I have found several trailer hitches on the net, and it looks like several mount to the exhaust hangers on each side of the battery box...are these 4 bolts strong enough to tow a small trailer with tires and jacks etc.....Where are other hitches being bolted to????

Thanks for any help.

 

See if you can get in touch with Mini Fini as they are back in buisness. They had one of the more stealthy systems out there .

John

 

Ive never seen one that attaches to the exhaust hangers.

There is a guy in Toronto with one that is attached to the battery box, pictures are posted here on NAM.

The Hacker, and the Junkman hitches, for MCS and the Dalan for the MC all attatch to the box beams.

The MINI FINI and the factory hitch (MC in Europe only) attatch to the box beams and the bumper attachment points on the body.

My "home made" attatches to the box beams.

The "Miniature Trailer" seems to attach to the bumper mount points on the body.

John

http://user.mc.net/~jdewey/MINI/Trailer_hitch/

 

I think i'll attach mine to the battery box....this seems the least labor intensive...I may run an extra support brace to the exhaust hanger bracket.....Thanks all

 

The one that was attached to the battery box ALSO ran a verticle up to the trunk floor to carry some of the load.

I don't have time to search now, but look for postings by paulmon from around 2004.

John

 

I have the Miniature Trailer version and love it. I would be very careful with load ranges with a "make do" version.... https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=60569

I would say that with minimal skill, installing this yourself would not be that big a deal. Mine wasn't.

Good luck on your project!
Tim

 

Looks fine, if your back-up light(s) are in the tailights.

 

Supposedly, the center light will pop out the same way as the faux vent to acess the tube.... I use mine much more than I planned on since it works so well and is easy to do.

Tim

 

I was seriously considering the MiniFini unit, especially since I found a few on ebay for a good price. But now I'm thinking the Miniature Trailer one thru the rear fog is the way to go. I don't want a trailer as much as I'd like a cargo rack and MiniFini keeps referring to having one "soon" but it never materializes. Also after more research, it looks like the Miniature Trailer one still allows the use of the rear fog when you're not using the hitch, and then is completely invisible otherwise, sounds like a win-win.
Annette

 

The miniature trailer hitch looks nice but in my opinion is way overpriced. There is no reason it should cost $300.00 plus another $80.00 for the bar. I know its custom made for the Mini but so are all hitches, what makes this one so special?

 

It is a bit pricey, no doubt. I have been welding and fabricating my whole life. Once I calculated the time it would take me to R&D, fab, fit, weld, & powdercoat the thing.... It really wasn't that bad a deal. It fit right the first time, came with excelent directions, and it works. I pull a 250lb trailer with a 500lb quad on it with full confidence. And of course get lots of the "you got the wrong one on the trailer" comments! LOL

Annette, If you get one let me know and I'll supervise the install if you need help.

Tim

 

Tim,
Thanks, I'm seriously considering this pretty soon. I will be driving up to Asheville in mid-July (by way of the Dragon, of course!) and will be taking my 2 kids and possibly my best friend's daughter, as well. I will really need more space for luggage and was thinking the 20X48 cargo hauler would be a good solution. I've written to the Miniature Trailer folks to see if I could get one with a 2" ball instead so I could haul the Smoker if need be (it weighs about 600lbs.
I'd also like a small trailer to take tires to DE, etc. So where did you get yours? Do you know where Amanda got hers?

Thanks,
Annette

 

Look for one of those shelf gizmos at Northern, usually good price. Easy to overload though, lots of tounge wt leveraged out there. Small trailer would also be handy for your racing tires .
The hitch part itself is available anywhere, just not as fancy. Mine came from Advanced Auto Parts and I had the 2" ball laying around. I picked up the trailer used but they are pretty easy to locate. A google search will probably get you someone close by. Make sure to get at least 14" wheels on it, bearings will last longer. Anything over a 2000 - 2500lb axle will be too stiff and tend to bounce around a lot with a light load. I'll keep an eye out as well...

