Hitch and Bike Rack Installed

Hey everyone - I'm still looking into wiring my 5 for trailer lights.

I talked to a guy at Canadian Tire and he gave me a part number for a clip on harness for the 5. Cost is $79.99 CDN. He said it clips into where the wiring breaks off from one side to go to the other side.

Does anyone know where this might be? Left or right side???

Canadian Tire Part Number 409157.
 
I did the wiring myself. I just bought a generic kit from Wal Mart. It required a source of power. Rather than run a wire from the battery I tapped the lighter plug in the rear. The lights work fine.
 
bulwnkl said:
Incorrect. Your individual dealer may say your warranty is void, but:
A) They (the dealer) don't have the authority to do that,
and
B) Moss-Magnusson doesn't allow them or Mazda to do any such thing.

You may have to have a good local attorney who was genuinely willing to work the case if they told you to buzz off, though.
Click to expand...


The only problem with that is in your owners manual it says the car is not designed to tow. That would be the same as putting 15w40 in it in alaska then going back, telling the dealership that you put it in there and expecting them to replace it. If your transmission goes and you have a hitch, they are not going to fix it and they will get away with it. If your cam phaser for the cvt stuff goes out then you have a fighting chance because even if you where towing it wouldn't have damaged that part of the car. IMO it also falls along the same lines (as far as transmission damage) as you putting a turbo on the car. You pushed it harder than what it was designed to do, your fault.
 
Rocket said:
I did the wiring myself. I just bought a generic kit from Wal Mart. It required a source of power. Rather than run a wire from the battery I tapped the lighter plug in the rear. The lights work fine.
Click to expand...


How does this hook up to the signal and brakes? I'm not the best at do-it-yourself stuff so its got to be real simple otherwise I tend to shy away. Call me a wuss but... it is a new car...
 
mazdaFIVEmike said:
How does this hook up to the signal and brakes? I'm not the best at do-it-yourself stuff so its got to be real simple otherwise I tend to shy away. Call me a wuss but... it is a new car...
Click to expand...

You have to use a tester to see which wire is which. I removed the panel on the left side and removed the left tail light assembly. Then I inserted the tester probe into the light plug to determine which wire was hot. From there you simply use the wiring taps to hook up the wires from the adapter. I used the cigarette lighter plug power wire for my power source and there was a threaded nut welded to the side of the car that I used for the ground.

On the subject of towing and warranty, here is how I see it. If you are only going to tow the occasional trailer or boat that is less than say 1,000 pounds, you are likely to never have a problem. If you do have a problem, it is likely to occur well after the warranty expires. If you have a problem, it is unlikely to be catastrophic, leaving you at the side of the road. You will have some warning signs that a problem is coming. If that happens, remove the hitch and take the car to the dealer for warranty work! :)

The five is capable of towing a small trailer. The lawyers are the ones that put the no towing clause in the manual!
 
mazdaFIVEmike said:
And it just so happens I have a can of Gloss Black Tremclad in the garage!! I'll add that to one of my 1000 projects!! :)
Click to expand...

Why not just cover it with a strip of black duct tape?

Also, I think that is a class II hitch. It just looks beefier than the class I I have seen.
 
Wytchdctr said:
The only problem with that is in your owners manual it says the car is not designed to tow. That would be the same as putting 15w40 in it in alaska then going back, telling the dealership that you put it in there and expecting them to replace it. If your transmission goes and you have a hitch, they are not going to fix it and they will get away with it. If your cam phaser for the cvt stuff goes out then you have a fighting chance because even if you where towing it wouldn't have damaged that part of the car. IMO it also falls along the same lines (as far as transmission damage) as you putting a turbo on the car. You pushed it harder than what it was designed to do, your fault.
Click to expand...

Funny thing about all this is the 5 is rated to tow 600kg Without trailer brakes and up to 1400kg with trailer brakes. Look at page 4 of the brochure below

http://www.mazda.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/3B25C334-9D55-43C0-A4B6-905262B0B005/0/Mazda5_Specifications.pdf

that's 3000lbs MAX on euro spec models with smaller engines with only 135 ft/lbs (The Diesel has 265ft/lbs...Oh I wish I had the diesel!)
 
was98strat said:
Funny thing about all this is the 5 is rated to tow 600kg Without trailer brakes and up to 1400kg with trailer brakes. Look at page 4 of the brochure below

http://www.mazda.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/3B25C334-9D55-43C0-A4B6-905262B0B005/0/Mazda5_Specifications.pdf

that's 3000lbs MAX on euro spec models with smaller engines with only 135 ft/lbs (The Diesel has 265ft/lbs...Oh I wish I had the diesel!)
Click to expand...


