Attaching a towing hitch to my '04 H6 OB.

[dme102]

I recently bought a second-hand '04 Outback Wagon with the 3L H6 engine. I need to get a tow hitch attached for my work. I rang the Subaru dealership and they quoted something absurd like $600-800 just for parts, so I'm going to be trying to source the parts from wreckers, attach it myself, and get my local mechanic to do the wiring.

The guy at the dealership told me there was some kind of extra part for the H6 models, I am assuming because they have dual exhaust. I am pretty sure he said it was some kind of oil or fluid converter, and quoted around $200 for this part. Does anyone know what this is?

So I am thinking in total I will need to get the actual hitch, the tongue, this converter and a ball to do it from scratch. Will these parts be hard to get second-hand, seeing as it is the less common H6? Where does the wiring come in, can I get the wiring from a wrecker or should I get my mechanic to source that? How hard will it be to do it myself? Maybe I should get the mechanic to do the lot. I haven't asked him for a quote yet but with my limited auto knowledge it might be better to just get him to do it.

Thanks in advance for any tips!

[fatabbot]

Buy a new aftermarket hitch. Cheaper than OEM and just as good. With a used hitch, you might be ok or you might not be. You could be missing important mounting hardware, the hitch may have defects from prior usage, etc., etc. Really not worth saving $50 over.

[subiesailor]

Originally Posted by dme102

I recently bought a second-hand '04 Outback Wagon with the 3L H6 engine. I need to get a tow hitch attached for my work. I rang the Subaru dealership and they quoted something absurd like $600-800 just for parts, so I'm going to be trying to source the parts from wreckers, attach it myself, and get my local mechanic to do the wiring.

The guy at the dealership told me there was some kind of extra part for the H6 models, I am assuming because they have dual exhaust. I am pretty sure he said it was some kind of oil or fluid converter, and quoted around $200 for this part. Does anyone know what this is?

So I am thinking in total I will need to get the actual hitch, the tongue, this converter and a ball to do it from scratch. Will these parts be hard to get second-hand, seeing as it is the less common H6? Where does the wiring come in, can I get the wiring from a wrecker or should I get my mechanic to source that? How hard will it be to do it myself? Maybe I should get the mechanic to do the lot. I haven't asked him for a quote yet but with my limited auto knowledge it might be better to just get him to do it.

Thanks in advance for any tips!

Etrailer.com they sell new stuff. A bar will cost you maybe $150 I would not use a junkyard bar they do rust.

The added transmission cooler for the AT is a good idea and yes $200 ish sounds about right. If you keeping it under 1000lbs and not towing long climbs in hot weather then you can probably get away without a cooler.

[dme102]

Oh I should have mentioned I'm in Australia so I don't have access to US parts. Is this the transmission cooler?: Subaru Liberty Outback transmission cooler MY03-MY09 (eBay item 180600394998 end time 23-Dec-10 19:35:46 AEDST) : Cars, Bikes, Boats

Also I read a little bit about the aftermarket hitches, a lot of comments about them say they don't fit the car int he same way that the factory ones do, and they give less clearance etc.