DIY: Curt 11194 Hitch installation on 535xit

[Reefin Dude]

I could not find a DIY for this, so i decided to do one. The instructions that come with the hitch are pretty straight forward, but lack some pictures and other hints that would make the install easier for someone later. This hitch is labeled as working on 535i, 535xi, and 535xit. I pull a small boat around and i need a trailer hitch. This hitch is significantly easier than putting the hitch on my e39 540it. This hitch is completely bolt only, no drilling necessary. There is another Curt kit that does require drilling. THIS IS NOT THAT HITCH. I am not sure if Curt changed it for the LCI models or if they just updated the other kit so that no drilling is necessary.

Of course i forgot to take a picture of the hitch components before i started, but the kit consist of a bag hardware, 2 mounting brackets for the bumper struts, a cross member between the bumper strut brackets, and a brace that mounts forward to the frame.

NORMAL LAWYER STUFF APPLIES WHEN WORKING UNDER A VEHICLE.

I put the vehicle up on 4 jack stands. If using a lift i suggest also using a transmission jack to hold the hitch pieces. They are heavier than one would think.

The instructions start with the removal of the rear air dam. I was not exactly sure what the rear air dam was, but it turned out to be just that plastic piece between the bumper and the spare tire well. Here is a picture of it.
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With this kit there will be pieces left over. This rear airdam is the largest. The rest are attaching hardware. There is a single 8mm bolt along the back edge of the airdam that gets removed. With a flathead screwdriver pry open the slide clips along the trailing edge of the rear airdam. After the airdam has been released pull down on it from the trailing edge to reveal hidden nuts. There are 3 10mm nuts. As suggested in the instructions use an extension with a universal joint to get them out.
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After the air dam is removed it opens up the area where the cross member will go after the bumper brackets are installed.
Now onto your enemies for the next little while. This is the passenger bumper strut.

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This is the drivers side bumper strut.
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You need to remove the two inner bolts holding on the bumper strut. One low and one high. The passenger side is fairly easy. The drivers side is more difficult due to the exhaust being there. Curt suggest lowering the exhaust which i did. Anybody who has dealt with rubber isolators before. They are either cooperative, or maddingly NOT. The rear most one was reasonable for me, but the next one was not, so i decided to go around it. The rubber isolator is held on by 2 12mm bolts. I just removed the 12mm bolts to allow the exhaust to lower. It only gives a bit more room, but enough. Maybe if you have very small hands you could to this without dropping the exhaust, but i could not.

The next rearmost bots removed are on the A frame located at the front of the spare tire well.
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All of the pieces necessary to install the bumper have been removed and the installation can start.

[Reefin Dude]

The installation when pretty quick. I did not take as many pictures as i thought during the installation because it was pretty straight forward that this point. These pieces are heavy, so finding a way to hold them in place during bolting tending to be the trickiest part of the installation.

Here are the bumper strut brackets. As suggested i put tape on the washers to hold them in place while trying to get the mounting bolt into these brackets then into the frame of the car. There is not a lot of room up in there and the bracket itself gets in the way of where you want to put your hand to reach the bolts. The tape is really helpful. If i were to do it again i would have used 2 strips of tape on either sides of the waster. DO NOT TIGHTEN THESE BOLTS. Later on you will need all of the play you can get when mounting the Mounting Strap section to the A-Frame. Screw them in enough that they are not going to fall off, but give some wiggle room.
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Once these are on, the rest goes pretty quickly. Just a bunch of carriage bolts, conical washers and nuts.
There are 6 sets used to mount the cross member to the brackets, and 2 larger sets used to mount the cross member to the Mounting Strap.
When mounting all of these carriage bolts keep them loose. Leave the larger carriage bolts that go between the Cross Member and the Mounting strap as loose as you feel comfortable.
When all of the Carriage bolts have been installed it is time for the bolts between the Mounting Strap and the A-Frame. For me it was a tight fit. Not because things were not made properly, but the weight of the hitch made things sag and harder to get all the length needed to reach the A-Frame bolt holes. Having everything loose helps in getting enough slack to get the bolts in.
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I brought a 5g bucket just in case to rest the exhaust on. The exhaust was not flexible enough, it had no problems staying up.
Once those bolts are in, it is time to start tightening everything up. All bolts are tightened to 45lb-ft EXCEPT the two bigger bolts going between the Mounting Strap and the Cross member. Those get tightened to 70lb-ft. I worked my way from the front of the hitch to the back of the car and that seemed to work very well. Everything snugged up nice and need. Getting a torque wrench up in the bumper area was difficult. I needed to find the shortest socket i could and the lowest height torque wrench i had.
Done with the installation. Time to put the exhaust back up.
DONE.

Here are the parts left that have come off of the car and do not get put back on. Rear airdam, airdam nuts, 4 bolts from the bumper strut, and 2 from the A-Frame.
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Here are a couple of shots of how the hitch looks on the vehicle. I think it looks much better than the hitch that is available for the e39. It hung down a lot more than this one does. This hides very well. This is on a non M-tech rear bumper. I have no idea what the fit would be like if one has the M-tech bumper.
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I hope this helps somebody. I will probably be doing a DIY for the lighting kit at some point. I was not planning on doing the hitch the other day, but i just did not have enough room under the car to comfortably to do all of the fluid changes i wanted to (transfer case, both diffs, transmission, and coolant).
G~

[pbonsalb]

This is grear. I have one sitting in the box in the barn waiting for me to install.

[TPIOlds]

i am looking to do this to my 2006, I have been looking for a while for a bolt on