Fitting a tow bar to E83 BMW X3
Hayman Reese 2537R
Fitting a Hayman Reese quick release tow hitch to an E83 BMW X3 is a reasonable lengthy job. We allow about 3 hours. The bumper has to come off and the bar is mounted across the rear panel of the vehicle attaching to strong points at the end of each chassis rail. The trickiest part is cutting the bumper as BMW seem to have constantly changing designs on the X3. Some have a pull out panel for the tow bar to go through and some don't. So we often spend a while working out how to cut the bumper in the neatest way.
As with many new cars the rear light electrics on the BMW X3 are sensitive and integrated with the vehicle ECU so you have to ensure that no trailer lighting faults are passed over into the car. Also the vehicle may throw up warnings if additional loads that it does not expect are put on the rear lighting circuits. Therefore to provide a power source for your trailer lights we install a Hayman Reese distribution loom with its own ECU. This is powered directly from the vehicle battery with its own fuse.
