Class II Hitch on a 1997 Chevy Malibu

[jwalters]

Hello,
    I would love to skip this thread altogether and buy a nice 3/4 ton pickup truck, but the realist in me says that won't happen for a couple years.  In the mean time, I am thinking about getting a class II hitch (from uhaul) for my Malibu.  With the time and money spent on renting motorcycle trailers and borrowing friends trucks, it occured to me that I could have bought a nice single motorcycle aluminum trailer by now.

    The whole hitch assembly is about ~$120 from Uhual, and installation is about the same, maybe a bit more.  My questions, has anyone installed one of these before?  Are they something that can be done without a car lift?  From what I have read, the class II requires some drilling, can this be accomplished with a good handheld drill?  Basically, is this a saturday morning DIY job, or should I get it professionally installed?

   With the spring trackdays on the horizon (well, they will be on the horizon in a couple months :(  ), I need to get it done either way!

-j

[todius]

etrailer.com (where I got my hitch for my lil Protege) has instructions for the Hidden Hitch brand hitch here:

http://www.etrailer.com/instructions.asp?pn=90131&manuf=HH

it should give you a pretty good idea of what's involved.

They rate it a difficulty of 4 on a scale of 1 to 10 and say it should take the average amateur 40mins to install.   Seemed like their scale was relatively close when I installed mine.

[jwalters]

Thanks.  That was the other brand I was looking at.  I figured with shipping and the fact that UHaul is only a 1/2 mile away so I can pick it up, I was leaning towards UHaul hitches.  Also, they might give me less slack when I rent trailers for the time being, if I have a UHaul hitch. The Uhaul here in town seems to be a little nit-picky when it comes to cars and trailers.

Thanks again Todius, from the pdf you sent, seems like I should be able to handle it.

jesse

[WEINERDOGBONE]

I've installed several hitches in my years. Normally, they are pretty straight forward. I currently have a Uhaul Hitch. I'm happy with it.
I wouldn't pay someone to do it for me but I like to tinker.

[jwalters]

Thanks, with a name like  "WEINERDOGBONE", your wisdom and expertise could only surpassed by your unrelenting love for Weiner Dog Cuisine.

But seriously thanks.  From looking at those intstructions, it doesn't look too bad, not hard enough to warrent a ~$200 installation anyway.
jesse