[pkrface]

Cool, thank you. Might start with just the hitch as for the most part I plan to just use for a rack. I do plan on getting a ~2500 -3000 lbs camper at some point, but sounds like I could add that plug down the line

Yep, the plug is no easier to install at the same time as the hitch vs later. A word of caution on the 2,500 lb camper. First, weight isn’t everything and you’ll need an electric brake controller. Frontal area that is higher than the roof of the car impacts towability far more than people who have no towing experience realize, and the posted empty weight of a camper is surprisingly deceptive. It’s crazy how much stuff you can load into a camper, even a pop up. My pop up weighs 2,700 and there is still plenty of room for stuff that goes unused when I hit 3,500 lbs which is also the trailers axle limit. You also need a minimum of 10% tongue weight to avoid dangerous sway issues which means 250-300 lbs minimum on that hitch at a point way behind the rear axle. That kind of weight without stiffer springs or air shocks will sag your rear end badly, unbalance the front for stable steering, and point your headlights to the sky. I tow my camper with a Honda Odyssey with a significantly longer wheelbase which really helps too, but I honestly can’t imagine doing it with the shorter and narrower 50 and having it feel stable. While it would be better than my old Ford Bronco II I believe it will still feel pretty squirrelly.

 

[jam_313]

Yep, the plug is no easier to install at the same time as the hitch vs later. A word of caution on the 2,500 lb camper. First, weight isn’t everything and you’ll need an electric brake controller. Frontal area that is higher than the roof of the car impacts towability far more than people who have no towing experience realize, and the posted empty weight of a camper is surprisingly deceptive. It’s crazy how much stuff you can load into a camper, even a pop up. My pop up weighs 2,700 and there is still plenty of room for stuff that goes unused when I hit 3,500 lbs which is also the trailers axle limit. You also need a minimum of 10% tongue weight to avoid dangerous sway issues which means 250-300 lbs minimum on that hitch at a point way behind the rear axle. That kind of weight without stiffer springs or air shocks will sag your rear end badly, unbalance the front for stable steering, and point your headlights to the sky. I tow my camper with a Honda Odyssey with a significantly longer wheelbase which really helps too, but I honestly can’t imagine doing it with the shorter and narrower 50 and having it feel stable. While it would be better than my old Ford Bronco II I believe it will still feel pretty squirrelly.

Yeah this is all good info. Pulled plenty of trailers before but always farm trucks, so never really thought about more that weight distribution (didn't even know the term "tongue weight" until recently even though I was technically adhering to it). Started looking into small teardrop trailers recently and started realizing all the different variables. especially when pulling with a smaller vehicle. so ill definitely be doing A LOT more research when I get closer to buying one.

 

[pkrface]

Yeah this is all good info. Pulled plenty of trailers before but always farm trucks, so never really thought about more that weight distribution (didn't even know the term "tongue weight" until recently even though I was technically adhering to it). Started looking into small teardrop trailers recently and started realizing all the different variables. especially when pulling with a smaller vehicle. so ill definitely be doing A LOT more research when I get closer to buying one.

Good to hear. Join one of the camper forums for potential first hand experience of users towing similar campers with similar tow vehicles. Many in the pop up forum said I was nuts for the setup I had (technically 500 lbs over max gross combined with every other measurement in spec), but I towed coast to coast including Yellowstone and the elevations they said were concerning without issue and no transmission failure. Unfortunately that van got totaled at 166K so I never got to fully prove the full long term mechanical solidness of my decisions.

 

[Trickster]

Cool, thank you. Might start with just the hitch as for the most part I plan to just use for a rack. I do plan on getting a ~2500 -3000 lbs camper at some point, but sounds like I could add that plug down the line

I highly recommend one of these inexpensive addition for your hitch.
Creates a nice quiet coupling of any device in the receiver.

 

[Pitts Pilot]

Cool, thank you. Might start with just the hitch as for the most part I plan to just use for a rack. I do plan on getting a ~2500 -3000 lbs camper at some point, but sounds like I could add that plug down the line

Correct the Hitch is an easy install. OEM hitch does not require minor plastic cutting like Curt hitch, although both I believe are Curt mfr. The Wiring install requires a bit more finese and time to study and install.

