OEM Hitch Kit Installation - Pics Included

[LightWerkz]

Ordered the OEM Hitch kit from BMW of Bloomfield for $500 shipped on eBay. They had a pretty good deal. Came in just a few days later and I was amazed. The box was huge and weighed nearly 100lbs. Never thought it would be including a new bumper beam! Everything is extremely well made and heavy duty. If you are on the fence of going with a cheaper solution, dont even think about it, the OEM kit is the way to go. It bolts into the frame of the car and it's very well designed.

The kit came with everything needed to install. All you need is someone to help, in my case was my girlfriend, and about 3-5 hours of time. Took me about 5 hours to do everything. If I was to do it again, Im pretty confident I would be able to get it done in about 3-4 hours. My girlfriend just gave me a hand with taking the pictures and removing/installing the bumper and installing the new hitch kit (its heavy!).

Everything went pretty smooth. Since its all OEM, nothing really gave me trouble. Got everything setup properly and overall very happy with the outcome.

Now that the hitch is setup, im looking for a trailer to haul my E46 track car

[LightWerkz]

[LightWerkz]

[ninekrpm]

nice work dude!!!

what type of trailer are you looking at?

[N S]

very nice. any suggestions / or things you'd do differently?

[JCAPX5]

I had done the same a few months ago, and agree for sure the OEM hitch and wiring is the way to go. Fit's like a glove and there are a few tips I would give from my experience. Some are obvious but if it helps at all...

1 - Definitly need two people, although only for a few steps with the bumper removal/install.

2 - Take care to get as much of the wire from the electrical connector out through the hole in the rear of the car towards the back of the car. Having the cable taught will help you have the electrical connections out back by the hitch properly aligned and straight. The wire on ours was quite a tight fit and another member posted his OEM hitch install earlier and his wasn't straight at all. Forgive my lack of terminology, but I'm talked about the electrical connection out back by the "receiver" of the hitch where you would plug in the wiring from your trailer. This piece has the potential to be not installed "straight" or level if the wiring into the back of the X by the spare is too tight.

3 - Take care when installing the bumper back on the X. Many people feel they have a larger gap in between the top of the bumper and the bottom of the hatch after a hitch install. The bumer has some "guides" on either side near the wheel wells. make sure your bumper fits into/onto those guides when you re-install the hitch.

4 - Make sure you have 4-6 hours and don;t do it at night without good lighting like I did!

5 - Make sure you DIY this one! Paying a dealer $1200 when you can buy the OEM hitch kit for $450 and do it yourslef is a no-brainer. Many of us have done this for the first time on our X5's and have got it done. It takes a few hours, but isn't very difficult.

Good luck...the X5 tows like a champ!

[JCAPX5]

Oh that second pic was not quite as good as I thought! Sorry!

[cat97628]

mods add this to the tips section. this is a great writeup. I was stuck and cursing like a mad man until I found this gem. the other write ups are great but missing some details that these picture cleared up rather quickly for me. Thanks OP you saved my butt from the wife.

[tomcat]

So pi$$ed off right now! I'm doing this and the long bolts' heads do not fit into the slots on the bumper mount. The shorter ones do, so I guess it's the bolts fault (they have different markings from the rest). Contemplating riding my bike (as in self propelled) in the possible rain to get replacements that will hopefully work. I have had a few snafus and will be posting pics here later.

Scott