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Is there a hitch for a contour SVT?

Q

qokuh

New CEG'er
Joined
Oct 28, 2005
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I am not very good with computers. I tried searching on the search and found nothing. Please help me. I appreciate it. I have a 99 Contour SVT. I am just wondering how it will work with the SVT bumper. However, I saw a SVT with a hitch.

Thank you
 
Yes, it will place the hitch under the rear bumper on the SVT. If you get a standard contour hitch it will end up that the hitch will be going through the rear mesh :blackeye:. Check your local parts store, IE; autozone, parts plus, etc.. It should run you about $130ish
 
Any place that sells trailor hitches will do it. I have actually seen a svt contour towning a wave runner before.

I had to look twice
 
My friend has a hitch on his SVT and yes he has towed two waverunners before. It's crazy how deep he has to put it into the water to unload them...not for me.
 
I did some research about this a few months ago, because I'd like to be able to tow my Aluminum track event trailer with the SVTC.

Most of the major hitch manufacturers list a hitch for the Contour.
Hidden Hitch 60979, about $100.
Drawtite 24603, about $115
Rigid RT-434-S, about $130
Reese 77009, about $150

Every manufacturer says "not for the SVT...", this is because they won't fit between the CSVT's dual tailpipes, and the CSVT bumper cover probably hangs below the receiver tube.

Based on downloads of drawings and instalation instructions for the various models, it looks like the Drawtite 24603 has the best chance of having the receiver poke nicely through the mesh insert in the bumper, but since I haven't actually bought one and tried it - I make no guarantees.

Every time I've fit a hitch to one of my passenger cars, it usually entails more than a simple bolt-on. There always seems to be some fit-file-modify-cursing involved (Had to fire up the Miller EconoTIG once...) If you're not comfortable re-engineering things, I'd suggest taking the car to a pro installer.
 
gmorrell said:
I did some research about this a few months ago, because I'd like to be able to tow my Aluminum track event trailer with the SVTC.

Most of the major hitch manufacturers list a hitch for the Contour.
Hidden Hitch 60979, about $175.
Drawtite 24603, about $115
Rigid RT-434-S, about $130
Reese 77009, about $150
Click to expand...

I'm quoting myself, but I got interested in this again and started comparing manufacturer's drawings and instructions.

The Drawtite 24603 and the Reese 77009 show up on the same drawing from Towing Products in Canton Michigan/Elkhart Indiana. So it appears that Drawtite and Reese are both selling the same hitch made by Towing Products.
http://www.etrailer.com/instructions.aspx?pn=24603

The Hidden Hitch 60979 is a very different design from the Towing Products hitch.
http://www.trailerhitches.com/images/pdf/CE138.pdf

Can't find too much about the Rigid hitch anymore, perhaps it's gone.

Carry on,

Gary M.
 
This is a timely thread, as I currently have a hitch (Reese brand I think?)on my 96 tour. Its one of the last things i plan on swapping over onto my 98 SVT. I looks like it'll fit through the mesh part of the bumper. My bumper doesnt have mesh right now so I should be good to go.

i'm pretty sure most contour hitches will fit an SVT. But, on mine a little bit of the hitch frame had to be ground away so it could fit around the or the passenger side exhaust pipe.

Also note, that most of these hitches have a really low weight rating and are pretty much useless for towing. I used mine only for my hitch mounted bike rack.
 
Well, I ordered a Drawtite 24603 from Amazon this morning. Once it's here, I'll see what the install looks like on my 99 CSVT and post some pics in my Photobucket account. Give me a few weeks.
 
gmorrell said:
Well, I ordered a Drawtite 24603 from Amazon this morning. Once it's here, I'll see what the install looks like on my 99 CSVT and post some pics in my Photobucket account. Give me a few weeks.
Click to expand...

OK, Amazon said it might take a few weeks to ship, but they got the hitch right out and it arrived last night.

Short story, and I don't have any pictures yet, but if you have a CSVT with a stock exhaust and mufflers, do NOT get the Drawtite 24603 or the Reese 77009. These are very wide at the ends of the cross bar, and will not clear the tailpipes coming off the mufflers.

I pulled an image out of the Towing Products instruction sheet and circled the areas where the hitch frame interferes with the tailpipes. Fixing this isn't just bending a few things or a few hammer whacks, the ends of the crossbar and the C-plates are fully 2" into the bumper cutouts for the tailpipes.

(Click thumbnail for larger image)


The drawbar receiver on the Drawtite/Reese is almost dead-nuts centered in the mesh slot of the rear bumper, so cutting to fit wouldn't be a big deal. There would be maybe a 1/2" long section of square tube poking out from the bumper cover slot, not a big deal unless your CSVT is a concourse car - mine isn't. The safety chain loops will be nicely behind the bumper cover.