 

[Teleplayer]

Installed my OEM hitch yesterday. It was a fairly easy job for a semi-handy guy like me with average Joe hand tools, but I thought I'd share my experience here. If I had known some of these details in advance it would have been even easier. If it isn't obvious, this is just the hitch install. I didn't do the wiring since we'll only use the hitch for our bike rack.

The instructions are not super clear and some steps are omitted. Apologies if this is too wordy.

• The long plastic bumper support (to be discarded) is also held in place by two clips not mentioned in the instructions. It's hard to describe in words how to release those clips, but if you spent a minute pushing and prying around the clip with a small flat blade screwdriver, they will release.
• Also not super clear in the instructions (at least not to me, and maybe I'm an idiot) - there's also an approximately 8 inch long piece in the center of the bumper that needs to be removed to allow the receiver portion of the hitch to sit up flush under the bumper. For some reason it seems easy to miss this step in the instructions. I did, and I couldn't get the hitch to sit in place for installation. I had to remove the hitch to remove the bumper center piece and that wasn't a whole lot of fun. So don't miss this step. As I said, maybe I'm an idiot
• That 8 inch long center piece in the bumper is held in place by two screws AND two clips. The screw heads face the front of the car, so you'll have to crawl pretty far underneath to get at them. And if that wasn't enough fun, the two clips that also hold it in place are hard to get at. Once again, it doesn't seem obvious how to release them. Just poke around in there with your small flathead. These seemed particularly fussy.
• Absolutely critical - when you install the two side supports to the frame, LEAVE THEM REALLY LOOSE. That is mentioned in the instructions but not emphasized enough, IMO. I snugged mine up a bit and left them "loose" only to find that it's impossible to get the hitch in place when they're tightened.
• The hitch itself is pretty heavy. If you're working by yourself you'll need to support it with some scrap wood or whatever to get it close to position. Once I had it close I was able to line it up on one end and thread a bolt and nut through one hole to hold it in place. I then went to the other end and did the same and then it was easy to line up the remaining two bolts.
• Depending on what tools you have at your disposal and especially if you're working alone and on your garage floor, access to thread the nuts and bolts can be super tight. It was a fussy process for a couple of them but I got it done.

 

[Greg]

I installed a curt hitch on my cx50 turbo from etrailer.com and one thing I noticed was first drive I heard a banging..After removing the 8 inch section you talked about I had to cut out a small piece of the rear valance as per instructions to allow the hitch to fit..The rear section flapped in the wind while drivng... I tied it down with zip ties but it seems a little hoakey for an install on my new car..and etrailer didnt mention it...
I have also acquired a Mazda wire harness as the 4 pin etrailer harness does not allow tow mode to be accessed..

 

[Greenlineguy]

to

I installed a curt hitch on my cx50 turbo from etrailer.com and one thing I noticed was first drive I heard a banging..After removing the 8 inch section you talked about I had to cut out a small piece of the rear valance as per instructions to allow the hitch to fit..The rear section flapped in the wind while drivng... I tied it down with zip ties but it seems a little hoakey for an install on my new car..and etrailer didnt mention it...
I have also acquired a Mazda wire harness as the 4 pin etrailer harness does not allow tow mode to be accessed..

I see you cheaped out a little on the harness and hitch! My wife and I have two CX 50s. The first hitch I purchased was the one from e trailer because my wife only wanted to carry bicycles. Since mine was the turbo premium plus model I needed it for towing and at the time I purchased my wife's I didn't know Mazda had its own hitch so I end up purchasing the hitch from Napa Auto parts they were the cheapest. It was only $25 more but you got so much more for your money! Instead of cutting the inner piece of the bumper all you had to do was remove the whole thing but beside that when I put my wife's e trailer on I didn't get the flapping in the rear that you're referring to Don't know what you did wrong there! I also knew that tow mode does not work with the four pin connector so I purchased the Mazda 7 pin connector everything fit on the hitch perfectly The mounts were there it's the best way to go sorry it's too late for you unless you want to take that one off which I doubt! Also anyone reading this should think hard about purchasing the curt hitch from e trailer and purchase the factory Mazda hitch which is also made by curt but they are not made the same at all!