Tim

 

I bought a "custom" hitch from a NAM member. It mounts to the rear frame rails, but it appears I will have to drill holes. Anyone ever done this? What is the easiest way to access the rear frame rails with a drill in mind? I already have the rear bumper off, but there is a lot of other stuff still in the way. Do I need to disassemble the heat shield, battery box and all that other stuff, or is there some magical secret?

 

Not knowing what hitch you got makes this a guess.

One of the older custom hitches required you to drill the side of the box beams.

Most of the hitches use EXISTING HOLES in the bottom of the box beams.

Look up the (BMW MINI hitch directions or the MINI FINI hitch directions. Both are on Motoring File.com in the how to do it section.)

I did mine by undoing the muffler hangers, and letting the mufflers hang down. I measured the distance to where the holes should be and used an ice pick to punch through the heat shield and into the holes. Then I used a knife to cut a window in the heat shield where the holes were.

John

 

I agree with Jdewey it is a guess since we don't know what you bought but maybe these links will help. The first is the motoring file doc Jdewey mentioned and the second is a very detailed pictorial install from OctaneGuy posted here on NAM. Good luck with the install!

http://www.motoringfile.com/howto/SPORTLINK.pdf

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ight=sportlink

 

It appears I have a Karl hitch, where you drill into the sides of the box beams, not the bottom. I can't get there because the battery box is in the way. Is there a way to remove the battery box?

Also, I put a hitch on my wife's van. The brake lights work fine, but when I use the turn signal both lights flash - any ideas???

 

Can anyone help a brother out? I have a "Karl" hitch, pictured here: http://user.mc.net/~jdewey/MINI/Trai..._old_style.jpg I sent a PM to Karl, but no response yet. Has anyone here installed one of these? How did you gain access to drill the holes in the side of the box rails???

 

Hammer,

If you lift the tail end up real high (I used a lift), drop the exhaust hanger under the middle of the car, drop the exhaust hangers on each side of the battery box... the exhaust system will hang down enough for you to remove the heat sheilds. Then you can get at the battery box if you need to drill into it.

The pictures show the shields and exhaust hanging down. The underside picture shows the battery box in the background, exhaust mounting studs a little forward of that, and the channel in the foreground (with part of my home-brew hitch installed in the channel).

Hope that helps somehow.

Cheers,
Paul

 

Paul,

Thanks for the pics - it shows what I feared. The way this hitch mounts, I need to drill a hole in the box beam between the rail (box beam) and the battery box. How in the heck am I supposed to do it? Others have mounted this hitch, so it is possible. I'm wondering if pre-05's had pre-existing holes in the rails that this hitch lines up with???

 

I'm sorry I haven't got a photo of the inboard face of the rail/box beam. I cant remember if it had holes there. It might have. Mine is an '05 BTW.

The arms on your hitch are threaded, makes me suspect it bolts to the battery box. If the inside clear dimension between the arms matches the battery box width, maybe bolts go through the battery box into the arms.

I should be silent, I don't know much about Karl's hitches other than what jdewey has on his site or what I read here: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=51772

Different poison for everyone. I built my own hitch because I was leary of removing the bumper. Dropping the exhaust and shields and welding something up was less trouble for me. Maybe you should take the car apart and see how it fits in there? You could cut the arms off and weld up something else if you need too....

Easy for me to say, eh?

Cheers,
Paul

 

I had the bumper off (I should have taken pics, but I was too busy scratching my head trying to figure out how to make the hitch work), so I know there are no holes on the inside of the box beams. Also, there is a bracket that is welded to the metal bumper (as opposed to the bumper cover) that is right in the way of the horitzontal tab. As for the arms, they fit snugly inside the box beams, so it appears I have to somehow drill holes on the inside of the box beams, which is blocked by the battery box.

Others have mounted these, how did you do it?!?!?!?

 

I needed a hitch to launch my small sailboat. MiniFini was not making their hitch at the time, so I made one out of the SportLink Bicycle hitch.

Here's the SportLink installed on an S:



And with the hitch installed:



DDodge

 

 

Unchock the trailer wheels and let us see that MINI pull that trailer....