Miata Mailing List: April 1995, Message #41
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   From: ARacer@aol.com
Subject: Re: Trailers (hitch options)
   Date: Sun, 2 Apr 1995 16:36:12 -0400

Lester Seal, Mass Miata, wrote April 1:

<<<>>>

We had one custom-welded that works out very well. It is made of square steel
tubing that is welded between the hold-down brackets under/behind the rear
bumper. The receiving "box" for the hitch is mounted vertically (so the hitch
slides into it from below rather than from the rear).

This allows the installation to be completely invisible when the pin is
pulled and the hitch removed. (That keeps the Miata "cute" for Marky's daily
commute.)

Also, the whole thing can be unbolted and removed if no longer needed or you
want to move it to a different Miata. The hold-down loops/brackets are not
supposed to be used for anything after the initial shipment of the car,
anyway, so they are expendable.

The welders (a recreational vehicle service company) cautioned that the
vertical construction of the hitch should not carry more than 150 lbs of
tongue weight, but I doubt that any trailer that's really comfortable for the
Miata would have much more than 50 lbs on the tongue, anyway. The cost was
about $150.

We've been happily using this for a little over two years.

Ed Pitts
Cardiff-by-the-Sea, CA