 

[Greg]

to

I see you cheaped out a little on the harness and hitch! My wife and I have two CX 50s. The first hitch I purchased was the one from e trailer because my wife only wanted to carry bicycles. Since mine was the turbo premium plus model I needed it for towing and at the time I purchased my wife's I didn't know Mazda had its own hitch so I end up purchasing the hitch from Napa Auto parts they were the cheapest. It was only $25 more but you got so much more for your money! Instead of cutting the inner piece of the bumper all you had to do was remove the whole thing but beside that when I put my wife's e trailer on I didn't get the flapping in the rear that you're referring to Don't know what you did wrong there! I also knew that tow mode does not work with the four pin connector so I purchased the Mazda 7 pin connector everything fit on the hitch perfectly The mounts were there it's the best way to go sorry it's too late for you unless you want to take that one off which I doubt! Also anyone reading this should think hard about purchasing the curt hitch from e trailer and purchase the factory Mazda hitch which is also made by curt but they are not made the same at all!

Bingo, I have purchased the Mazda harness with 7 pins and 4 pin adapter from auto zone and next time I'm home I'll remove the curt harness and replace it...Tow mode is important to me...The Curt paper instructions that came with my 24 cx50 turbo hitch has you cut out part of the plastic allowing the hitch to fit...It then fluttered in the wind.

 

[RedBaron]

The Curt paper instructions that came with my 24 cx50 turbo hitch has you cut out part of the plastic allowing the hitch to fit...It then fluttered in the wind.

Not sure what you did, but I'm guessing it was something wrong. There's no 'fluttering' with my Curt hitch.

 

[Greenlineguy]

Bingo, I have purchased the Mazda harness with 7 pins and 4 pin adapter from auto zone and next time I'm home I'll remove the curt harness and replace it...Tow mode is important to me...The Curt paper instructions that came with my 24 cx50 turbo hitch has you cut out part of the plastic allowing the hitch to fit...It then fluttered in the wind.

I know I said before that I had purchased a factory hitch from Napa that was wrong I purchased my curt hitch from Napa because it was cheaper than e trailer! I purchased my factory hitch from a place called Bam wholesale parts it was the cheapest place I could find it at the time and it seems to be still the cheapest it's only $207 for the factory hitch which has everything built onto it including the harness holder! The part you say in the back you had to cut because you purchased the hitch from e trailer there's two fascia clips you have to replace one on each side of the void if you don't do that it will flap around! The factory hitch has mounting points built onto the hitch so you don't have to cut anything you remove the whole plastic piece and discard it if you want The clips that hold the fascia are built on to the hitch itself! You can check out the instructions for it at Bam wholesale parts.com

 

[Pitts Pilot]

Frankly both the curt snd mazda hitch are built by curt but the mazda to mazda specs. For and additional $40-50 I dont get why people dont just buy the mazda it‘s a perfect and cleaner install, no cutting, etc than the curt and i‘ve seen both it looks better.

 

[Greenlineguy]

Frankly both the curt snd mazda hitch are built by curt but the mazda to mazda specs. For and additional $40-50 I dont get why people dont just buy the mazda it‘s a perfect and cleaner install, no cutting, etc than the curt and i‘ve seen both it looks better.

You're right and if you shop online properly you can find the Mazda hitch cheaper than the non-factory hitch!

 

[Pitts Pilot]

Yep youre correct I bought mine early 2023 when the new 7 pin „corrected“ harness was reintroduced and harness was in high demand and hitch as well. Even then it was a minor cost difference

 

[Greenlineguy]

Yep youre correct I bought mine early 2023 when the new 7 pin „corrected“ harness was reintroduced and harness was in high demand and hitch as well. Even then it was a minor cost difference

I agree even today is better to buy the Mazda accessories!

 

[Beyfon]

I’m a cheap guy but decided on the Mazda original hitch for the CX50 vs the Curt brand one I had got for my earlier CX5. It was probably the easiest hitch install I have done. Didn’t even have to jack the car up. Fit and finish of the Mazda hitch was very good and the paint was nicer than what I have been used to. Everything fit really well and came out looking great.