That's just it - the 5 CAN tow - IMO here in North America they just figured people would think this is a van and decide to tow their tent trailer over the mountains if they even allowed a class 1 hitch. Which we - smart people - know, but for all the "not so smart" people they decided to eliminate it completely. Sucks for us "smart people"
 
Last edited:
Been watching this post for quite some time and decided to go with the U-Haul hitch. I bought Hitch # 24754 (Class I, In the instructions that came with it, it says the hitch is a Curt Manufacturing Hitch #11338). Price was $119.95 at a local u-haul store. The store was asking for $70 extra for installation but decided to just install it myself.

Installation was easy. Just needed an extra hand to lift the hitch while positioning the screws. The hitch weighed 24lbs according to the instructions. I had to enlarge the existing 3/8" inch hole in the bumper beam to a 7/16" hole.

There were two U-Haul stickers which were visible. It said not to remove it for warranty purposes. So I peeled it off and sticked it the back so it will not be visible.

Now with the $70 I saved, I'm going to buy a nice bike rack.

Thanks to all who contributed to this thread. The information was really helpful.

Picture of the hitch (front)
3.JPG


Picture of the hitch (back)
4.JPG


Installed (rear view)
5.JPG


Installed (bottom view)
6.JPG


Instructions
7.JPG
 
was98strat said:
Funny thing about all this is the 5 is rated to tow 600kg Without trailer brakes and up to 1400kg with trailer brakes. Look at page 4 of the brochure below

http://www.mazda.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/3B25C334-9D55-43C0-A4B6-905262B0B005/0/Mazda5_Specifications.pdf

that's 3000lbs MAX on euro spec models with smaller engines with only 135 ft/lbs (The Diesel has 265ft/lbs...Oh I wish I had the diesel!)
Click to expand...

The book I have says do not tow. I have no doubt the 2.3 is capable of pulling a little extra weight behind it. Especially when its rated to carry so much weight IN the car. With the owners manual saying no I will not put a hitch on the back of my 5 to keep its trans warranty intact. Id trust it to pull a jet ski or something along those lines, but that wont happen until after the warranty period is over. At that point any defects from Mazda would have shown themselfs anyway. Trust me I'm not one of the "the skys falling" people when it comes to doing stuff to your car and warranty work. Ive got more than a few things done to my hyundai and would have no issue getting work done if I needed it because I know the laws behind it. Book says no towing, you add a trailer hitch.... hmmm. Maybe if you had pics of that bike rack thing you may... may have a leg to stand on. Just show up with a hitch. I don't see it going over very well. Then again, it all depends on what broke.
 
babelbox said:
Been watching this post for quite some time and decided to go with the U-Haul hitch. I bought Hitch # 24754 (Class I, In the instructions that came with it, it says the hitch is a Curt Manufacturing Hitch #11338). Price was $119.95 at a local u-haul store. The store was asking for $70 extra for installation but decided to just install it myself.

Installation was easy. Just needed an extra hand to lift the hitch while positioning the screws. The hitch weighed 24lbs according to the instructions. I had to enlarge the existing 3/8" inch hole in the bumper beam to a 7/16" hole.

There were two U-Haul stickers which were visible. It said not to remove it for warranty purposes. So I peeled it off and sticked it the back so it will not be visible.

Now with the $70 I saved, I'm going to buy a nice bike rack.

Thanks to all who contributed to this thread. The information was really helpful.

Picture of the hitch (front)
3.JPG


Picture of the hitch (back)
4.JPG


Installed (rear view)
5.JPG


Installed (bottom view)
6.JPG


Instructions
7.JPG
Click to expand...

I added a bumper guard for my curtis hitch you may want to invest that addition. I went to my local trim shop for the trim.... I have attached a pic
 

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