2018 Polaris Sportsman Hitch Receiver Size

[JGaulard]

I bought a 2018 Polaris Sportsman a few months ago and was wondering what size hitch I needed to buy to fit in the hitch receiver that came installed with the ATV. I have a utility/yard trailer that I'll be pulling with the quad in a few months time and need to get the receiver to do that. As of right now, I can't connect anything to the ATV because there's really nothing to connect it to.

Here, take a look at the trailer hitch.



As you can see, it's just a simple hitch with two holes in two plates.

This is the receiver that's on the back of the Sportsman.











For most of my adult life, I've been dealing with full size hitch receivers, not these little ones. So basically, I was wondering if this was a standard size. I've heard of 1 1/4 inch hitches and receivers before. Since they are so popular in the bicycling community for bike racks, I was hopeful that this was the size I needed. One would be easy to find. I went out with tape measure in hand to see what size the opening was.



I was happy to find out that, yes, the opening is in fact 1 1/4". So now, the search is on for a nice hitch. I'm currently looking at the CURT 45019 Class 1 Trailer Hitch Ball Mount. It costs less than $13 on Amazon, so I'll just go ahead and order it right now. I'll take some more photos once I get it and install it.

 

[JGaulard]

So I went ahead and ordered the CURT 45019 Class 1 Trailer Hitch Ball Mount from Amazon yesterday. The price was $12.37 and the total came up to something just over $13 because of tax. That's not a bad deal. I will have to check out Tractor Supply next time I go to see what their prices are like. They couldn't be too much higher or lower.



It was a toss-up between this Curt hitch or the Reese Towpower 21901 Class II Interlock Ball Mount, which was about a dollar cheaper. The problem with that one was the reviews. Quite a few people reported that the holes in the tube that slides into the receiver weren't drilled correctly. They were offset and because of that, they couldn't get the pin through. They said that they corrected the problem by drilling the holes out a bit more themselves. Not something I really want to do to a brand new hitch. I just went with Curt because I already own one of their trailer hitches and it's awesome.

I also like this hitch because I can attach a ball to it. It is rated to two 2000 pounds with a tongue weight of 200 pounds. If memory serves, my ATV is rated for something like 850 pounds. That seems like a lot. I may be wrong here.

Yup, I am wrong. The ATV is rated for 150 pounds tongue weight and 1600 pounds trailer weight (850 pounds being pulled up hill). I guess that's okay for a big ATV like the Sportsman 850. I need to pull sand and some firewood in my trailer. When I get it all set up, I'll take some photos and post them here.

 

[JGaulard]

I just wrote a post about the Curt trailer hitch that I mounted to my ATV. You can read about that and see photos in this post.