Hitch installation in Calgary?

[Shelley]

Hi,

Does anyone in or around Calgary have a suggestion for hitch installation? Other than Uhaul....I watched someone renting a trailer have to help their mechanic replace a taillight the other day....

Thanks!

[KevinDR]

Hi,

Does anyone in or around Calgary have a suggestion for hitch installation? Other than Uhaul....I watched someone renting a trailer have to help their mechanic replace a taillight the other day....

Thanks!

Interestingly enough, I bought a hitch from Uhaul. They bolted it right in and I drove away. HOWEVER, I didn't let them tackle my wiring. I did that myself. My brother in law got his Chrysler van hitched and wired by a Uhaul place and had huge problems.

[Fred]

Hi Shelley.
There are a number of places that do hitches. Of course one of the cheaper ones is Uhaul. I had mine done at Uhaul and it was an okay job. Three years and no problems so far. Most of the places will do an okay job. I had a quote from the Hitch Warehouse before taking it to Uhaul but it was about $100 more. The big place would be Standens in the S.E.

Fred

[Gina D.]

U Haul did my tranny cooler. I was pleased with the work.

Still works well after 2 years.

[Roger H]

I haven't piped up before on UHaul, because I know there are folks who swear by them, but the two experiences I've had with UHaul stores haven't been positive either.

I suspect, like any other franchise business, it's all about how competent the owner and employees are at that particular store.

Roger

[Shelley]

I wasn't trying to upset any UHaul fans. I agree with Roger and I'm sure it depends on the owner etc. My experiences out here recently with them haven't been positive so I'm leary of letting them work on my vehicle.

Right now with labour shortages here I suspect that decent installers may be in short supply and I'll need the wiring and hitch set up...there is a place in Airdrie which I may try - our problem is we're commuters so leaving our vehicle on a weekday is tough.

[Lew King]

try Standon Springs they know all about it.

I had mine installed by my dealership
Airdrie Crysler

any dealership will do however some are more expensive than others.

Hope this helps

Lew

[Brian B-P]

Lew, by "Standon Springs" do you mean Standen's, which is primarily a spring shop? Fred, I'm guessing this is who you are referring to, as well. They supplied the original equipment axle (in 1979) for my Boler, and were quite helpful when I had a question about it. I was not aware that they dealt with hitches, but I expect - given their suspension experience - that they're quite capable in that area.

My Toyota dealer installed my hitch, only because it was a Toyota option, purchased with the van. They send out installation of aftermarket hitches to a hitch shop, so in the case of this particular dealer, there would be no point in going to them now.

When I did my comparison shopping (in Edmonton, not Calgary), I found very little difference in price between dealers, and any hitch shop will do installations; the quoted prices normally included installation. Since hitch installation is now an easy bolt-on, if I were doing only the hitch I would choose the hitch brand and model, and get it from wherever was cheap and easy to deal with. Wiring is another matter entirely... so since that's needed as well, I would concentrate on that aspect. Unfortunately, I have no idea who is good for wiring, and I did mine myself.

[Fred]

Shelley.
As mentioned in the previous posts most hitches are bolt in without any drilling required. My Honda was exactly that. Also most vehicles now come with a plug for wiring. All you have to do is to find the proper wiring harness. I found that mine had a wiring plug in the back, hard to get at, but still available. I found the harness at Canadian Tire but have yet to test it.

Fred............

[Lew King]

yes Brian I misspelled the name
they also do hitches and other jobs large and small

Lew