Without having it in my hands and test fitting it, I think the Hidden Hitch 60979 might work, because the crossbar is shorter and won't poke into the tailpipe openings. I don't know what their drawbar receiver is going to do at the center of the CSVT bumper.

Because I have the Drawtite hitch, I'm going to cut the cross bar short at the ends and move/weld the C-shaped end plates to the inboard sides of the frame rail boxes. This will shorten up the crossbar by >2" per side, and still give all the mounting strength of the original design, probably more, because I can tie the relocated Drawtite C-plates into the OEM shipping tie-down plates that extend down from the frame boxes, as well as into the sheet metal behind the bumper beam, as Drawtite originally intended. I realize this isn't an option for a lot of you, but I'm an engineer, and I got a band saw and a TIG welder. :laugh:
 
Whatever brand my SVT hitch is fit perfectly.
I believe it was the hidden hitch SVT version. I only say that because the mounting points of the standard hitch(60979 with 4 frame bolts and 2 tie down bolts) matches that of my SVT hitch. This is the best weight bearing type of hitch I have seen yet for our car.

I might be able to get some pictures of how it is installed also. You do need to cut roughly a 1-1.5" hole in the frame to get the head of bolts through and into the frame.

I also do engineering and had axcess to metal and welding, but honestly the install went without a "hitch" :laugh:.


p.s. The small pic you have looks like the curt hitch. The curt brand hitch #11113 only mounts to the bumper bolts and one bolt on each side of the frame. I would say that this is probably the 2nd least favorite hitch because I did see another brand that just mounted to the bumper bolts :blackeye: and that was surely the worst design.

The curt and hidden hitch both have a 2,000lb trailer weight and 200lb toung capacity. I wouldn't exceed either of those just to be safe. I believe the contour owners manual says 1,000lb trailer capacity only..... :shrug:
 
blu_fuz said:
I also do engineering and had axcess to metal and welding, but honestly the install went without a "hitch" :laugh:.
Click to expand...
You chose (or guessed...) wisely, I didn't.

There only look to be two styles of hitches available for this car now, Drawtite/Reese, both seemingly made by Towing Products, as they show up on the same drawing, and Hidden Hitch. I had a 50% chance of getting it right. The Drawtite was $125 shipped, the Hidden Hitch looks to be $180 at the places I checked.

Nobody who makes hitches for the Contour/Mystique makes an SVT specific unit, in fact they all say "not for the SVT", and straight from Hidden's corporate site for the 60979, "...Ford Contour All, Except SVT." That the Hidden works with the SVT is apparently dumb luck.

By the time I front shipping charges to return the Drawtite and order a Hidden unit for more $, I'll have the Drawtite cut up, re-welded and made better. :laugh:
 
I did a search when the old forums were still up that consisted of "svt hitch". I found a guy that posted "I have the svt hitch on my svt. It goes below the bumper, I might take it off".

His post was 3 years old :blackeye:.
I checked his status here and it looked like he had been on CEG in the last few days so I PM'd him about it.
He was amazed to have anyone ask about it because it was never for sale. He said it would be crazy but he might still have it in the shed and he removed it at least 2 years ago.

Sure enough he did, sold it to me on the spot. I think he was from Michigan. Just dumb luck that I found him and he still had it.

That was a perfect example why we should still have the old forums fixed.
 
i took off my hitch a couple of months ago - well original owner installed it (through the mesh :blackeye:).

It was a big chunk of metal covered in rust that probably hasn't seen use for the last few years. It was held in place by 4 bolts which were so rusted that I took the impact wrench to it and it didn't budge but my ridiculous buddy somehow put enough force on it to break it and we got it off. I mean I jumped up and hung off of the breaker bar and it wasn't moving.

Anyway if anyone wants the damn thing, just pay shipping :shrug:
 
blu_fuz said:
p.s. The small pic you have looks like the curt hitch. The curt brand hitch #11113 only mounts to the bumper bolts and one bolt on each side of the frame. I would say that this is probably the 2nd least favorite hitch because I did see another brand that just mounted to the bumper bolts :blackeye: and that was surely the worst design.
Click to expand...

I looked up the Curt hitch. Per the assembly instructions, it's obviously now the "Drawtite/Reese/Curt made by Towing Products hitch."

http://fileresource.sitepro.com/fil.../251/3026E52D-083E-C617-1F1B-F4C5233C07F0.pdf
Note the drawing title: 11113 / 24603 FORD CONTOUR, MERCURY MYSTIQUE, 24603 is the Drawtite part number.

It's funny how inbred the trailer hitch industry is...

http://www.curtmfg.com/index.cfm?ev...rd&selectvehiclemodel=Contour&vehicleType=All
 
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