Zephyr Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 I am in the market for a hitch on my 05’ LW and I need some advice. I am going to use it for a bike rack (¼ inch) for in town and out of town excursions.. hiking, camping, etc… It will also be used to pull a jet ski (and other small trailers) from the lake house to, you guessed it, the lake. I would like the profile to be unobtrusive since I am really digging the looks of the dual exhaust and such. Another possibility would be the swing away hitch system since we will be taking our bikes adventuring with us. This is my first hatchback/wagon door type of vehicle and I am loving the ease of which I can move around my gear, groceries, etc. If the bike rack is in the way, that is going to cramp a bit of my adventuring. However, the swing out model looks like it may have that obtrusive look to it that I don’t really want. Anyone with experience with one of these? I would also like to install it myself, not mandatory, but it would be a bonus. Thanks for any and all suggestions! Anyone have a pic of their 05/06 LW hitch setup? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rweddy Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 I am in the market for a hitch on my 05’ LW and I need some advice. I am going to use it for a bike rack (¼ inch) for in town and out of town excursions.. hiking, camping, etc… It will also be used to pull a jet ski (and other small trailers) from the lake house to, you guessed it, the lake. I would like the profile to be unobtrusive since I am really digging the looks of the dual exhaust and such. Another possibility would be the swing away hitch system since we will be taking our bikes adventuring with us. This is my first hatchback/wagon door type of vehicle and I am loving the ease of which I can move around my gear, groceries, etc. If the bike rack is in the way, that is going to cramp a bit of my adventuring. However, the swing out model looks like it may have that obtrusive look to it that I don’t really want. Anyone with experience with one of these? I would also like to install it myself, not mandatory, but it would be a bonus. Thanks for any and all suggestions! Anyone have a pic of their 05/06 LW hitch setup? Any reason not to go with a roof rack? I prefer my bikes up there out of harms way in case I am rear ended. Just like many Colorado natives, the bike on my roof are worth more than the car they are under! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RallyKeith Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 Any reason not to go with a roof rack? I prefer my bikes up there out of harms way in case I am rear ended. Just like many Colorado natives, the bike on my roof are worth more than the car they are under! It probably has something to do with the Jet Ski... I think those are a pain to get on and off the roof unless you got a snorkle intake for the car and drove it into the lake. :-p It will also be used to pull a jet ski (and other small trailers) from the lake house to, you guessed it, the lake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoahDL88 Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 I believe that they also make inside racks, where the front fork fits into a rack when the seats fold down, may not be the way you want to go, but just thought i'd put it out there. Also keeps your grease inside your hubs, as the wind dosn't affect them inside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
friendly_jacek Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 I don't know 05 but the uhall hitch I have for my 00 Legacy is the best thing i've seen. Well hidden under the bumper und practicaly invisible from a normal height. Cheap too. Obviously I drive without receiver ball when I don't tow, unlike most bozos in pickup tracks around here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephyr Posted January 27, 2006 Author Share Posted January 27, 2006 It probably has something to do with the Jet Ski... exactly. we have a need to pull trailers, and I already have the hitch mounted bike rack... so priority one is the hitch. Fortunately, we don't have expensive bikes... yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forester2002s Posted January 28, 2006 Share Posted January 28, 2006 I have a Hidden-Hitch on my 2002 Forester. It really is almost hidden away under the rear bumper. I was going to install it myself, but the supplier gave me such a good deal, that I had them do it. BTW, mine is a class II hitch, capable of towing 3500 Lbs. The class I hitch (which Subaru recommends) wasn't much cheaper and looked a lot lighter, so I went for the stronger class II. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opie Posted January 28, 2006 Share Posted January 28, 2006 I've got the Subaru OEM hitch for the '05/'06 Outback Wagon on my wife's Legacy 2.5i Wagon...it fits fine and the wiring connector is right where it should be... The hitch is P/N: L101SAG000, just tell the dealer it's for your "Outback" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otis Posted January 28, 2006 Share Posted January 28, 2006 Another possibility would be the swing away hitch system since we will be taking our bikes adventuring with us.... However, the swing out model looks like it may have that obtrusive look to it that I don’t really want. Anyone with experience with one of these? I'm not sure what you mean by swing away vs swing out, but we have a bike rack that mounts to the hitch. There's a latch on the bike rack so that the rack swings DOWN so you can open the rear hatch. Last year we went on a trip and brought our bikes so obviously we had the bike rack and bikes mounted the whole time. it wasn't too cumbersome to open the rear hatch on our forester to load and unload our car. the only awkward part is the rack gets a little heavy with a few bikes on it so swinging the rack up and down is a little tough. also I installed the hitch myself. I woudn't call myself mechanically inclined, but it wasn't too bad. honestly the only hard part was taking off one of the bolts that was kinda stuck. The other hard