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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | Well the time has come to get hitched and I want to feed off someone elses experiences. Reliability and functionality is number one. Cost is number 2 and ease of installatoin and wiring is last. I understand that the Bushtec is the original hitch (thanks Lone Ranger, not just for this but your service to our great nation!) and it cost around $400. The hitch doc runs around $300. So those who have and know or is considering and done your homework, which one is best to go with and looks to be most reliable and functional. Also, if there is another source feel free to chime in. |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 1117
Northeast Ohio | Chris, I am looking to do the same over the winter. Here are some of my findings to date:
1. I am leaning heavily towards the HitchDoc as I know it has a removable receiver. This is a positive for me as i don't want the ball to be seen when not pulling a trailer.
2. I don't believe the HitchDoc includes the wiring harness.
3. Bushtec receiver is not removable (based on Internet searches). It does, however, come with the wiring harness (from what I could find). |
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Tourer
Posts: 340
Regina Saskatchewan Canada | The Bushtec hitch requires the whole back end be stripped to the frame where the Hitch Doc does not. The Bushtec is better engineered and stronger. It's up to you whether you want to pay or do it yourself to strip down the back side. The Bushtec instructions are very good. I have a Bushtec hitch on my 2008 Vision as well as I pull an older Bushtec trailer and both work very well. See video on Vision-Riders home page, the video camera was mounted on the trailer.
The Bushtec also is a vertical receiver hitch and can be removed leaving nothing visable. They also include a lock and key for the hitch, electric isolator and front side wiring harness.
Edited by Crawford 2009-10-09 9:18 AM
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | Crawford - 2009-10-09 10:14 AM The Bushtec hitch requires the whole back end be stripped to the frame where the Hitch Doc does not. The Bushtec is better engineered and stronger. It's up to you whether you want to pay or do it yourself to strip down the back side. The Bushtec instructions are very good. I have a Bushtec hitch on my 2008 Vision as well as I pull an older Bushtec trailer and both work very well. See video on Vision-Riders home page, the video camera was mounted on the trailer. The Bushtec also is a vertical receiver hitch and can be removed leaving nothing visable. They also include a lock and key for the hitch, electric isolator and front side wiring harness. Thanks Crawford. How do you feel the hitch interfers with maintenance procedures such as pulling tires, exhaust, belt or any rear related maintenance? Also, how will affect the clearance if I put the lower link on mine. I would also like to get one of those platform carrier that usually goes in the receiver, can that be done with the Vision hitch? |
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Tourer
Posts: 340
Regina Saskatchewan Canada | I believe the Hitch Doc has less clearance for maintenance than the Bushtec. Again the Bushtec receiver is vertical so you wouldn't be able to use something built for a horizontal receiver but I am sure if it is something you are building it would work just fine. |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 935
Rockford, IL | A member here named Superfreak is a supplier for the Hitch-Doc. I talked to him on the phone a few months back and he can get the Hitch-Doc shipped to my door for quite a bit cheaper than anywhere else I found. He is at a RV sales/service place. As a matter of fact I think he is your area Chris...upper South Carolina somewhere? I forget where you are at. Heck...been a few times I've kinda wondered if you are even on ths planet. Anyways...so maybe you can do a road trip and install it yourself at his place and save the shipping? His number is (843)602-4524 and his name is Jamie
As far as clearance I think I remember Teach saying that he has seen both hitches installed and the Hitch-Doc has more room? Not 100% sure on this though. Small chance I'm backwards? I don't think I am though. Send him a PM?
I think there are pictures of each hitch in the Tech Reference forum. Again....not sure.
The Bush-Tec does come with wiring. However from what I've read it is a basic setup that can be purchased anywhere for about $20 or so? There is a post around here where somewhere that somebody purchased a wiring "kit" locally, they put the part number up for it. The Bush-Tec is also a bit "heavier duty" as far as tube size and design and such. But I kinda wonder if its simply "overkill" a bit? I mean I can't imagine Hitch-Doc putting out a weak hitch, to much liabilty and everything.
I did the research and this winter I'm going with the Hitch-Doc. I think its a bit over $100 cheaper but more importantly for me there is more room (I think) which matters because I'm also going to the Darkside on the rear tire. Guess I need to double check the "clearance" issue I just reminded myself of. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 98
Santa Maria CA | I just put a Hitch Doc on 2 weeks a go. If you have the right tools you don't have to remove the back tire. I had my hitch on in about 1 hour. The Bushtec wire harness is not a plug and play, you still have to slpice into the bikes wire harness. But is good to use relays or isolators in your wiring. I made my own harness using relay, mounted them in the small pocket in the right saddle bag. It was about 4 hours too wire the trailer plug. The Hitch doc hitch works very well as I pulled a tent trailer, a little heavier than a bushtec trailer. had no problems |
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Visionary
Posts: 1436
| varyder, basically the ONLY real difference between the two hitches is the amount of tongue weight each will support. I believe HD recommends no more than 25 and the BT is a wee bit higher. 15-25 is plenty for almost any bike trailer out there. I did a complete writeup on installing the HD and wiring w/relay. I chose the HD because I didn't want to pull the rear off my vision to install a hitch.
As to using a pan carrier? I wouldn't recommend it on the Vision. If you put a cooler on one it would basically cover the rear brake and turn lights. Several companies make one to include BT & HD I believe. Not sure if they have the vertical mount? Sorry I can't be more help. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 98
Santa Maria CA | THE HITCH DOC IS 40LB TOUNGE WEIGHT |
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Cruiser
Posts: 60
| For me the choice was to get the Bushtec as I pull a Tent trailer and wanted the hitch strong. The wiring harness I got with the hitch was a little short but just spliced the wires in.
