I'm considering welding a Class I receiver into my bumper (1000lb max capacity as specified by the manual)… however, the manual [also] states not to attach a hitch to the bumper. Any ideas why they don’t want the hitch attached to the bumper? It is rigidly mounted to the frame without any compression tubes, and seems to be quite beefy.

I have only seen one commercially available hitch, and it has 3 bolts that go through the trunk floor, and 2 bolts that bolt into the bumper and is rated at 1000lbs.

Any thoughts?

-Chris

Maybe has something to do with the design of the bumper, or attaching the trailer right to the bumper may cause the car to lean down when pulling the trailer and/or put added stress on the bumper itself.

The bumper may not be sturdy enough. If the rear one is like the front in design (and I think it is) they won't support a lot of anything. They have a plastic honeycomb design that helps to absorb some of the impact in an accident.

The honeycomb plastic clips into a much sturdier bumper assembly. Which is why I'm asking. I've been paying closer attention to other receiver designs, and it seems common to bolt both to the trunk floor and the bumper. I'm getting a spare one, so maybe I can test it with load.

-Chris

Tell me how this goes, I wouldnt mind adding a hitch to tow light stuff

I would like to put a hitch on my 810 Maxima also. I was planning to go to pick a part and get some thing off a Honda or some minivan. The hitches on those cars are common and use a 1-1/4 receiver. Perfect for light towing or what I need for bicycles.

SEENOZ.

I love my Maxima but like all Japanese cars past & present the sheetmetal
is about as thin as rice paper... I'd say the trunk floor will not help much
versus just the bumper. The proper way to do it would be to also have it
bolted to the beefier part of the unibody structure AND the bumper.


Just my humble oppinion.

I won a universal bumper hitch from ebay- its rated for 3500lbs (class 2). Whenever I get it in the mail and install it ill take some pics. Im pretty sure I wont be going nowhere near the 3500lb limit or the 1000 lb limit on the bumper, but I am going to beef it all up with some heavy angle iron and streghtening the bolts.

Im not to scared of towing a heavy weight on the bumper, I used to pull trees with the car when I moved into my new home, and I slammed the car on the pulls too :-)

I want to race a ricer with a trailer, and beat him, like I used to do with my long gone chevy ck.

Maaan that CK beat ricers at the light with the 20' trailer and race car on top of that- its fun