To those look for the X5 OEM hitch...
 

I had a long discussion with my local Parts Manager and he finally got ahold of BMW parts and found out the cause for the backorder. Turns out the owner of the company that manufactured the hitch died and the company is wrapped up in a lawsuit to figure out who owns the company and who runs it. Needless to say BMW broke off the relationship and there is no update on when a new one will be found.

WITH THAT SAID

My Parts Manager located a hitch for me here in California and the dealership is sending it to me. FYI there are several dealerships across the country that have them. To those in Norcal a dealership in Sacramento and San Francisco both have one. Call your local Parts Manager and have them do a nationwide search for you.

shit i need a hitch too...

My dealer mentioned that a BMW dealership in New Mexico has one. Don't know which dealer but I doubt there are many there.

I might look into this tho debating cost. Might look into a generic alternative but I need to do my research first. I know OEM is relatively easy to install and should bolt right up.

OEM Hitch buttons up nicely, but it wasn't that easy...very time consuming. I think it took 5+ hours to install.

I tried Sacremento, both of the New Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii, San Fran to with no luck. Some dealers are telling me it will be December before they get one. Draw-tite has one similar to the OEM hitch but no one I have found where I live will touch the electical. They all refer you to the dealer and this is part of the back-order with the hitch.

hmm.... that sounds like a mofro. If OEM is that difficult I wonder how non-OEM is...

The only non-oem that seems to be worth 1/2 a damn is the curt hitch and other ones similar to OEM setup, such as...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2007-...spagenameZWDVW

But they ALL lack the internal support beams that come with OEM to distribute the load in the frame boxes, instead of just hanging on the end... THIS is what ALL of the aftermarket ones seem to be missing! Which is why I choose to wait.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...Picture1-2.png

I want the OEM part also, does anyone know if the 2001 and 2004 E53 use the same part number?

Ya indy mech called around today since I mentioned something about it said that no one has any and that the dealerships are trying to horde them. He mentioned his buddy installed a uhaul hitch on his X5. Does this one lack the beam too? I hear you need to remove the rear bumper and that any of the hitches are decent amount of effort to install.