[lawdude]

This is not a diy post. Plenty of videos out there to show how do do it.

My wife's vehicle is a 2017 X3 xdrive35i. I ordered a Curt 13316 trailer hitch, which is a perfect fit. Well almost perfect. Three cuts had to be made to allow the hitch and parts to fit. Measure twice and cut once. Not a big deal. I used yellow handle aviation snips, but I think a dremel might've been a little faster.

The hardest part of installing the hitch was unclipping the bumper cover from around the hatch. My son was helping and he figured it out, so I let him do my side too. He got frisky when reassembling; a little too frisky. He flew through reattaching the bumper cover. I didn't remember doing it so I asked him if he reattached to loom/bumper connector. He couldn't remember. Off came the bumper cover again. Nope, not connected.

Back to flying through the process. All buttoned up. And then my son picked up a plastic bag of screws and asked, "what are these screws for?" I asked where got them and he said "off the garage floor." I had taped them to the rear quarter panel so I would remember them. I guess my tape job didn't hold. Off came the trim around both wheel wells again to reattach the the 4 screws.

Assembly of the Rockymounts Monorail 2 bike rack was pretty straight forward. Insert stinger into the hitch, tighten down the supplied bolt to secure the rack and absolutely stop any wiggle. Then assemble the rack.

Why did I buy this particular rack? All the less expensive racks I would've bought were out of stock and wouldn't be available until AFTER vacation. So I paid more than I wanted to but the Rockymounts is a really nice rack. Loading is easy. It tilts down to allow opening your hatch. Once the bikes are off, you tilt it all the way up so that it's out of the way. When in this position, remember not to open the hatch from inside your F25. Gotta put the rack down first.

Tools to install the Curt hitch were 8mm and 10mm sockets to remove trim screws. A Milwaukee cordless ratched worked well for the trim stuff. An 18mm socket (deep well) to remove bumper beam. I used a breaker bar to start the nuts holding on the beam, but that might have been a little over kill. A torque wrench to reattach the bumper beam/ trailer hitch. I applied some blue loctite when tightening the bolts just to be on the safe side. You'll also need a drill to drill out some trim rivets (maybe a trim tool to pull them out), and a riveter to reinsert the supplied rivets.

I didn't jack the car up. All work was done with all tires on the garage floor.

My wife was sitting outside the garage watching us deconstruct the back end of her car. She only piped up one time, but ended up being pleased with the results.

[Wgosma]

Thanks for that information; couple of questions as I'm just perusing the idea of adding a hitch and rear bike carrier:

- Why did you choose the Curt hitch?....and

- What are a couple of the lower cost bike racks brands/models you would have preferred to use if they had been available?

Thanks/Bill

[lawdude]

Originally Posted by Wgosma

Thanks for that information; couple of questions as I'm just perusing the idea of adding a hitch and rear bike carrier:

- Why did you choose the Curt hitch?....and

- What are a couple of the lower cost bike racks brands/models you would have preferred to use if they had been available?

Thanks/Bill

Hello Bill. I'll address your second question first. One rack was Curt 2 Bike Platform Rack - 1-1/4" and 2" Hitches - Frame Mount - Tilting. It is under $300.

The other was Hollywood Racks Sport Rider Bike Rack for 2 Bikes - 1-1/4" and 2" Hitches . Around $300.

Insofar as the Curt hitch, first it was significantly cheaper than the EcoHitch Stealth. Second, it's my wife's vehicle and it didn't matter to her if the hitch showed. Third, I just couldn't see me removing and replacing a part just so no one knew my wife's X3 had a hitch. And I'd hate to misplace that part, which would make the unit unusable just when needed.

Both Curt and EcoHitch Stealth appear to be quite sturdy. I can testify that the Curt is a solid unit. Given the cheaper price, Curt was a no brainer for our needs.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

[Wgosma]

Thanks, yes I see now that Stealth hitch is significantly more money, ouch!

Just begun to research/ evaluate these rear bike mounts, thanks for providing the brands.

[spyderman01]

I have the curt hitch and it works great for me. Holds my bike rack well and pulls my little trailer just fine. The only issue that I ever ran into, was trying to pull my car up onto a flatbed when I had a blowout, the hitch dragged the rear, so I had to back it up on the flatbed.