The only downfall would be in the extreme weight pulling cases. I am sure that the aftermarket can do the job to moderate level of what the OE one can. But the way that the O.E. hitch distributes and handles load differs than the aftermarket ones. The O.E. one has hitch mounts that go into the unibody frame rails. The aftermarket ones just bolt to the exterior shell of the unibody. In repeated uses of towing over time the affects of the weight could tear up the unibody structure (in areas of seam welding in back). With the mounts that go into the frame rail you effectively change the distribution of the towed weight to where there is more structure to handle it. If West Failia coukld have built the hitch like the aftermarket ones and get the same results in output then they would have went this route and save some developmental costs. I waited and found an OE hitch and glad I did. I do not want to put 5500-6000+ pounds behind me and not have it properly managed.

I have pulled 5,000 lbs or so behind my 3.0L [horse trailer with horses, flat bed with hay] equipped with the OEM westfalia I installed circa March? 2014. The 3.0 is underpowered for this function, at least for rolling/hilly country, but manageable given I have a manual tranny to downshift. No way I'd pull that load on anything but the OEM

Same here. I pulled an E36 behind my E53 through the Smokeys with my 3.0 6MT and definitely needed to downshift on the hills. Usually 5th would do it, but had to go to 4th on the big ones. BUT, I will say that it was still very capable and had plenty of power to keep me at 70-80 most of the way.

They cheap standard eBay hitches will work...but if you are towing long-haul, at heavy loads, then it might be worth it to hang out til you find an OEM hitch.

I haven't read of after market hitch failure...just that the aftermarkets don't seem as sturdy as OEM...

They are definitely not as thoroughly designed and sturdy as an OEM Westfalia hitch. I went through this debate process for a year before finally finding an OEM hitch. I debated the risks of using an aftermarket hitch with fewer connecting points, and while a quality multi-point hitch like a CURT hitch would tow most things you'd ever want to tow, I would NOT trust it to tow a car or anything near/over 5000 pounds gross. It may do it, but what if you have to avoid a collision, have to make an emergency maneuver, or you have a mechanical failure at one of the two connecting points and the hitch fails? If the hitch disembarks your vehicle it will end up an uncontrollable, high speed, and deadly projectile on the roadway. Not worth the risk IMO.

If you use a lighter duty aftermarket hitch, just don't use it to tow heavy loads. I noticed it was getting harder and harder to find Class 3 hitches because hitch manufacturers recognized the risk and stopped making them.

I needed to tow cars with my X5... I have towed another X5 on a 16' car hauler on several occasions with no issues on my OEM hitch. Again, no way would I trust anything other than an OEM hitch to do this.

Sorry for the delay response and Thanks for all the feedback!

I admit I was getting to the point where I was getting extremely discouraged and almost pulled the trigger on a few used aftermarket kits but listening to all the postings and advising me to wait and just keep looking and eventually I will find one! Im extremely glad I held out! Because as of today all the waiting and looking day after day I finally found a new oem hitch kit and right after work drove 2 hours to pick it up! lol. I didn't want to lose this opportunity so as soon as I found it I called him up and jumped on it!

Thanks again for all the feedback and advise!

Nice find. They are getting rarer...

I'm glad mine came with one but I still have to find the tow hitch harness because for some reason the PO removed it from the storage tray (or one of the PO's I should say), which I suppose should be on ebay.

[QUOTE=crystalworks;1079585]Nice find. They are getting rarer...

I'm glad mine came with one but I still have to find the tow hitch harness because for some reason the PO removed it from the storage tray (or one of the PO's I should say), which I suppose should be on ebay.[/QUOTE

Thanks!

I knew it was going to be somewhat of a challenge finding one but didn't think it would be this extreme! No wonder a lot of people are over pricing these!

Not sure why they would remove that but at least you got the main parts and still able to tow if needed. The wiring I see pop up on eBay and I'm sure that may still be something you can buy from bmw or maybe even make one? Well good luck with that and looking forward to getting this mounted later this month. :thumbup:

I made my own harness. They are just as hard to find as the hitch itself. Usually you will find the connector shell inside the cabin connected to the vehicle side of the trailer wiring (BMW left them in there for us), but sometimes you'll find that it has been removed since being at the factory. No matter, you can still order the connector shell and the pins from BMW. Add in a Pollak 11-998 and 11-893 wiring set and connector, and you can easily make your own harness for under $40. You can also still order the body grommet from BMW ($6) to replicate the original harness in its entirety. You can search for this DIY, I think I even made a DIY in one of my past threads.

Luckily, the trailer control modules litter ebay so you can get those easily to complete the package.

Congrats on your find!

^Thanks for the info. Will look into that.

Congrats again Johnny on finding the retrofit. Not easy, and I'm sure it wasn't cheap either.