[WordFliesNverted]

Anyone have one of their hitches? Pics? Towing capacity?

I ordered my DO rear bumper a couple of years ago and now want to tow... noticed they have one listed for $100 on their website now, but have never seen one.

Thanks
Word

 

[TCao]

I have one on my FJ. Jason did not list a towing capacity and advertizes it as an off road hitch and not a towing hitch. Having said that, the DO hitch uses all six mounting locations just like the factory hitch. The DO construction is very tough and similar to the factory tow hitch. FWIW, I think it will do fine (No, I have not use mine to tow yet). The tow wiring harness can be purchased separately from trdparts4u (Toyota of Dallas) or Sparks Toyota.

Edit: the factory tow hitch can also be modified to fit onto the DO rear bumper.

 

[Moonbuggy]

I know this is an old thread, but I suspect it comes up on a lot of searches. For anyone on the fence about whether to get this hitch, or try to modify and reuse your OEM hitch, let me tell you now, go ahead and order the Demello hitch when you get your bumper. I thought I'd try to save some money and try to modify the factory hitch, especially since the Demello hitch had gone up to $250 when I ordered my bumper, not to mention the Toyota hitch is certified to tow. But after installing the bumper, I realized that to even have a chance of working, the factory hitch would require major cutting and grinding, so much so that the strucrural integrity would likely be
compromsed. Even then, I'm not sure it could be made to fit. If anyone has done it and made it work, please post pics. Anyway, I ordered the Demello hitch, paid the shipping I could have saved if I had just ordered it as the same time as the bumper, and waited. Several months and emails later, it finally arrived. It comes with heavy duty grade 8 bolts, and seems like it will hold up. I haven't done any long trips pulling my 3000+ pound camper yet, but I did pull it about 10-15 miles and it did fine. I plan to pull it more, and if I ever have any problems, I'll be sure to post here. One minor gripe, the hitch fits farther back than in the OEM and it's kind of a pain to put the pin in receiver. But I guess that's the tradeoff for getting I high clearance bumper. Anyway, if you're on the fence about getting the hitch, just go ahead and order it when you order your Demello bumper.

 

[ZerosFJ]

@Moonbuggy it is perfectly possible to use the factory hitch. I did so as I thought the price for the Demello hitch was too high. But I modified the bumper not the hitch, very very easy, just cut the fold of the bumper to allow the factory hitch to sit up in position and bolt it on.

 

[Moonbuggy]

@ZerosFJ, that's pretty ingenious, I wouldn't have thought to try that. It looks pretty good, too. I might have tried your idea if I had seen your setup before. BTW, are those the factory reflectors you put on there? I saved mine and have seriously considered putting them on the Demello, maybe a bit higher up than you have yours. How did you attach them?

 

[ZerosFJ]

@Moonbuggy no they are just cheap stick on ones from eBay, but they worked well and haven’t come off yet several years later.

 

[HighwayHum72]

I have the DO bumper and hitch and I do some pretty good off-road towing with my 2500 lb teardrop trailer. The hitch is good but it does bend some. The actual hitch receiver will collapse enough that you will not be able to fit a standard 2" hitch without grinding it down a little. If that is confusing, I can dig up some pictures for you.

 

[Moonbuggy]

I have the DO bumper and hitch and I do some pretty good off-road towing with my 2500 lb teardrop trailer. The hitch is good but it does bend some. The actual hitch receiver will collapse enough that you will not be able to fit a standard 2" hitch without grinding it down a little. If that is confusing, I can dig up some pictures for you.

Okay, that's concerning. Please do post pics. Did you come down hard on it while offloading? Was the hitch inserted when the receiver got bent?