The Fit Gets a Hitch

With a pair of road bicycles and a pair of folding bicycles we had to have a way to transport everything between campground stops.  Already shown in a previous post was our solution to the transport of the road bicycles inside the Fit.

We didn't really want to take up additional space inside the basement of the MH, so we decided to carry the folding bicycles on a rack mounted to a hitch on the rear of the Honda Fit.  Unfortunately, there is no hitch receiver on the Fit so today's blog is about the installation of a Draw-Tite 1 1/4 inch receiver-style hitch.

I purchased the hitch from etrailer.com.  Shipping was fast and free.  I always like free.  The installation instructions which come with the hitch are certainly not the best written. (Have you ever encountered that before?)  Fortunately, etrailer.com has an installation video of an installation on a 2011 Honda Fit (no differences for the 2012 model) and it was very good.




Pre-hitch Install


After watching the video, the installation went pretty smoothly.  A third pair of hands would be helpful during the installation.  The hitch is not that heavy, but a pair of hands on each side would allow a third person to assemble the hardware to the frame and make the job a breeze.  Karen handled one side while the use of a floor jack allowed us to keep the hitch near the Fit's frame while I bolted it in place.  The instructions estimated approximately 40 minutes to complete the install.  We did it in about 60, so I am pretty happy.

Finishing Up the Install

The Fit sits pretty low front and rear and the wheels rolled onto a set of ramps was very helpful.  A Dremel tool is a very handy tool to have.  I used it to quickly trim a piece of the plastic wheel well trim and to make the "key hole" slots to enable the metal spacers to be pushed up into the frame.

Up on Ramps



Finished Project





Ground Clearance



All in all, the installation went smoothly and without any unpredicted problems.  I'll take a few pics of the bike rack and the folding bikes once we go down to the storage unit to pick them up.

Should you have any specific questions about this install feel free to email me.