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dragan

HOW TO: Install hitch on a Smart Fortwo for less than $40

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I would like to share with you my installation of a hitch onto the Fortwo. The car in the pictures is a 2010 Smart Fortwo. It was not designed to tow and the rebar is made of thin metal (1/8" thick) so I do not recommend towing anything heavier than 200lbs.

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Tools needed:

- MIG welder

- Chop saw or bandsaw

- allen/hex keys

OK so the first step is to lift the car off the ground, either using a jack or hoist. Remove the rear bumper guard, grey plastic piece, to expose the muffler. To remove use hex keys.

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Next thing, remove the rebar. Three large allen key bolts on left and right side, then the rebar will slide out the bottom of the rear bumper.

Rebar:

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Find a hitch from another car. I found mine at the junkyard Pick N' Pull on a half off day. Came to 20 bucks. Off a Nissan Pathfinder, but anyone will do. I chose a 1 1/4" receiver size as opposed to the 2" because the load of the trailer will be very light. 1-1/4" will do just fine.

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Measure 4" of space on each side and using the chop saw cut the ends off, you won't be needing them.

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Measure about 1/4" of depth and cut the receiver end.

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Measure the rebar and centre the hitch receiver piece. Cut a 3" C channel rebar the same and place that below the receiver piece. This adds stability to the rebar and gives the receiver a solid flat mount instead of the thin wavy rebar.

To prepare it for welding use a disk sander to remove the paint from all metal edges.

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First tack weld the metal every 2 inches, then come around again to finish it. That will prevent any heat warping.

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Edited by dragan
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Sand the metal in preparation for paint. Use a wire brush to get off the weld spray/residue. Use a wax/grease remover as the final step before spray painting. Spray 3 coats of primer. Let dry. Spray 4-6 coats of rubberized undercoat spray. Let dry for at least 6 hours before reinstalling.

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Reinstall everything, including the black plastic guard onto the rear bumper. Measure and cut enough so the receiver can stick out. I used a wood saw to cut it, then a razor blade or finish.

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Finally, reinstall the guard and bolt everything back together.

Stand back and enjoy the newfound cargo capacity your Fortwo!

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Rather rough and poor welding. Not sufficiently elegant in my book. What do you mean by rebar? Something for reinforcing concrete?

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What do you mean by rebar? Something for reinforcing concrete?

Rebar is the term that describes a metal piece of reinforcement behind the front and rear bumper.

Example:

http://assets.suredone.com/1517/media-photos/cp006098-front-bumper-rebar-reinforcement-impact-bar-vw-jetta-gti-r32-mk5-genuine-oe.jpg

Edited by dragan

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rebar is used a lot to describe small weak bumpers that are hidden behind plastic bumper skins/panels

personally i would have tossed that whole bar aside and started from scratch building a much stronger one out of thick wall tubing

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rebar is used a lot to describe small weak bumpers that are hidden behind plastic bumper skins/panels

personally i would have tossed that whole bar aside and started from scratch building a much stronger one out of thick wall tubing

A "stronger" crash bar won't crush as readily to absorb crash energy, and will allow greater force from the impact to reach the passenger compartment. Attempting to "re-engineer" any crash safety systems is not recommended. ;)

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Also, I dispute the "less than $40" claim. How much does a TIG welder cost, and the education to use one properly? ;)

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rebar is used a lot to describe small weak bumpers that are hidden behind plastic bumper skins/panels

personally i would have tossed that whole bar aside and started from scratch building a much stronger one out of thick wall tubing

A "stronger" crash bar won't crush as readily to absorb crash energy, and will allow greater force from the impact to reach the passenger compartment. Attempting to "re-engineer" any crash safety systems is not recommended. ;)

im ok with that

building a whole new one means i could keep the original one and supply it to the next owner if he/she is a fuddy duddy armchair engineer ;)

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Just wonder what possibly would be the outcome if my trailer is rammed into by a heavy vehicle at speed. Trailer coupling may well penetrate far into cabin.

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By using the stock crash bar, there is at least a hope that if hit from behind, the crash bar will bend from the impact. (Happened to me.)

If you make a replacement crash bar that is too strong, the impact is going to go somewhere anyhow, with a pretty good chance of bending the unibody instead of the crash bar. The crash bar is meant to be a sacrificial piece in a minor shunt.

I know you can buy a hitch for these cars and I found a couple of pics on the internet. It appears that they share the mounting points where the crash bar bolts to the unibody, but they use their own crossbar that is well below the crash bar (structurally separate from it) and this also means no need to cut the valance because the receiver is below it. These would have no effect on the crash bar's ability to absorb an impact,

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