U-Haul Hitch Receiver for Nissan Altima

A bicycle rack that uses a trailer hitch keeps the bikes off your car's paint

I have been wanting to add a bicycle carrier to my 1997 Nissan Altima car for the longest time. A bike carrier that goes into a trailer hitch receiver allows the bikes to not contact the car, reducing fears of scratched paint and dents. While shopping around for hitch receivers I found the U-Haul hitch receiver (#24999) for $130CAD, cheaper by $40-$50CAD than other brand names. U-Haul wanted an extra $40 for installation, which I could save if I did it myself. There would be unforeseen trade-offs which I will explain.

The Nissan Altima is a small midsize car and not really designed to easily carry multiple bicycles. It has no roof rack capability and has no grooves built into the sides of the roof to add a roof rack, precluding a roof rack-based bicycle carrier. A trunk mounted bicycle rack is possible but from past experience with friends who use one, they seemed unstable and could not be tightened down sufficiently. Trunk-based bicycle carriers, from my experience, are also prone to scratching up the car’s paint and creating small dents in the bodywork.

At first a trailer hitch-based bicycle rack seemed huge overkill, but it keeps the bicycles away from the car enough to not scratch the paint nor dent the bodywork. There would be, however, more work to do. One needs to first mount a trailer hitch receiver to the bottom of the car, then add the hitch-based bicycle rack.

As a small midsize car the Nissan Altima is not really designed to pull a trailer. The owner’s manual recommends that you not exceed a tongue weight (direct weight on the hitch receiver) of 100 lbs and pull no more than a 1,000 lb load (combined trailer and contents). This is probably extremely conservative. The recommended hitch receiver for the Altima and most smaller cars is a Class 1 hitch, capable of a tongue weight of 200 lbs and a pull weight of no more than 2,000 lbs, using a square 1.25″ receiver opening. Therefore the hitch receiver would be rated stronger and more capable than the vehicle.

Researching U-Haul’s trailer hitch on the internet was educational. Who knew that U-Haul is the largest retailer of trailer hitches in North America? Less of a secret was U-Haul’s terrible reputation for botched installation of trailer hitches as well as the lack or maintenance and breakdown of their rental fleet. Yikes. Numerous calls to my local U-Haul led to continuous busy signals, employees that would not look up the necessary hitch for my vehicle, or flat out would refuse to help me, requesting I leave my name and number and they’d call back “whenever”. I had serious doubts about dealing with U-Haul.

Eventually and accidentally, the trailer hitch specialist answered the phone. “Ali” said he could not get me an operator but could look up my vehicle and order me a hitch, which he did. He also said it would be in for pickup in 3 business days. Three business days later I received a call from U-Haul, not Ali, stating my hitch was back ordered and I would need to wait an additional 10-15 business days, when it will arrive from its voyage from Florida. They did not know and did not want to guess any more accurately. Since I did not put any money down yet and could cancel my order at any time, I agreed. Surprisingly after 10 business days I called the office and my hitch had arrived. I paid for it and picked it up.

One may ask why I did not order my hitch online from U-Haul. The U-Haul site is based in the U.S., while I live in Canada. When I looked up my hitch by vehicle manufacturer, model and year, I found my hitch. The issue was that I was unsure if the hitch price was $US or $CAD, as nowhere on the site states the currency. Their call centre stated that products were priced in Canadian dollars but I did not want the hassle if they were in error. Would I also have to pay shipping charges to Canada as well as possibly duty, or could I pick up the hitch at the U-Haul store? Because the web site did not address any of my concerns I opted for local ordering and purchase instead. Here again is a clear example of lots of money spent on their web presence and functionality, only to be undone by poor web usability. Almost Ok is not enough.

U-Haul’s web site makes a statement about their lifetime guarantee on all their hitches. The condition, not clearly stated, is that this warranty applies only if U-Haul installs it and you pay an extra $5CAD. If you opt to install it yourself there is no guarantee whatsoever. Bummer. So much for faith in your U-Haul product. They also did not tell me this at the store nor on their website. All other hitch competitors offer a 1 year manufacturer’s guarantee.

U-Haul’s low price also does not include a hitch nor hitch bolt. The hitch is the piece of metal that is inserted into the hitch receiver. The chrome ball is then bolted to the hitch, and the trailer goes on top of the chrome ball. Because I only want to use my hitch receiver for a bicycle rack, I did not want a hitch nor ball, but if you really wanted to pull a trailer, competing hitch packages that include a hitch and hitch bolt (Reese and Curt) may be a better deal, and they do come with a warranty.

Brand new U-Haul receiver hitch came with peeling paint. Not good.

Interestingly the U-Haul hitch receiver mounts using 7 bolts, 4 bolts on the left and 3 bolts on the right, where as the Curt (#288907), Reese (#7712) and other competing hitch receivers mount with only 4 bolts, 2 on each side. I had read that U-Haul’s hitches were made by someone else, like Curt, but the Curt design seemed inferior to the U-Haul. The extra bolts was a benefit for the 7 bolt, made in USA U-Haul hitch. Hitch bolts are 10mm x 1.25 thread x 30mm hex bolt CL8.8.

Overall the hitch looks to have good quality. All welds look strong and are clean, sanded down and smooth. Instructions were pretty clear. All pieces stated in the instructions were present in the box. The cross member on either side of the hitch receiver part came padded with cardboard. Too bad the hitch receiver came with peeling paint. The hitch receiver portion is 5″ long, uses a square 1.25″ receiver opening. The receiver hitch pin hole is 0.5″ in diameter and is 3 3/8″ away from the base of the receiver portion (measured from the car to the centre of the hole). The wall of the hitch receiver is 3/16″ thick.

Installation was pretty easy. Seven nuts were already welded to the Altima’s frame rails. The fit of the hitch was great. It is better to loosely tighten the hitch with a couple of bolts, get all the other bolts to thread before you tighten everything up. I put a piece of plywood down on the ground, layed down on the plywood, supported one side of the hitch with my leg and the other side with my arms. One note about the finish of the hitch is that my hitch came with peeling paint on the outside of the hitch receiver. There is no powder coating or anything fancy, but at least the hitch should not come with peeling paint. The hitch extends 0.25 inches/0.5 cm longer than my bumper.

Overall I would say that I did save about $35 with the U-Haul hitch receiver over its competitors. The package did not come with the receiver ($20) nor hitch pin ($10), but I did not need the receiver. The hitch, DIY install, comes with no warranty. I will have to repaint the peeling paint ($5) of the receiver portion of the hitch. The hitch is regulated by the government so I hope the quality is high. Even though I was only ordering and paying for the product, dealing with U-Haul was a hassle. What should have been a simple transaction turned out to be troublesome. I’d hate to get into a really troublesome situation. At least I saved some money.

Cross Post: Nissan Club