part was laying down underneath the car while it was jacked up with that little jack that comes with the car. (ok, I'm kidding about that part. I used ramps, but it still felt eerie) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephyr Posted January 28, 2006 Author Share Posted January 28, 2006 I'm not sure what you mean by swing away vs swing out, but we have a bike rack that mounts to the hitch. There's a latch on the bike rack so that the rack swings DOWN so you can open the rear hatch. Doh! Our rack was given to us and I haven't had the chance to use it yet, actually never really looked at it. But just took a look and saw mine is designed the same way. Very cool! The swing out model I saw in an official Subaru accessories handout. If I remember correctly- the hitch was made of a couple hinged pieces of square tubing that could swing away to the side. The other hard part was laying down underneath the car while it was jacked up with that little jack that comes with the car. (ok, I'm kidding about that part. I used ramps, but it still felt eerie) Kind of an ominous feeling isn't it? I only get under the cars a few times a year to do some warm weather oil changes and etc. Even though I'm trying to concentrate on the task, I still only think of one thing, those ramps holding up. Are you near KC? I'm wondering if you have any shop recommendations? I frequent St Louis as well and could probably schedule service just as easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephyr Posted January 28, 2006 Author Share Posted January 28, 2006 Thanks for your experiences everyone. I'll post a pic after I get hitched. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPX Posted January 30, 2006 Share Posted January 30, 2006 I had bought the SeaDoo before buying the car. I did the hitch thing on my 96 Legacy - Class II. Worked great for a hitch mount bike rack too. One famous trip for us was a Yakima RocketBox and a Pounderhound on the roof with bikes on the back. Here is a very light duty hitch on my friend's WRX. This holds a hitch mount bike rack very nicely. But the rear hatch does not clear the current rack's pole. This is where a swingout rack would be more convenient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fung Posted January 30, 2006 Share Posted January 30, 2006 I have a class II drawtite on my 99 obw, It pulls my 2 place snowmobile trailer with snowmobile on it very well. The hitch hides nicely under the bumper. I'm happy with the set up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otis Posted January 30, 2006 Share Posted January 30, 2006 Are you near KC? No- I live in columbia. slim pickings here for subaru work, so I go to the dealer. There aren't too many subarus here and after a couple of bad experiences at a couple of other places I just went back to the dealer. There's nothing special about the dealer here. In fact I really don't like the SA's there. But what can I do- it's a monopoly here when it comes to servicing imports other than toyota and honda because it's a small town. Luckily i haven't needed much work done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephyr Posted May 2, 2006 Author Share Posted May 2, 2006 Purchased and installed: Hidden Hitch class II saved $40 bucks (self installation) by buying on the internet -free shipping / spent $40 bucks on torque wrench to install the hitch . Installation time says 30 minutes, it took me and a buddy over 2 hours; we are mechanically inclined but neither of us posses a lot of experience with cars so there was more discussion and planning involved. 30 minutes from opening the box to driving away is still probably an under estimate for even experienced installers being careful. Everything went smoothly. For the self installers, I'd definitely recommend a budy to help out with everything. Also, a little silicon lube to help the removal and re-installation of the exhaust's rubber hangers would have been helpful, but we had to make do without because the local parts stores had closed for the night. The instructions also mentioned to "remove a bolt near the back of the car"- never found what bolt they were speaking of, but we did gain a little bit more wiggle room by removing the 4 plastic body rivets holding down the bottom of the bumber. Looks decent for a hitch and doesn't entirely ruin the appearance of the back end of the car. Only part that can be seen is the actual receiver neck and the two tie down loops. Drop down- hitch mounted bike rack and tail gate work great together. This summer we plan on putting many miles on our Subie and bikes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPX Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 This link has a write up about a hitch install for a 2006 WRX-> CLICK Note that for some liftgates, a rear mount rack might not clear without having a swing down or swingout feature like the more expensive Yakima and Thule's racks. My straight bar Graber bike rack won't clear the WRX hatch. But it definitely cleared the trunk lid on my 1996 Legacy sedan. In both cases, the hitches are Drawtites. The Legacy hitch is a real beast - sticks out, ugly, but a fully functional Class 2 that towed single and double jetskis for many thousands of miles. The WRX hitch is a real lightweight intended for bikes. But it did have a drawbar that I expect would pull a single jetski easily. I wouldn't try a double trailer with that configuration though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnuman Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 OK, everyone here is talking about later model cars and hitches, but I wanted to share that I put a drawtight class II hitch on my 92 Legacy wagon that I got from etrailer.com. So far this hitch has pulled 4 cars (on dollys) one of which was an identical Legacy wagon to her. Now that is what I call carrying a spare. . . Thed hitch stick down a bit and is fairly visable, but it is a really strong one, and Emily can pull loads with it that verge on unbelievable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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