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[Boatman]

Noticed that when the UPS man handed me the box, it was much heavier than the box I had just shipped a few days earlier off of my 05..   Thought maybe there was 2 in there by mistake.

On SBB's pictures and seeing OhioDave's in person, I hated the look of the receiver stub that hung down from the rear fender when the receiver was removed.  I bought a new takeoff 09 rear Ultra bumper for .99 plus shipping and was going to use that to hide the stub.

Wrong.  Nothing is that easy (easy to do on my 05)..  In fact Bushtec has 3 different hitches for the 09 Touring bikes.
Version 1-with a bumper.
Version 2-without a bumper
Version 3-SERG rear fascia

No problem I thought to just get a Version 1 hitch that works with a bumper.  Well, Andrew emailed me pictures this morning of a Version 1 with a bumper and the stub hangs below the bumper just as my chiity arsed one does in the picture below.

[Boatman]

The rear cross piece is heavy enough to pull a 1,000 # trailer and the side pieces are 1/4" plate.  Nothing wrong with the sturdiness part but my 05 Hitch did well, looked good, and not as stout as this one.

You can not remove the rear tire/wheel without removing the hitch or parts of it.  I don't know why they didn't try to follow the radius of the fender.  Granted, there are only 5 bolts on each side, but as time goes on, bolts don't come in and out easily as they did when new.

[Boatman]

Left side. 
Somehow, someway, I will have to modify the rear bumper I bought and attach with the medallion bolt or wait for HD or Kuryakyn to come out with a FLHX extension as with the pre 08 fenders.

A FLHX fender extension and light is around $115.00 but paint and labor would get it to $500 I guess and the light would hit the hitch on the back side.

The Vrail will not work as it bolts where the Bushtec cross piece mounts to the muffler/saddlebag supports on each side at the rear.

[Boatman]

I just think this Bushtec hitch was designed on a back of a napkin in a bar.  The 05 hitch was well thought out and wheel would come off easily.

I realize Harley changed the frame and thus a new design was necessary, but this looks like H too me.

Sorry to sound so depressing.  I do not want to see the receiver from the rear and should be able to remove a tire without the hitch.  That's why I always stuck up for the price of my old Bushtec.     

Besides that, removed the wiring from my old bike, plugged in under seat, pulled trailer over to bike (did not hook up receiver) and not one light lit up.  Every light on the bike worked.  Another day for that to figure out.

The red cherry is getting back at me.  (I wished I would have kept it).   New just means new.
Thanks for listening.

[Boatman]

Well, the last time I took a rear wheel/tire off, it came out the bottom.  Don't know what I was thinking about the tire interfering with the hitch on removal.  Been a long week.

Now the receiver is held to the hitch with a 1/2" locking bar bell like you would have on a p/u truck.  Gone is the old but trusty 5/16" hitch pin that worked well.  I guess I am not good with change.   

[JDOFLHRIDER]

Looks like bitubos might not fit or gonna be real close to this hitch.If anyone has both bushtec hitch and bitubos please post pictures.thnaks jdo

[OhioDave]

Bob,

When i was at Bushtec getting mine installed i questioned them about the redesign, the older version with the pin was concealed much better than the new lockable design of the new one, they said that alot of people requested a way to lock the receiver to the hitch assembly to prevent theft.
Made me wonder how many people had their trailer stolen this way...or if liability concerns made them incorporate a lock. At first i did not care for the look but now i don't even notice it.
-d

[Boatman]

Bob,

When i was at Bushtec getting mine installed i questioned them about the redesign, the older version with the pin was concealed much better than the new lockable design of the new one, they said that alot of people requested a way to lock the receiver to the hitch assembly to prevent theft.
Made me wonder how many people had their trailer stolen this way...or if liability concerns made them incorporate a lock. At first i did not care for the look but now i don't even notice it.
-d

Thanks for the encouragement Dave, probably won't notice either after a while.


They told me the same thing about the locking pin.  But you know and I know that no one would lay on the ground and remove that 5/16" hitchpin very fast or easily.   That hitchpin was the same as a lock as far as I was concerned from where it was located.

[Twolanerider]

That new hitch is quite the rig Bob.  My first reaction isn't much different than yours.  A lot of metal to hang and have to look at.  The new frame may (or may) not require such an aesthetically challenged set of parts; but it sure would be nice to be able to hide the ass end of the hitch.

[HOGMIKE]

I am using a different hitch on my '10, and was not concerned about the hidden feature. I have all the bumpers, etc. hanging off the back of the bike, but, understand they make the same thing for use on RG and such without the bumper.
As you can see, there is a receiver hanging out the back, and some do not like that.
It worked for me, towed 2 different trailers with this hitch on my '09, 22k miles, no issues.
It looked nicer on my black bike!
I agree, not as nice to view as Bushtec, but, if you don't look to close, you really don't notice it.
Just my 2 cents, of course.
BTW: how do you like those shocks now?

[HOGMIKE]

One more........

[Boatman]

That new hitch is quite the rig Bob.  My first reaction isn't much different than yours.  A lot of metal to hang and have to look at.  The new frame may (or may) not require such an aesthetically challenged set of parts; but it sure would be nice to be able to hide the ass end of the hitch.

Don, if I hadn't had a great thought out hitch like on our 08 and older bikes, it probably wouldn't have that big a deal.  Just expected more from Bushtec.

[Boatman]

BTW: how do you like those shocks now?

Mike-

On the 05 I had the Works and AK20's on the front.  On that bike, the front end was better than the back.

On the 10, I have the same works and stock (for now) front end.  Now the back is better than the front.  Can't wait to tear the bike down over Thanksgiving to send the front forks down to have my old AK20's installed.

Thanks for the picture of your hitch, Bob.

[Twolanerider]

Don, if I hadn't had a great thought out hitch like on our 08 and older bikes, it probably wouldn't have that big a deal.  Just expected more from Bushtec.

It's really Chip's fault Bob.  They used his bike to help prototype the new hitch.   

[Boatman]

It's really Chip's fault Bob.  They used his bike to help prototype the new hitch.   

I saw Chip's big blue on Bushtec's website.

Regarding the no lights at all on the trailer.  Had power to the plug on the rear of the bike for each function.  I have a J&P trailer connector thyat plugs in under the seat.  The white wire in that plug is the ground.  Problem is that on the new bike, the same plug is not a ground.  So ran a ground wire to the battery and all is well.