E53 X5 Tow Hitch Assembly Purchase Drama! Have a few questions.
 

Long story short...I purchase which I thought was a complete assembly and provided them pictures of everything and emphasized multiple times I need everything from bolts and nuts to wiring, etc which they stated is no problem. Drove to the shop and they couldn't find anything other than the bumper re-enforcement. Waste of a trip out there. Promised me they would get me everything and ship it free of charge. Almost 2 months later still haven't received anything nor a call! Finally reached out when I had time and now they are blaming the shipping company for losing it! Asked for the tracking information which they couldn't provide! I call BS! A few days later they said they have everything and will ship it. Said screw that Ill come out and pick it up! But emphasized does it have everything? He's now stating he only has the bumper re-enforcement and tow bar assembly. WTF!!

So now for my questions!?!

First question should I back out of the purchase or should I just say screw it and pick up what they have? From what I hear finding these parts are getting extremely hard to come by now a days. Which leads to my next question.

Second question is it going to be near impossible to find the rest of the pieces to get this mounted to the X? Bolts can be purchased at any hardware store right? Would prefer factory but if I cant get those will hardware store grade work just fine?

Third question how much more am I looking to spend just for the other parts? The good part is that I have the main two pieces and the other parts could be purchased online and shipped.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and letting me vent!
Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

You can get decent metric bolts from some hardware stores and online. Look for the grade mark stamped on the head - get at least grade 10.9

Sounds like a terrible run around. Not sure I'd be willing to drive any distance to discover the next half truth.

This.

Yea I figured worst case thats what Ill have to go with but the main concern is the rest of the OEM pieces I need like the mounts, wiring, etc...that Im worried about if Ill be able to track those down!

Im a bit to trusting I guess and always giving people benefit of the doubt and second chances and is probably why I keep getting screwed over! They are a few hours away to which sucks but I Im really wanting a tow hitch assembly on the X so Ill drive out tomorrow and see what they have. Im just praying its OEM at least but if not getting an actual receipt of the refund is better than getting verbal over the phone is the way I look at it!

I hear ya!

If you do not have the two mounts that go inside of the frame rails that allow the hitch mount to hook up to it then you should forget buying this hitch.

Look in the long DIY OEM hitch install thread for my posts on getting the fasteners from boltdepot dot com, a good source; you use the parts diagram from the installation .pdf attached early in the thread. As Jay notes, the two 'posts' mounts are key, as is the electronic module. Without the posts, you are buying a long door stop ......

Thanks for the replies! Just a heads up I drove out there Saturday and once again the guy screwed me. No surprise! What he stated was a OEM Hitch Assembly ended up being aftermarket. Even with all the pictures and descriptions I sent he still couldnt get it right! I just said screw them and asked for my full refund!

Too bad. These things are certainly getting as rare as unicorns.

Don't give up they are out there. just have to be patient. Keep Looking. Next time have a picture sent to first to identify the hitch before going out to see it.

This one has been listed on eBay for months. Pricey though.

2000-2006 BMW X5 E53 rear bumper receiver trailer hitch 4.6is 4.8is 4.4i 3.0i 2000 2006 BMW x5 E53 Rear Bumper Receiver Trailer Hitch 4 6IS 4 8IS 4 4i 3 0i | eBay

Yeah and all the components of the kit are there. Its one of those things that if you really want it then someone is going to get it. Rare part indeed.

Im getting to the point where Im about to just purchase an aftermarket kit. :dunno:

Thats the problem I sent him pictures, confirmed the list, I did everything I could to ensure the correct parts. I think they were just out to screw people! Sad thing is that they state they are BMW specialists! Yea Right!

Im getting really discouraged and tempted to pick up an aftermarket but should I? Whats the down fall on getting aftermarket?

Yea Im not paying that much for it! To me its not worth that much!

Got a question...I found an aftermarket tow bar that appears to mount to the factory bumper mounts. Looks sort of like this...

CURT Manufacturing - CURT Trailer Hitch #13070

So my question is it worth the purchase or should I really hold out for the OEM assembly? Im really not in a rush just tired of looking but if its that much better to go OEM Ill hold out. Any thoughts would be great.

I personally wouldn't use an aftermarket hitch of any sort. If you look at the Curt you posted, it is missing the very crucial "frame rail" brackets. Those are an important part of what transfers the mass from the trailer to the tow vehicle and the bending moment of the tongue load. For whatever reason, the aftermarket units choose not to follow the OEM route. In the case of the Curt posted here, it looks like your only support are the bumper mounting points! I would worry most about damage to the X5 if anything. I would hold out for OEM if you plan that tow anything weighing over 2,000 lbs and definitely wouldn't tow the 5,000 that hitch claims to be capable of.

Let me guess... Bavarian Auto Recycling?

I just ordered this hitch. It's not pretty, but it appears to be plenty secure. Hope it doesn't look like complete shit on the vehicle.
Hidden Hitch Trailer Hitch Receiver - Custom Fit - Class III - 2" Hidden Hitch Trailer Hitch 87405

Then I scoured the country for the lighting harness that goes from the body harness to the hitch, which is of course NLA from BMW. Ended up finding one on ebay.

Its certainly a unicorn hunt. There are earlier threads discussing the disadvantages of the aftermarket hitches, and the superiority of the OEM westfalia hitch. I'm glad I found an OEM soon after I bought my E53 .......

Strange my X came with the factory hitch, but the two previous owners never used the hitch. How do I know it was never used? The hole for the hitch pin still had the factory sticker covering the hole. Factory hitch is the way to go.

Since my ownership of the SAV, I had bike racks mounted to the roof on my Rola cross bars, a Saris ride on bike carrier used on the hitch, a Thule box mounted to the roof when we go skiing, and a jetski and jet boat (not at the same time) towed behind the X.

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.

All this makes me very glad that I bought my OEM hitch when I did. Sometimes you make the right move!