New Guy here with a hitch question.

[minivansarevile]

I have a 2005 LR3, it's my 3rd Land Rover. For the most part, I am happy with it. That was until yesterday when I tried to put a hitch on and found that none of my current towing equipment fits.

After about 30 seconds of research, I discovered that my only option was to spend $400 for a quick hitch from LR. After deciding rather quickly that I wasn't going to do that, I called a buddy of mine who works in a steel plant.

He told me to give him some pictures and a detailed drawing of what I want and he would make it for me. The best part of all this is he will do it for a case of beer.

Here is my problem and my question. I want to make sure all I need is a hitch that will fit the current female part of my car. I am also interested in selling these to anyone who needs one once I see how they fit and perform. I am not interested in making a dime on these, I only want to cover cost and shipping once I determine if anyone is interested.

Is anyone interested. Remember, the cost will be his supplies, a case of beer for work and shipping. I can't imagine this will be more than $100. I am hoping he can knock out 10 or 12 at once and keep the cost low.

If anyone has any experience with this, please let me know.

This is my first post but I have been reading this board as well as few others and I know that alot of LR owners are not happy about the hitch situation. I mean 60k for a car and then they want $400 more for a hitch

Any input is appreciates.

Jason

[drzjoint]

someone already makes a reese style like a disco 2 ect..

[Crazy_like_the_Fox]

I too was miffed about the hitch situation and mulled around through the threads till I found the guys at curt manufacturing.

Custom Trailer Hitch Products, Custom Receiver Hitch, Heavy Duty Towing, Curt Manufacturing

I plan on ordering it in the next couple of days so I haven't laid eyes on it in person, but have seen it mounted on the lr3.....looks like quality fit and finish. You do need to understand that you'll need a wiring harness if you do not already have one, fortunately curt. mfg. has you covered there too. Also included in their harness kit is a modulator that will make additional power to run your trailer lights as most european vehicles don't send enough juice back to the taillights to handle the additional voltage strain on the system. Don't worry, they can explain it to you if asked they seem to be good folks.

Now, there may be folks that will start to chime in about ground clearance and departure angle like they did to the poor fella that suggested this hitch before. If you worry about that stuff, you should probably buy ford '77 highboy with a 460 and dana 60s. You can probably find one for about the same price as a stock receiver and wiring harness from a dealer.

Good Luck my friend.
Logan

[Crazy_like_the_Fox]

I just wanted to post the part numbers for the LR3 rear hitch and required wiring harness from Curt Manufacturing.

Curt Manufacturing #13456 (LR3 Rear Hitch)
Curt Manufacturing #56146 (Powered Converter w/SMT circuit protection)

Now, about the wiring harness, if you can splice wires and know how to use a circuit tester I would definately buy the Curt Mftg. part. If you do not feel comfortable splicing or don't know what a circuit tester is, however you can get direct plug-in wiring harnesses for around $100. If you want to find decent pricing I would strongly suggest going to Froogle.com and searching for:

Curt Manufacturing 13456

If you are not familiar with Froogle.com, it basically is a kind of search engine within google that will give you every site that has prices associated with the product, good, etc. you search for. The best way to do it is very simple...just type in the manufacurer name, then the MANFACTURER'S part number just as above, then hit search. Very handy....just repeat the search for the wiring harness, I found it for around $25.00. The lowest land rover direct-plug-in was just north of $100.

Anyway, I hope this helps somebody out there.
Logan

[Learth]

You're miffed at Land Rover for not including a hitch on your LR3? I think you should be miffed at yourself for not checking that it had what you wanted BEFORE you bought it. Don't buy something then complain about what it doesn't have after the fact. If you don't like it, don't buy it in the first place. That's like complaining that the traffic near your home is too noisy. Why did you move there in the first place then? Don't blame LR, blame yourself for not doing the research up front.

BTW, this Curt Hitch looks very good.