"Quality S" 2" square receiver hitch

Has anyone mounted these yet? I've got one coming for Christmas...

 

Anybody put one of these on yet? I have a CoastaleTech on my '05 that I am very happy with but they are currently unavailable so a Quality S maybe for my '06?

 

Had a Coastal Tech 2" receiver hitch on our 2005 for bike racks; performed fine for 5 years. Traded for a 2010 and now can't take our bikes on it!!!! Never gave it a thought that there wouldn't be a hitch available!

Anyone have a bike rack on their 2010??? 2" receiver, of course. Thanks.

 

I've seen and posted a link to one on ebay. Try a search. prius 2 hitch, eBay Motors. Great deals on eBay!

 

Thanks. People are questioning the quality of the Quality S hitch. Has anyone used one; does it really fit the Prius 2010? Is is heavy duty material?

 

Last June I ordered the Quality S 140 receiver hitch for my 2010 Prius from SuspensionConnection.com. It arrived promptly with good instructions (that were also available online). I bolted it on by myself without too much strain. I had to make a very small snip (half-inch or less) in the heat shield above the muffler so the hitch's hangar would fit in place of the exhaust hangar bracket. I couldn't get the bolt holes to line up initially.

The hitch weighs 35 lbs and is tucked nicely under the rear bumper. Its hangars attach to the Prius with 12 mm bolts torqued to 65 ft/lbs. The hitch's crossbar attaches to the hangars with 14 mm bolts torqued to 100 ft/lbs. It strikes me as very good quality. I've not yet pulled a trailer or attached a bike rack, but the steel cargo shelf that I got to haul shrubs and such attaches solidly.

 

Impressive. Doesn't look half bad. Now the question is how will the Prius doing towing anything of substance?

 

Toyota recommends you tow 0 lbs. these folks are using it as a bike rack, not a tow vehicle.

 

Looks good, is hidden--almost too hidden

I wonder if my bike rack (I have a 4 bike rack I need to get on this car) would even extend far enough under there to avoid hitting bumper. Probably, but I'll need to measure at home against the profile pic you just posted to be sure.

 

I did order this by slow-mail last Tuesday and it arrived today (took a week to get here by ground) from suspensionconnection.

Instructions were fine, and in color. It was packaged better than a hitch I got last year; this one had styrofoam to keep the parts from clanking together at all. The videos here 2010 Toyota Prius Trailer Hitch | etrailer.com for other hitches show you basically what to do.

Install was easy and straight forward with one glaring exception: as mentioned, this Qualiy S hitch will not fit on the 2010 Prius without trimming the heat shield around 1/2". I tried to bend it around while on the car but it turned out that by far the easier thing to do was just undo the three 10mm bolts holding the heat shield on and then use a grinder (which goes through the thin metal like a hot knife through butter) to trim it back, then everything went on "without a hitch" har har. You could probably use industrial scissors if needed or just bend it.

I assume that a smaller, tubular hitch will be better on mileage than this thing but I highly doubt the difference is enough to even tell, as much of the undercarriage of the prius is not smooth anyway.

I wanted a 2" receiver because my bike rack is 2" and also it's a vertical-hang 4 bike receiver that I intend on using without any additional strapping, so the torque at the hitch point can get quite high with four bikes, hence my preference for a true 2" receiver instead of going with a 1 1/4" receiver and a 2" -> 1 1/4" adapter.

You will need 3/4" socket for the smaller bolts that this hitch comes with and a 7/8" for the larger. The bolts that come off the car are something like 5/8" and I put those aside in case I return this after lease.

 

Just received and installed my Quality-S 2" hitch. It was a bugger to get the passenger side bracket mounted. At first I tried to do it without removing the exhaust hanger and there was just no way. I was thinking it would be too hard to get the hanger off the frame side of the mount, but actually it was quite easy (new cars, aren't they great!). I took off the rear one and the next one up toward the front and then gently rested the exhaust on a box while I did my work. After moving the exhaust out of the way, it was pretty easy to get the bracket on. I did not cut or grind the heat shield. The passenger bracket does compress it against the frame, but it torqued down OK without any cutting. I then bent it out a bit to restore the same spacing from the rear steel as before.

As far as the unit goes, I think it's pretty stout. For my purposes (Hollywood 2" hitch 3 bike rack) it seems plenty stiff. the receiver is just long enough to slide the rack in and tighten down the receiver wedge clamp.

Haven't taken a trip yet, so I don't know how it will be on the road, but confidence is high it'll do the job fine. One other nice thing is it would be quite easy to remove the main part of the hitch and reduce the weight if it's not going to be used for a while. Just undo the four bolts and pull off the crossbar.

My only complaint about the unit is I wish it were powder coated. It seems to be just painted with black paint, which will be subject to rust after rock chips, scrapes, etc., unless it's got some kind of corrosion resistance. I am not aware of any...

More later....

 

I'm sure it will end up rusty in a few years, but this seems common even with factory installed hitches that I see on lots of vehicles. You're in California, though, do things really rust there?

 

The Quality S description on http://www.suspensionconnection.com/cgi-bin/suscon/140-hitch-toyota-prius-2010.html says it's powder coated

 

It does say it's powder coated, and it might be powder coated, but it doesn't _look_ powder coated to me. I have other stuff that is powder coated and the finish is much tougher. On the coast, stuff rusts FAST in California. Not so much where I am....

 

Thanks for your post. I installed this hitch last week. I was able to get it on without removing the muffler bracket by pushing it to the side enough to get a socket with a long extension in there. There is just enough flex in the rubber bracket to allow this and would be easier if you had a helper to hold the muffler to the side while you work. I did bend the heat shield just a little to get it out of the way. It also helps to have a flashlight to shine on the bolt holes when you're trying to get things lined up. I was working in low light and needed this.

 

Bringing this thread back from the "dead". I am a new Prius 2012 IV owner (love it) and looking to leverage my existing 4 bike Thule rack (2 inch) that we used on our CRV. How's your experience been with 4 bikes on the back of their Prius?

 

I have a 4-bike Allen $99 rack from walmart that goes into a 2" receiver. I have carried four bikes on it several times; two adult mountain bikes put closest to the car and two kids' bikes further out, though kids' bikes are barely lighter than adult ones. I've had no issues. They do noticeably pull down the suspension of the car, especially with the trunk full of camping supplies. I'm careful around corners, over bumps, etc. but it works.

This with my Quality S hitch. Only issue I've noted so far is that it seems to be rusting quickly. I installed it last year and even though we had a mild winter, with relatively little salt, it's really got surface rust over much of it. Functionally this is irrelevant (would take even at this rate many years I'm sure to start truly affecting integrity of the hitch) and most trailer hitches show rust, so it's only a very mild complaint.

 

It does not matter if it is powered coated. It will rust. I had a hitch on my Toyota 4 Runner that I had to paint every 2 years. A few times I had it stripped in an acid bath and power coated. The tiny rocks that keep hitting it along with the winter salt makes it rust.

I wish someone made one out of thick anodized aluminum or some kind of composite material or carbon fiber. Having a hitch would be great but I do not want to deal with all the extra work it creates.





Check out these pics I use to sell it with 305,000 miles 10 years old. The hitch does look good. http://mbu.com/4runner/

 

Appreciate the quick reply. Last question: When you are travelling with all four bikes loaded what speeds have you been travelling at?