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Anyone recognise this hitch??

was it suposed to be a NEW hitch?? any paperwork showing its manufacturer? who told you it isnt, and why?? looks to me to be a light-duty hitch.. even my u-haul 1.5" hitch has 6 bolts holding it to the frame...
 
Doesn't look like the Hidden Hitch I saw. Yours sits closer to the bumper giving it a better overall departure angle. My concern with yours though is that its only held on by two bolts per side. My U-Haul hitch is held on by six bolts per side and is bolted along the frame with a bracket that is about three times as long as yours appears to be, and I would not really consider my hitch to be great.
B.
 
Looks like a homebrew piece of garbage to me. The angle iron they used for the mounts aren't even straight by the looks of that last picture. Only two bolts? I hope you didn't pay the price for a Hidden Hitch and got that.
 
Looks very home made. Wouldn't have been bad if they would have just extended it back to the other bolt holes. Looks a little scary for any kind of use right now.
 
Ditto what Beej said. I installed a Hidden Hitch last year, and what you got ain't it.

What you have also isn't a Mopar, isn't a Putnam, and isn't a Valley. Doesn't look like any Reese I've seen, either. The mounting arms are WAAAAY too short. I'd be surprised if it's a factory-made hitch. Looks more like somebody's home-brew.

Unless it was designed for some other vehicle and adapted to fit your XJ. But I still think those short arms and two bolts per side are inadequate for a Class 3 hitch on any vehicle.
 
The last picture was taken at a wierd angle, I don't think it's actually crooked in real life. Besides the 2 frame rail bolts on each side, it also bolts up above the receiver between the gas tank and the bumper somewhere. You just can't see it. I know this because I saw the hitch before they put it on and the guy said they were going to have to drop the tank a little bit to be able to get up in there and mount it.
 
Ok, I am FIRED up right now! I just went out and took another look at this hitch... there is a sticker that says Mfg. by Bar-Lo Enterprises (Not HiddenHitch!!) but it does say 500 pound tongue weight and 5000 total so I assume it's a Class III but I tell you what, I will be down at A to Z muffler tomorrow morning to raise some hell!
 
its not a draw tite...


good luck at the muffler shop.

what does the recipt say?
 
The receipt doesn't specify a brand or anything... just says hitch. They're going to try and screw me I know it... I'm about ready to take it off tonight and throw it through his damn window.
 
IdeaMan said:
The receipt doesn't specify a brand or anything... just says hitch. They're going to try and screw me I know it... I'm about ready to take it off tonight and throw it through his damn window.
Click to expand...
You should have other recourses. First, there's the Better Business Bureau. Second, if it's a chain, you can contact the headquarters of the company whose name is over the door. Third, as an auto repair shop they must have a license from some State agency. (In CT it's the DMV, dunno what it'll be in CA). Complain to them and they should intercede, or at least investigate. Around here, a shop would probably lose their license for a few months for a bait-n-switch.
 
Eagle said:
You should have other recourses. First, there's the Better Business Bureau. Second, if it's a chain, you can contact the headquarters of the company whose name is over the door. Third, as an auto repair shop they must have a license from some State agency. (In CT it's the DMV, dunno what it'll be in CA). Complain to them and they should intercede, or at least investigate. Around here, a shop would probably lose their license for a few months for a bait-n-switch.
Click to expand...
whoa whao - lets not ruin someones business by taking stuff to the government... howabout he go down there and talk to them first. Maybe there was annother cherokee that someone wants that hitch on - and they mixed the two up.
I got a free waterpump professionaly installed that way

Also - sometimes the desk clerks at my old job wouldnt communicate things to the shop tech's very well, and the shop techs would use whatever part is on the dock (the right part) regardless of brand...
 
From what I can see from that Bar-Lo page, their hitch looks different than the one we have been talking about here. On the Bar-Lo page, you can see that the hitch is attached at three points per side along a deeper mounting surface. I would imagine that it would hold better than the two bolt per side hitch that they attached to Ideaman's XJ. If it were me, I would have questions for the shop who did the work.
B.
 
XJ_ranger said:
whoa whao - lets not ruin someones business by taking stuff to the government... howabout he go down there and talk to them first. Maybe there was annother cherokee that someone wants that hitch on - and they mixed the two up.
Click to expand...
He already said he was going to talk to them. I was pointing out that if they blow him off, as he expects them to do, he has other options ... it's not the end of the game if they send him packing.
 
definitely a homebrew...id "hide" that hitch in the shop owners backside if it was me...then again i wouldnt have a hitch installed at a muffler shop either...id probably buy a reese or the like and install it myself...
 
Eagle said:
He already said he was going to talk to them. I was pointing out that if they blow him off, as he expects them to do, he has other options ... it's not the end of the game if they send him packing.
Click to expand...
ok, just wanted to make sure that thing were taken care of, and see if there is a better way to do things. The advice given about small claims and all that is good advice, but should only be used if the two parties cannot agree on anything else between each other. I am always a fan of talking to the compay and giving customer service a run for their money.


good to know were on the same page
-Ranger
 
I calmed myself down and went over there and spoke to the guy who actually did the install. He was real nice about everything... said they usually try and take care of any problems, etc. but that he can't do anything and I need to talk to the owner who would be in later.

I left and went back a couple hours later and spoke to the owner. He insisted (as did the install guy) that these Bar-Lo Enterprises hitches are good hitches and they've never had any problems with them and they've been around longer than HiddehHitch, bla bla bla. I said, I don't care about that... the only reason I called him is because his Yellow Page ad says he has HiddenHitch brand hitches (along with some others) and he says well it was a miscomunication... he says he never puts on HiddenHitch hitches unless BarLo and DrawTite don't make one.

Anyhow, he (the owner) is supposed to get back with me later today after he calls his supplier of HiddenHitches and finds out what model I need and if he's getting it here or out of Sacramento.

I contacted HiddenHitch with the pictures of my hitch before I posted them here and they wrote back to me today and want to know who this guy is... I think they subsidize his advertising and are ****ed that people call in for a HiddenHitch and he sells them a Bar-Low hitch that is hidden.
 
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