Last year I installed a drawtite hitch on my 03 X5 and thus had to remove the bumper. I wrote some pretty good directions and will send them if you want. However it won't be until tomorrow because I have it saved on my pc at work. So if you still want these directions pm me.

Hi,

Would be good if you could post them to me please. Will send you a PM

Regards

X5H, are you trying to retrofit your vehicle to a non-hitch setup? If so you would need 2 of the item #2, and a different #1 for non-hitch vehicles, in addition to the part #14 (+2x#2) on this diagram. Those are all of the parts I had left over after retrofitting the towbar on my vehicle.

Scott

When the OE towbar was originally fit on my vehicle, the towbar mounted to new (and different) bumper supports that were solid, replacing the collapsible/shock absorbing mounts that non-towbar vehicles used. There was also a crossbar that tied together the two pentagon-shaped plates, and which was discarded when the towbar was installed (they occupy the same physical space). You may need that crossmember. Because of the thicker plate of the towbar, the supplied bolts were longer. I don't know if the towbar you are removing is OE (It looks different than the North American ones, yet isn't the swan neck, so I am not sure). Not knowing what was installed originally on your model makes this a guess, but I think you are missing the original non-towbar crossmember.

Take a look at the BMW instructions for mounting the original towbar. These instructions would have helped you remove the bumper as well. Note the new pieces that get added in. I have linked the instructions for the UK towbar.

http://www.bmwmotorsports.org/pdf/e5...iler_hitch.pdf

Hope this helps.

I dont see the exhaust tips/ pipes in pics 1 & 2 - why is this?

Diesel

Scott

Kewl!

Hi,

When i purchased my BMW X5 3.d it came with an aftermarket Witter Hitch. I didnt like the look of it and to be honest wont ever use it and decided to see if could be easily removed.

I removed the bumper using the method desctibed in the 'How To' section which was straightforwards and all the bolts came out. I then removed the bumper and could see how the hitch was bolted on. I removed this hitch which them left whats shown in pic1 and 2. I then bolted the bumper brackets on and connected the rear bumper. I managed to get one of the bolts start key bolts in and the side bolts without any issue. The bumper seems lined up too but Im unable to get the other star key bolt in. It lines up at the bottom so i can push the bolt through but its slightly out in where it threads in to the bumper if that makes sense. To be honest I wasnt sure whether I had a part missing, i.e. some part removed to allow the aftermarket hitch to be fitted. Im going to attempt it again over the weekend by getting the bolt i cant in first and then the second one to see if that works. If that doesnt still work then I may put the hitch back on but cut the ball part of so that its hidden by the bumper cap :-)

There has been no damage to the rear so cant see why the bolt wont line up. Like i said its not that far out, probably about 3mm if that.

If anyone has a pic of the rear end without a hitch that would help

At the moment im doing short journeys with one of the bolts missing, there is slight movement and hope it doesnt fall off!

One caution is that what is shown below is a North American model, but it should still help.

The first photo is of the rear crossmember and the two impact-absorbing bumper mounts (the shock-absorbers), with all three pieces still installed. These three pieces get discarded when the OE hitch is mounted. The second photo shows the OE hitch, with the solid bumper mounts bolted to it. I suspect that without the crossmember, your bumper mounts are not in the correct location. The crossmember is also structural. The best solution may be to put your towbar back on, but to cut off the visible parts of the hitch ball.

More details, and photos, in the How To article on this site. These photos are from that article. Here is the link for it:

http://www.xoutpost.com/articles/x5/...tion-tips.html