usofrob
Member
Out of curiosity, do you have an estimate for the range difference with and without the trailer and ATV?
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Installed a hitch and wiring harness on my M3
- Thread starter xpitxbullx
- Start date
I haven’t made any trips further than a few miles from my house but for that short distance and I definitely wasn’t going slow and AC on full blast being I live in Vegas.
With the trailer and ATV -about 235 mile range. Proper driving could probably take that well over 250+ miles. Without the trailer about 280.
So a quick guess would be it cuts into my range about 15%
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israndy
Supercharger Hunter
And it REALLY depends on what you are trailing. Even with just a bike on the hitch, I got really crappy MPGe driving the central valley in a torrential wind storm. The weight of the trailer, the aspect, are going to make a big difference.
I am sure there is a thread on the Model S forum of people going thru this discovery period when their hitches first came out, but I have yet to find a good one.
-Randy
I am sure there is a thread on the Model S forum of people going thru this discovery period when their hitches first came out, but I have yet to find a good one.
-Randy
chr2
Member
Thanks very much for posting this, xpitxbullx! Could you please clarify what is visible of the hitch when you are not using it? And how big a drill is it to remove however much of the hitch that can be removed?
Thanks!
Thanks!
Pretty much everyone who has one leaves it like this when not in use. Removing this piece can be done but it’s tedious because of the confined space you have to work with while using a wrench.
Let your carwear it PROUDLY, like a badge of honor!
View attachment 321838
Pretty much everyone who has one leaves it like this when not in use. Removing this piece can be done but it’s tedious because of the confined space you have to work with while using a wrench.
Let your carwear it PROUDLY, like a badge of honor!
How is the ground clearance? I don't plan to ever remove the insert, but also don't want to be scraping it on the ground going in and out of driveways.
usofrob
Member
Thanks for the information. With the increased number of supercharger locations, it seems less important to have max range all the time.
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Awesome Thanks! I was considering the 1.25" insert, but if ground clearance seems fine, I would prefer to just use the 2" since our other car has the same hitch size and we swap the bike rack back and forth.
israndy
Supercharger Hunter
Remember you can always pull up the driveway at an angle, or I have seen people who put a rubber ramp across their driveway that keeps it from being so steep but allows leaves to still flow down the gutter.
-Randy
-Randy
Misterbee
Member
Just got my LR M3, and would love to hear more about other folks experiences with towing. We are dreaming of pulling a teardrop trailer.
Hi there, if I understand correctly you are tapping into the wires of the rear lights directly, without any electronics module or the like? Is this still working well for you, or have you had issues?
Does the Model 3 detect malfunctioning tail lighrs? Does that still work for you?
I know Torquelift Central and Stealth Hitches sell wiring harnesses, but for sure these are for geared towards US Model 3s, where I aim at installing a hitch on an EU Model 3. Wanna use it for a bicycle rack only.
Many thanks.
Back again ;-) I understand the reason for applying the nylon washers (I bought a StealthHitches hitch and they provide rubber washers, not sure I am a fan of that). But I was wondering about the crossbar. Is that steel or aluminium? If aluminium, should that not be protected as well?
BTW: any idea how thick the nylon washer were? In case I wanted to add them myself?
Thanks!
android04
Active Member
The crossbar (on both the Torklift EcoHitch and the StealthHitches hitch) are steel with thick powder coating. The entire rear end of the Model 3 where the crossbar attaches is aluminum. The thick powder coating and nylon washers should keep the steel and aluminum separate.
Here are the approximate dimensions as I measured them from my EcoHitch nylon washers:
thickness: 1.55 mm (0.061 inches)
outer diameter: 38.25 mm (1.506 inches)
inner diameter: 12.40 mm (0.488 inches)
android04
Active Member
He probably welded it himself or had somebody do it. I tried very hard to look for a similar one and could not find one at all. So I purchased a safety chain loop and will weld it onto my Ecohitch. This picture shows how I will do it.
Attachments
israndy
Supercharger Hunter
I just bought a couple of chain quick links to make it easier to attach the safety cables to my tow vehicle
I thought about welding the loops to my hitch, but I already scrape the ground enough. Since there are places to attach the cables but they are REALLY buried up under the car, this seemed like the best solution. I think they were less than $2
-Randy
I thought about welding the loops to my hitch, but I already scrape the ground enough. Since there are places to attach the cables but they are REALLY buried up under the car, this seemed like the best solution. I think they were less than $2
-Randy
