OEM Tow Hitch in Stock?

[LVP]

Mine was at Serpa BMW - had to drive 1.5h for it. Not sure where BMW of Ontario is though. My box was pretty old. I made the service kid go and physically put his hands on it and open it up to make sure it wasn't just an inventory left over .

[Riggodeaux]

LVP< actually, the list might be Ontario, California, from the zip code given. I'm not surprised that yours' had some dust on the box; I didn't make a note of the date on mine's box, but it had been in the store room at the Athens GA dealer for several years [I'm vaguely recalling pre-2010, maybe 2008?]

[mopes]

My local dealer ended up tracking one down. BMW Murray in SLC, Utah.

Now just gotta install it...

[Riggodeaux]

Congrats, Mopes. A couple of the steps are tricky. Read the instructions and the long, detailed thread carefully before you attempt the install. Make sure you install the two bumper mounts with the vertical rods long end down, and take care with the backup sensors wiring - easy to pull the wires out of the sensors. And note how the plastic caps mount on the ends of the bumper bracket in your existing bracket. The mount is counterintuitive. Finally, you may need to hit your dealer to reprogram to recognize the hitch. Also, get the 'official' OEM ball shaft from your dealer or ECS - its hard to find one short enough to meet the BMW specs aftermarket [important for load bearing if you are going to tow close to the 6k max]. The OEM hitch setup is pretty highly engineered to distribute the load on our unibody vehicles.

[mopes]

Thanks for the tips, already have the guides bookmarked. Can't wait to get the bike rack on, been sitting in my garage for months waiting...

4 bike rack and self leveling suspension should be an awesome combo for road trips to moab and the like.

[Riggodeaux]

Mopes, I envy your location. We were in SLC a couple weekends ago for a family wedding [service at Red Butte Gardens?, uphill from the U], and drove up to Park City one night for dinner. You live in a very nice city! We hope to make another trip back and drive down to Moab & the national parks to hike, etc. Majestic country ....

[David.X5]

FYI - Both BMW of Fairfax and Tomkinson BMW told me the hitch kit (71600009711) is NLA yesterday. Will keep trying other sources...

[spongerich]

I checked a couple places based on Riggodeaux's list. BMW of Bloomfield checked the national inventory and wasn't able to come up with anything. She said that the wiring harness is orderable, but not in stock anywhere. I already ordered one but it's backordered for 12 weeks. I really don't want to go aftermarket on the wiring, but I really don't want to wait 3 months for my trailer.

[LVP]

Originally Posted by spongerich

I checked a couple places based on Riggodeaux's list. BMW of Bloomfield checked the national inventory and wasn't able to come up with anything. She said that the wiring harness is orderable, but not in stock anywhere. I already ordered one but it's backordered for 12 weeks. I really don't want to go aftermarket on the wiring, but I really don't want to wait 3 months for my trailer.

I would highly recommend the OE wiring harness and module. Even if you can find used at a wreckers it's better than some of the aftermarket hack wiring. ECS has pics that show all of what you would need to scrounge from a wreckers.

[crystalworks]

Hmmm... we bought ours with a hitch installed... will have to check if it's oem now.