[sippffo]

Hi Fellow Members,

Sorry to ask this, but did any of you Install your Curt Hitch yourself, as I have just done my car and had a few questions for you all.

I am here in Sydney, Australia and just received my Curt through eBay, when trying to get this thing up behind the Rear Bar, I followed their supplied Instructions which were really simple, take out Plastic Clips closest to Exhaust, drop Exhaust, etc all done.

What I have on my Car is a couple of Vertical Plastic support things that bolt to the Rear of my Car via 10mm Bolts, these in turn run down the back of the Car, and locate another Plastic Brace that sits Horizontal along the Bottom of the Bumper Bar as support to stop the Bumper from moving around.

I am not sure if your cars do have these supports, or if they have to be modified like removing the part where I have placed Masking Tape on it to fit behind the Hitch as such.

Any ideas or help is really appreciated.

[email protected]

 

[mainemanx]

If I'm seeing everything correctly, mine had the vertical mounts but not the horizontal brace.

Frankly, I don't see how or to what the horizontal brace attaches ... nor what it does. I also installed the rear bumper garnish, which may obviate the horizontal brace.
Give us more info ... others more knowledgeable than I am will surely help/advise.

 

[TiGrayMSM]

You do not need to remove the part that you took off. The easiest way to do this install if you do not have a lift is to use ramps. Just reverse up the ramps and you will have more than enough space to work. When you line up the hitch from underneath, you will see which bolts you have to remove. You will also see that the exhaust (muffler) is in the way. All you need to do with the exhaust is remove the rubber hangers. If they are a pain, put some dishwasher soap on them and they should slide right off. With the hangers holding up the muffler removed, you will have more than enough space to install the hitch. It took me about an hour the first time I did this, and you can probably install this even quicker than that. Post up photos if you have any other questions about fitment.

 

[mainemanx]

Yes, I only loosened the vertical bumper hangers ... didn't have the horizontal thingie ...

However, ample globs of dish soap and an un-ending stream of curses were insufficient to remove the muffler hangers from their donuts ... Amazon sped me the proper tool ... piece-of-cake thereafter.

 

[sippffo]

Yes, I only loosened the vertical bumper hangers ... didn't have the horizontal thingie ...

However, ample globs of dish soap and an un-ending stream of curses were insufficient to remove the muffler hangers from their donuts ... Amazon sped me the proper tool ... piece-of-cake thereafter.

Hi,

I did follow all the instructions as per description, I removed the Plastic push clips, I dropped the Exhaust from the hangers, undid the two lower Bumper bar bracket bolts, which gave me plenty of room to lift the Hitch up behind the Bar.

This is when I discovered the strange vertical plastic pieces that were stopping me from getting the Hitch up far enough to get on to the Bolts for the Bumper.

I removed these and it went up and installed perfectly, all bolts torqued to specs, and job done.

I will hopefully climb back under the Rear, take a couple more Pics of where these all came from.

Darren

 

[sippffo]

Hi all,

Another couple of Photo's for you to see.

Darren

 

[anchorman]

You left the braces out? Have you got a photo of them?

 

[mainemanx]

Hi all,

Another couple of Photo's for you to see.

Darren

My vetical brackets are still attached, trailer hitch and all. In fact, my rear pumper garnish is attached to the them. That is, the plastic push rivet goes through the garnish, the bumper cover, and then the vertical bracket.

I'll try to get a picture today.

P.S. These carriages are definitely made for ease of assembly, not disassembly.

 

[anchorman]

They don't take account of meddling customers that want to pull them apart..........

......err, let me withdraw that ;-)

Are we talking about the two little stays for the back bumper?

 

[mainemanx]

Stays, brackets, suspenders, braces, supports, struts ... the little fellas need a proper name!

 

[anchorman]

If the ones that tie the rear bumper to the underside, the wind will have the bumper off.

 

[mainemanx]

If the ones that tie the rear bumper to the underside, the wind will have the bumper off.

... along with half the stern of the little yacht.

 

[sippffo]

My vetical brackets are still attached, trailer hitch and all. In fact, my rear pumper garnish is attached to the them. That is, the plastic push rivet goes through the garnish, the bumper cover, and then the vertical bracket.

I'll try to get a picture today.

P.S. These carriages are definitely made for ease of assembly, not disassembly.

This is the Model Number for the Curt Hitch I bought through eBay.
Bought from JC Whitney
Curt Hitch Rear New Mazda CX-3 2016 11418

Darren

 

[sippffo]

At The

... along with half the stern of the little yacht.

Moment I have put a few Cable ties through the Holes in the Bumper Cover and around the Hitch to stop that happening, until I can get some sense of what is happening here, there was no way that I could get my Hitch up to get on those removed two per side Bumper Bracket Bolts without removing those Plastic Supports.

Darren

 

[anchorman]

Moment I have put a few Cable ties through the Holes in the Bumper Cover and around the Hitch to stop that happening, until I can get some sense of what is happening here, there was no way that I could get my Hitch up to get on those removed two per side Bumper Bracket Bolts without removing those Plastic Supports.

Darren

I would say that tie wraps around the tow bar are probably stronger than the original arrangement and will be fine.

 

[sippffo]

I would say that tie wraps around the tow bar are probably stronger than the original arrangement and will be fine.

Hi anchorman

Yes they do seem stronger, but I would still like to find out what I may have done wrong in the Install, or if the design of this Hitch has changed.

The other reason I asked these question initially was, in regard to buying a Mazda Hitch here in Australia, was nearly double in price even including the Shipping from the US.

I did upload some Images in my first post, that show the Parts in question, plus the Part Numbers.

Darren

 

[Playthru1]

Is it possible that there is a design change to some of the CX 3s and some have a different setup in the bumper area?

 

[mainemanx]

Apologies for the picture ... messy weather here in Maine.

As I recall, I first loosened the vertical brace, then up with the hitch, and finally the plastic rivet through the garnish, the bumper cover, and the vertical brace.

Lastly, reach up behind the horizontal hitch bar and tighten the vertical brace where it attaches to the body.

P.S. Yep, same Curt Hitch # 11418.

 

[sippffo]

Thank You

Apologies for the picture ... messy weather here in Maine.

As I recall, I first loosened the vertical brace, then up with the hitch, and finally the plastic rivet through the garnish, the bumper cover, and the vertical brace.

Lastly, reach up behind the horizontal hitch bar and tighten the vertical brace where it attaches to the body.

P.S. Yep, same Curt Hitch # 11418.

For taking some pictures for me to compare the Vertical Plastic Braces.

My ones are about approx. 2" wider(thicker) at the part that goes between the Hitch and the Body, where it bolts to.

Finally we are getting somewhere, lol.

This maybe a Mazda Australia thing, I will now get in contact with them, to see what they do when fitting a Genuine towbar to their cars before delivery, maybe they just cut the section from the back of the brace where I have labeled Remove on the masking tape.
Maybe they have different braces for when towbars are fitted.

Thanks again to everyone, and thank you again for that single Picture.

Darren

 

[anchorman]

Darren, is your car diesel?