If anyone spots a receiver hitch for the '13 ES350 before me, please post a note. A class II will suffice for my needs....a small bicycle rack and a lightweight kayak trailer.

Oh, new owner here. Really enjoying the ES so far. I have my first long road trip in May when I'll drive from PHX to Texas for a long distance cycling event. I'm not which I'm more excited about....the event or the drive over!

 

I've looked pretty extensively, to no avail.

 

Man, I thought I was maybe missing something. Curt Manufacturing says "a few months." U-Haul said $1,000 to make a custom one or if I could get my car to Tempe, they'd make me one for free in exchange for my loaning them the car for a few days.

I drive my their facility daily but when I contacted the person they referred me to, he said they had it covered.

I'm guessing we'll see one from someone in a few months. Historically, I believe it's the same rack as the Camry which is a much larger market so they won't delay it too long.

 

I spoke to a rep at Curt Manufacturing today and he stated that they're only about 2 weeks from releasing their receiver for the 2013 ES. He also said that they'll update their website on the same day so I'll keep an eye out for that.

 

I remember reading the ES 2013 owners manual that a hitch is not recommened or probably not available unless spending BIG $$$ for a custom made one.

 

From the manual,
I agree with them to a certain extent however, hanging a bicycle that weighs 20 lbs with a carrier that weighs 4 lbs doesn't concern me in the least.

I can also lift my kayak trailer off the ground too. It weights maybe 125 lbs and with the kayak, maybe 175 lbs. Pulling it to the lake or even San Diego doesn't give me cause for concern.

 

The U-Haul corp guy just called and he wants to test fit one to my car. I'll loan it to them on Thursday for a testing fitting. As it turns out, he's literally just down Central Ave so I'll probably pick up the receiver tomorrow afternoon and drop everything off on Thursday morning to their shop for the test fitting.

There must be some demand for these - he said he was ready to get this done.

 

The test fitting went well but the installer called with a question. It seems that the receiver is hitting the fascia and he asked if I wanted it trimmed or if they should return the receiver to the manufacturer to have it re-designed to go down and then back up again.

There's no way I want a finished piece to be trimmed so I ask that they return the part and have it remade to account for the fascia.

 

Bummer. Hopefully, that will be taken into account by Curt.

 

U-Haul contacted me and said they had a new receiver to test-fit. Since I'm only two blocks from their HQ in downtown PHX, I stopped by and picked it up. Their main shop, in Tempe, will test-fit it tomorrow or Friday afternoon after work.

As I suspected, it's a Curt product.

 

We're getting there. I stopped at U-Haul tech center after work and Josh & Ed did a fitting of the new Curt-manufactured receiver. It's a nice piece of kit - heavy-duty, well-finished, nicely designed. The tolerances were fine where it attaches to the frame according to Ed - no issues there but it's still pushing the facia out ever so slightly on the sides. It's hard to see in the pictures but the final product is very, very close to being finished:



You can see a bit of deflection here also:



I can't tell you how impressed I am with U-Haul. These guys are professional, talented and cooperative. They're also perfectionists and I appreciate their efforts.

I'll use this unit while Curt makes minor adjustments. I have a long trip to Texas for a 1200km Grand Randonnée - that's 750-miles of cycling in 90 hours or less - that starts on May 1. It'll be nice not to have to stuff my bicycle in the backseat so I appreciate U-Haul letting me hang on to the receiver while another one is manufactured by Curt.

 

Do you know how much the receiver weighs?

 

No firm weight but its a chunk of metal. I'd guess 50-55 lbs. There's 6-8 lbs of muffler brackets that are removed.

 

Apologies for the delayed response. UHaul contacted me two weeks ago and did another test fit of Curt's latest effort. It fits fine and it's already listed on the Curt website. Good luck!

 

etrailer.com has them, manufactured by Curt.