a toy that I dump money in to or race.. its what gets me to the store to buy food and essentials.

So again .. think really really hard before you install a hitch that has anything but a 90deg on the cross member mount.. and unfortunately you aren't going to find a hitch out there thats built by a company and not some weld up pos design that has no liability by a company behind it...

Eventually I did speak to someone who owns a previous revision of this hitch .. it was after I had installed it.. It was their vehicle I saw online towing things with this hitch that made me believe I could solve a problem I have by installing this hitch.. I do not fault that person because their hitch was built to a prior design specc which was 90deg.. they had good and safe results with it.. and I thank them for their reply..

so

disheartened .. but without option.

I will just have to be very careful .. and from this point on consider my car something I won't be owning in the future.

 

Oh also since this post was also primarily about my bumper..

when I removed it it had a lot of surface rust and only a slight amount of bad rust.

I applied a rust converter called Rust Mort from SEM allowed it to dry and wiped off the excess then painted it with engine enamel.

Rust Mort is really a great product if you have rust you can't remove such as surface rust in pits .. it does a good job and you don't get bubbles later.