Hi all,

I need to add a tow hitch to my 1999 Volvo V70 Turbo and I was wondering if anyone has done this to theirs. If so, I'm looking for recommendations on where to get the hitch (I found one for ~$210 here) and how difficult it was to install. Looking at the reviews of the one I found, it sounds like at least one person had to drill new holes for mounting. I'd rather not do that (obviously), but I'm not afraid of a drill.

Thanks!

 

I have a stock Volvo hitch on my 960, and it bolted right in. Perhaps check the dealer and see if they offer one, get the part #, and then go on ebay and try to find it for cheap.

 

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

 

Yeah I just put on my 99 XC last month. It cost about $200 from Rack and Road and it bolts right on. No drilling required. Just DO NOT buy the wiring harness from Volvo. Get the cheap one at an auto parts store. I bought the one from Volvo and it's a 7-pin that doesn't fit ANYTHING and you have to buy $150 adapter if you want it to work with anything. You can bolt the hitch on less than 15 minutes. Just make sure you have a torque wrench. If you don't then you can put it on then take it to a shop and tell them how much torque you need on each bolt and they'll do it for free/cheap. good luck

 

I found the best place and price for this hitch is U-Haul about $130.00. And it takes about 25 minutes to install.

 

Hi all,

I realized I never finalized this from my end. I took the advice of a local friend who had added a hitch to his VW and ordered one from www.etrailer.com(brand - Hidden Hitch). It took no drilling but some filing/bending of metal and tricky feeding of two bolts through the frame. Total of 6 bolts that fit right in and came with vehicle specific instructions. As of now, I've driven 1100 miles from AL to CT carrying a virtually empty trailer and now am on my return trip with a motorcycle and other stuff totaling about 700 pounds. So far, I've gone about 800 miles off the way back and I've had no problems, despite my fears and expectations of the hitch or trailer falling off the back.

CJG

 

haha....glad to hear things have turned out well for you. I've towed our 3,500lb boat with my 960 for about 100 miles and had no problems at all. In your case 700 lbs should be no problem at all. Hope you have a smooth trip!

 

Well, after my last post, I picked up the last bit, another 500+ lb riding mower. So the final load of about 1200-1300 lbs made it for the final 300 miles or so. Everything went successfully!

 

I towed a 4200 lb boat once with my 85 760 Turbo Diesel, mainly cause the dealer who sold me the boat said I should have no problem. Got home and could smell how hot the transmission was. Went out the nex weekend and bought a 76 Jeep Grand Cherokee for $2,000 and used it for towing the boat. ThatJeep was cool. He had dual glass pack mufflers on it and did something to theengine and had all the side body panels replaced and rust proofed. Guy who had it before me was towing some big Airstream with it.

 

I finally got the picture of the heavily loaded car onto my computer so I thought I'd share it... Under these tarps are a 1983? Yamaha Maxim (motorcycle), a Troy-bilt riding lawn mower, a hand-built (by my dad with no power tools) wood-working workbench, anda few other random items (including a heavy bin of books and magazines).The car-top carrier and the trunk have a couple of suitcaseseach. Passengers included me, my wife and our 1-yr old son. Definitely the heaviest load I've carried with this car.

 

what kind of mileage did you get??

 

According to the instantaneous mileage gauge in the instrument cluster, I was getting about 12-15 mpg on average, but on even slight hills it was dropping down around 5-7. I could just about see the gas gauge dropping.