Teach is Not kidding about the tongue weight. My 600 pound tent trailer when loaded usually has a tongue weight of 20 pounds. If the tongue weight gets to high the trailer bounces the bike giving a rough ride and if it is to light it drives the bike all over the road.
Install time was about 6 hours for the hitch and 4 hours to do the wiring, my wiring included a hook up for trailer brakes. You could probably do it faster cause my bike was off the road and I had the time to go slow.
Good luck |
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Visionary
Posts: 1436
| Had to refresh my memory on tongue weight. The Bushtec has a tongue weight rating of 70 lbs, and the hitchdoc 40lbs. I believe both hitch manufactures recommend lower TW for the Vision. |
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Visionary
Posts: 1484
LaPorte,Tx. | I believe I'm going to put on a hitch rack sometime this winter. Rivco has a good rack (2) one small and one large. They also have a licence plate and light relocation kit. But I think doing the 4170 rewrite on the lights and putting in a brake light strip on the trunk it should work out. If you look at the Rivco stuff you find a quick detach pan hitch for a 1800 GW, maybe they can do something like that for the Vision. I think I'll call and see what they say. Putting a waterproof bag on the pan is all I need, not up to a trailer yet. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 255
New Brunswick , Canada | I am looking myself to for a trailer hitch....for a Vision...
doing a bit of reseach ...here what i found so far....take a lock
Some body posted that the hitchDoc does not required to remove the back wheel
for installation...Hmmm!
Take a look...
http://www.vision-riders.com/bb/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=2889&pos...
Please , any new info you can find about any other hitches would be nice..
I will post more when i find some..
Vic. Vision White Pearl 2010..  |
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Tourer
Posts: 367
Cottage Grove, Mn | I have seen the Hitch Doc installation diagram and I have installed the Bushtec hitch. The Bushtec hitch has more contact points for more even distribution of the weight and road torque of the trailer. It is rated at 75lb tongue weight and a maximum of 500lb GVWR.
The Bushtec comes with more than enough detailed instructions (including R&R of the necessary bike components) that a blind man could follow. It can be done in less than 6 hrs if you stay at it.
Some say that the Bushtec is over engineered and I'll take that any day as I like to error on the side of caution.
When we travel we take along a cooler that is mounted to the tongue with food and water and ice and we carry additional food and water in the trailer.
If you travel like we do you will likely load, unload and redistribute the contents several times, plus the food stores tend to diminish changing the tongue weigh so I carry an old bathroom scale (doesn't take up much room) and check the tongue weight before setting out for the day. I find the trailer rides and handles best with 40-45lbs of tongue weight.
I am not trying to pee in any body's Wheaties here but if your goal is a less expensive easier to install hitch then the Hitch Doc is the way to go.
I feel the Bushtec is a better engineered hitch and is worth the extra money and time. (JMO)
Blackjack
I am not an engineer nor do I play one on TV but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn once
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | Blackjack, you might not be an engineer or play one on TV but you do ride a Vision. And not to pee in anyones cornflakes but if I was to be able to do it today and install it myself it would be..... Well, let's see what I was looking for first. From the orginal post: - Reliability and functionality.
- Cost.
- Ease of installatoin and wiring is last.
So, based off the things I was looking for my choice is obvious. Thanks to all that replied... I wish I had it today as I'm off tomorrow and that would have been a great project... maybe next weekend... |
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Visionary
Posts: 1436
| lojak, nope you don't need to pull the rear wheel to install the Hitchdoc hitch. Pump up the rear suspension to raise the rear fender so you can slide the hitch under the fender and over the tire. The black cover under the seat that the airshock hose is routed through can be pushed towards the wheel to gain access to the hitch and bolts from the underside. I installed the bolts from the bottom up so I could remove the trunk if I please without unbolting the hitch. You will need 4 non-locking nuts for the bolts if you do this. You put the non-locking nuts on first and then the locknuts so you don't accidently back the bolts out when installing the locknuts.
Regardless of which hitch one goes with the mounting is dependent upon the rear frame mount holes for the trunk. The difference between the Hitchdoc and Bushtec is where the two companies decided to hook the stabilizing arms. With that said I've had a old coleman pop-up motorcycle camper hooked to the back of mine, 350+lbs without anything stowed inside. Couldn't even tell it was behind the bike, even on extremely bumpy side roads, tongue weight was between 15-20lbs as it is a well balanced rig. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 153
Newnan, GA | The Bust tech on my Wing is great! I highly recommend it. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 162
Extreme Southern, AZ United States | I looked at both and went with the Bushtec simply due to the number of points to the frame. I have been towing trailers for over ten years and I want to be sure that the hitch is completely secure. When I go camping I tow a heavily loaded trailer, as much as 700 lbs, and I want any hitch to be engineered to stay put. I think the Bushtec is engineered that way. The harness with the isolater circuit gives me a little more confidence that the trailer wiring won't cause me problems on the bike. BTW the bushtec is a removable vertical receiver and you don't see it when the stinger is removed. |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 12
| Just a bit of Kudos for Bushtech. The dealer I bought my vision from, furnished Hitch Doc with a bike to build the prototype. He said Hitch doc redone the hitch 3 times. They seen the Bushtech that I installed & thought is was a far superior hitch. They had excellent instructions & pics to take the rear of the bike apart. They did however, leave out the spaces for the cursing, in the instructions. I imaging that someone that had the back of the bike apart before would be able to install reletively easy. I have 30k on my 08 now, mostly riding 2 up & pulling the trailer. No problems except for my sorry wiring connects. I do advise to solder instead of using the el-cheapo connectors. |
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Hitch Doc or Bushtec