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I ordered the Three Brothers 2" hitch from eBay after reading the thread linked below. The reason I got that over the Draw-Tite, U-haul (Draw-tite) or Genuine Saab hitches was that it was 2", and I already had a 2" Thule bike rack (923 Rak-n-lock). The seller was good to deal with and answered all questions promptly.
The hitch though, is another story. It looked and smelled like it was finished with hi-temp barbecue paint. Oh well. When I went to fit it, I was unable to do so- 3 bolts did not reach, missing by about 1/4" inch each. I could try and return it, ask for another one, or fix it myself. I chose to do fix it.
I bypassed the top bolt, and re-drilled the 2 bolts that attach to the bumper reinforcement. I put in the bottom two bolts in first, and jacked it up to fit the middle two. Again, I skipped the top bolt, it would not reach.
When I stand on the rack, I can see the bumper deflect. Good thing I will not be doing any towing with this. Due to the reduced strength, I drilled another tongue attachment hole to put the bike rack about 1.5" closer to the vehicle, as close as I can get without clearance issues.
In the end, it holds the bike rack just fine (yet to be road tested), but the overall quality seems very poor, mostly because of fitment issues. Granted, I bought the car used, and it may have had a bumper incident that bent something (but I don't think so). I wanted a 2" hitch and now I have one.
...I should have just learned to weld and made my own from a draw-tite hitch...
posted by 68.60.234...
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