Draw-Tite Trailer Hitch for the Mazda 6, 2004

Video Transcript for Trailer Hitch Installation - 2007 Mazda 6

Today on this 2007 Mazda 6 we are going to be installing Draw-Tite hitch part number 24775. This installation will also apply for Hidden Hitch part number 60846. The first thing we want to do is to go inside the trunk and remove the spare tire to get it out of our way. Moving underneath the vehicle you can see we have got dual exhaust. We want to lower down the exhaust system next to give us more room to work. There are three hangers that we are going to need to lower the exhaust off of. One here at the rear on the driver and passenger sides. If you follow forward to where the two exhausts meet there is a third hanger right there. 00:37

To aid in the removal of the exhaust hangers we are going to take a spray lubricant like a WD-40 and spray the stud down and then we can take a pry bar or a pair of pliers and separate the two pieces. Before removing the third hanger I want to take a support strap and put it underneath the main tube of the exhaust system. Once we do lower the exhaust off of the third hanger the system will want to fall down and if it is not properly supported it could damage it. I am going to be using a basic cam strap and I am going to hang it from the suspension system. You can see with the cam strap I can raise it and lower it as need be to gain access to the bolts. With the exhaust lowered down we can point out the mounting holes that we are going to be using to attach our trailer hitch to the vehicle. 01:35

We are looking over at the passenger side frame rail right near the exhaust hanger that we just lowered. Towards the end towards the bumper structure there is an existing bolt there. We are going to remove that and that will provide our frame mounted attaching point for that trailer hitch. That is going to be the same on the passenger side and the driver side as well. If we move rearward to the bottom of the bumper structure you can see the oblong holes. There is one on the passenger side and one over here on the driver side as well. Those are going to provide our two rear most attaching points for our trailer hitch. Some models may not have these and if that is the case what you will do is use the hitch as a template to drill out those holes. Finally if we move to the center of the vehicle to the bottom of the spare tire well we are going to be using the hitch as a template to drill out two holes to provide our final attaching points. What I am going to do first is remove the existing bolts from the bumper flange. With the two bumper flange bolts removed I am going to move next to the bumper structure and fish our carriage bolt and block assemblies inside the bumper. To do that I am going to be using the 1/ 2 inch bolt leader which is provided with the installation kit. What we are going to do is take the threaded end and feed it up into the attaching hole and back out the end of the bumper structure. We will next take the one by two inch carriage block and slide it on to the bolt leader followed by the 1/ 2 inch carriage bolt. What we are going to want to do is manually put the two together because the carriage bolt is very long and if the two are not together you could have a hard time to get it to go into position inside the bumper structure. Feed them inside the bumper structure. We want to repeat that for the driver side hole in the bumper structure and then we can put our hitch up into position. 03:16

When putting the hitch up you want to make sure you go up and over the exhaust obviously and then we are going to first attach using the carriage bolt and block assemblies in the bumper structure. We are going to be attaching the hitch to the carriage bolt using the conical tooth washer and hex nut. With the hitch attached to the two carriage bolts in the bumper structure I am going to move rearward to the weld nuts that we had in the bumper flange over here. We are going to be using the new eight millimeter bolts that are provided with the installation kit and we just want to re them inside the weld nuts. We want to get those hand tightened and we just want to repeat that for the other side as well. Next we want to use the hitch as a template and drill out the two holes in the bottom of the trunk well. Some models there may have been existing plugs in this area and if that is the case you just want to pop those out and you can put the hardware in, you do not have to worry about drilling your holes. This particular model did not have those rubber plugs in them so we are going to be drilling a 1/ 2 inch hole. Now we are going to go inside the spare tire well where we are going to put our hardware down into position. Now we are back inside the spare tire well and I am going to be placing the 1-1/ 2 by two inch block with the round hole over the drilled hole and we will just take the standard 1/ 2 inch hex head bolt and slide it down through the drilled hole. Now we can go back underneath the vehicle and add or conical tooth washer and hex nut to these bolts. With all of our hardware in place we can start torquing our bolts down. I am going to start by torquing the eight millimeter bolts in the bumper flange first and then we will go back through and torque the carriage bolts and then the hex bolts in the trunk pan. We want to verify with the directions the specific torque rating for each of these bolts. With all of the bolts torqued down you just want to put the exhaust back on its hangers. Make sure you remove the support strap. There is one final thing that we need to do and that is to go back inside the the trunk and we need to seal around those drilled holes in the trunk well just to insure that we do not have any exhaust fumes that come inside the vehicle. You can just use a basic black silicone sealant right here. Once the sealant is dry you can put the spare tire back into the spare tire well and our installation is complete. Now that we have got our hitch installed we are going to give you a couple of final installed dimensions which will help make choosing your hitch accessories a little easier. From the top of the receiver tube opening to the ground is going to measure 11 inches and from the center of the pin hole to clear rear edge of the bumper is going to be approximately six inches. That will conclude the installation of Draw-Tite hitch part number 24775 on a 2007 Mazda 6.