itacud

For those who have either inquired about, or had a hitch installed on their allroad... what's the longest time you know of for an Audi hitch installation?

From what I've seen so far, I think I've got a winner with an 8-hour installation quote from my dealer. And they claim to have already done it a couple times before.

scfan

My dealer quoted 5 hours at $90 per hour. I was "fortunate" to be the second in line--they quoted the first hitch installation for 2 hours...which ran much longer. Lucky guy!

I decided to take on the job myself and it was rather easy. Time consuming, yes at about 9 hours, but I got to learn a lot about the rear end of the wife's allroad and pocket the savings. Our allroad has all options except the rear seat, so I had to follow through all the electrical steps (Parktronic, etc.).

Did my first tow up to Lake Tahoe pulling a Honda Aquatrax Turbo two weeks ago (summit at about 7,000+ feet--tow just over 1,000 lbs). Outside temp was 90 degrees plus most of the way, and all I saw was a 5 degree increase in oil temp. The 2.7 did a great job and I barely noticed the load (plus additional weight of the entire rear filled to the back of the front seats with gear, bikes on top, etc.).

This is the first unitized body vehicle I have used to tow with. I have previously used full frame vehicles. Nothing bothered me about towing with the allroad except that you get a lot of trailer noise coming through the chassis (due to it being directly attached to chassis versus being isolated on a full frame vehicle). It was far from annoying and loud, but it did make the usual quiet ride of the allroad a bit louder.

Two improvements I would make if I was to do it over again. One is to put in a set bolt on the reciever to tighten down on the hitch. It has quite a bit of freeplay that will bang a bit with load shifting. The other change I would make is to put on heavier gauge bumper brackets. One of my brackets starting collapsing before I even I got to the recommended torque rating. Sure, they are only holding the bumper in place (the hitch is right behind the bumper), but I'm picky...

If you chose to do it yourself, pick up a one-sided sticky cellulose A/C insulating/weather strip. It is shown in the diagram, but doesn't come with the hitch (to put between the bumper and hitch). Also, have a small pointed object handy to remove the electrical pin-outs on the harnesses. I should have taken pictures and made notes on some things I found lacking in the installation diagrams, but nothing common sense couldn't take care of.

All in all it was an easy install that anyone with some mechanical/electrical knowledge could easily complete. The setup is so slick and many have commented on it.

Good luck!

Jeff

itacud

I thought about doing the install myself... we'll have to see if I can find 9 hours of free time.

arnw

University Audi in Seattle did mine for 4 hours. They had installed several prior to that. The hitch works well, the only design issue I see is poor access to the loops that the safety chains hook in to. I have 20' Boston Whaler (3300#) and towed it last week from Seattle to Sand Point Idaho , Pullman, Wa and back to Seattle. Had 4 people and a cartop carrier full of luggage. Snoqualmie Pass is about 3000' above sea level and there is several fairly good grades on each side of the pass. 2.7 did well except when I was forced to put regular octane gas in, did not have nearly the power and started to heat up slightly coming up Vantage hill in 93 degree heat. Brakes worked better than expected. Gas milage was about 12.5 mpg.

itacud

I believe hitches for 2001 cars took longer to install, because the cars were not pre-wired for the electrical connector like the 2002s.

itacud

In this post (from a year ago), somebody claims that an Audi Memo states 2.8 hours of labor is the recommended installation time for the hitch -- on 2001 cars, which were not pre-wired electrically.

Has anyone else heard this to be true? Better yet, does anybody have a copy of this memo? It'd be nice to show my dealer proof that an 8-hour install is a little out there...<ul><li><a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/allroad/msgs/5849.phtml">https://forums.audiworld.com/allroad/msgs/5849.phtml</a</li></ul>

InternetBrands

I held them to the quote and the sales dept had to eat the other 3 hours.

InternetBrands

The construction of the Audi unit is very nice, but I'd really like one that sets the ball lower. Since the receiver is vertical, this would be a custom built item. Anyone look into this?

scfan

Mine is a later 2001. There was no pre-wire on the electronics, however mine already had the third nut set already installed and holes pre-drilled (most forward bolt locations; 3rd set that is not in use for bumper shocks). I assume, since the hitch came with a kit to install the nut set and instructions for installation/drilling, that the earliest allroads did not have this installed. I was glad to avoid removing the mufflers and rear wheels to install this part...and I'm certain the time would have been further increased.

While I could have gone faster than my 9 hours, I wanted to take my time and get it right. Five hours sounds reasonable as there is a lot of disassembly and assembly. I personally would not want some rookie installing this at the dealer in 2.8 hours...it would definitely say something about the dealer. Some of the screws are difficult to get to and simply require time to remove and reinstall. Not to mention that some of the bumper screws are plastic, and it you don't take your time they are going to be cross-threaded. To remove the floor in the rear, there is double-sided tape. Don't take your time pulling it up and it will probably come off in pieces. This is simply a time-consuming job if done right--but not complicated.

I say it is great if you can get the dealer to charge you less than three hours, but I'm assuming I wouldn't trust the job of someone who actually does it in that time or less--no matter the selection of tools or skill level.

My two cents...

Jeff

itacud

Are you finding trailers ride to high with the stock setup?