Has anybody solved the problem of putting a real trailer hitch on the cooper s?
I was hoping to tow a small camping trailer and be able to attach a rear bike rack when the trailer is not in use.
Also, it should have clearance for an after market exhaust system.

 

It depends what you mean by a "real" trailer hitch.

I have a small trailer. It probably weighs about 200 pounds empty. I keep the static tongue wieght under 50 pounds.

Yesterday I hauled a gross load of around 600 pounds 70 miles at interstate speeds.

The specs for a MC say it can handle a 900 pound trailer. The MCS is not rated for a trailer. I remember that Chrysler used to say not to tow with their Turbo charged cars. I don't know if the MINI DSC or ASC would do something inappropriate when hauling a trailer. So far I have around 600 miles of trailer towing behind my 2004 MCS with out any difficulty.

There are several threads showing some peoples solutions. My solution is at:

http://user.mc.net/~jdewey/MINI/Trailer_hitch/

John

 

We purchased a trailer hitch designed for both the MC and the MCS at minimania.com last April. We are towing the maximum weight for the CVT - we have a new teardrop camping trailer, and rolled over a truck scale last weekend to see how much we weighed, and we were just over, the trailer portion was 1,060 (this is loaded with cooking and camping gear). We're very careful to not exceed the 100 pound tongue weight for the car and the hitch.

We were told we literally got the last hitch made by the person who provided these to minimania.com. Perhaps they can tell you who made it, or you can find a similar design.

I was also told by Torklift (in Kent, WA) that they could have installed a custom towing apparatus a lot easier than the hitch I brought them. So perhaps you should talk to your local hitch specialist and see what they think.

Pictures for first towing the teardrop (may have good pics of the hitch) are at www.pensandpixels.com/Albums If there aren't, we can take a picture of the hitch without the trailern on it and email it to you.

 

Our trailer hitch looks like the "hacker hitch" in the links provided by the post prior to mine. Except it is stainless.

 

Terry Sayther in Austin, Tx. had the trailer.

Hope that helps...

JPS

 

Actually, talk to Bill at Mini of Pittsburgh. They use an MCS to tow a Mini which has been gutted and turned in to a BBQ Grill that they take to events. I've got a pic of it on one of the last pages of the May Build thread. Looks pretty cool, and its still got to be over 1000 lbs.

 

I would like to see the photo's of the Mini BBQ Grill. Can you send me the link?

 

Dixon from Pittsburgh Mini's came and installed our hitch. We ordered it from Mini Do More.. This is the best picture I have of it before being installed. We also have a tear drop camper that we tow, and have never had a problem with it. I do have a MCS 06. We took it up to the Dragon this year, and down to Mickey meets Mini in Florida last year. Hope this helps.

 

Where do you find those teardrop trailers? Thanks.