Draw-Tite Max-Frame Trailer Hitch Receiver - Custom Fit - Class III - 2"

Video Transcript for Trailer Hitch Installation - 2002 Toyota Land Cruiser

Today we are going to be installing Hidden Hitch part number 87409 on a 2002 Toyota Land Cruiser. This installation also applies to Draw-Tite part number 75095. We are underneath the vehicle now and we are going to go ahead and point out the location for the mounting of the hitch. As you can see on the drivers side frame rail, we have got a tow hook and a tie-down bracket here that are held on with two bolts. Those bolts need to come down, and these two items are going to be removed. These will provide the two rearmost attaching points for the hitch on the drivers side. And there is also a weld nut a little bit further up on the frame, and that will provide the forwardmost attaching point. And then over here on the passengers side, again we have a tie-down bracket that is going to need to be taken down - removed with these two bolts, and those will provide two of the attaching points for the hitch here on the passengers side. The third attaching point is actually a little bit inboard. And the third attaching point is here on the inboard side in this crossmember, just a little bit inboard of the exhaust, it would be this hole here. We are actually going to fish a carriage bolt down through this opening here at the back side. So, in order to actually gain access to this, we are going to need to remove this rear fascia support as well.

So the first thing we want to do is to go ahead and remove the tie-down and the tow hooks from both sides of the vehicle, but first we also want to lower the exhaust down, as well. There are two hangers that we are going to want to loosen in order to gain a little bit more ease of installation. There is one here at the rear, and then there is another one more forward, right in front of the exhaust itself. To remove the rubber holders off of the hangers I have actually sprayed them down with spray lubricant, like WD-40. It makes the removal a lot easier. We do want to hang on to these, because these are going to be reinstalled once the hitch goes back up. And what we are actually going to do is take the tie-down hook here from the passengers side it is actually going to be mounted on the drivers side, and vice-versa: the drivers side one will be mounted to the passengers side. So, you want to keep that in mind.

Then the next step is we want to go ahead and remove the fascia support bracket from the bumper side of the frame here. There are two Phillips head screws that need to be removed. There is one here at the very end of the fascia support, and there is one at the very end on the other side. And then we have got six metric bolts that we need to remove. We have got one here, one here and here, one here and here, and then one here as well. And there is the Phillips head cover. We need to remove all those fasteners, and then we are going to take this whole bracket down. Then we just want to take that fascia support strip out of here and just pull the tabs down on the mounting side of the bumper. And then with the fascia support bracket removed, we want to go ahead and put the fasteners back in that hold the tabs for the bumper. There should be four of those: one here, one here, and then two on the outboard side - one here. OK, the next step is to go ahead and put the hitch up into position.

We want to go ahead again, we want to reuse these mounting holes on both sides. And here on the drivers side we want to make sure we use longer of the two sets of existing bolts, because on the drivers side you are going to remount the tow hook and the tie-down hook as well. So we want to put the hitch up first, and then we are going to put the tow hook into the tie-down bracket underneath that. On this particular vehicle, as well, I want to note that there is an existing 7-hole plug here. If your vehicle does have that, you are going to need to lower it down and get it out of the way, because the hitch will hit it. It is going to need to be relocated when the hitch is installed. And it is basically just two screws here holding it onto the crossmember. So I am going to do that first and then we are going to go ahead and put the hitch up into position.

And with the fasteners loosely installed in the frame, we want to go ahead and fish wire through the hole here at the bottom of the hitch out through the large hole here at the back side of the crossmember. We are going to fish the carriage bolt and block into position. It does not come with the installation kit, but it might not be a bad idea to pick up what is called a bolt leader. It is just basically a piece of stove wire with a threaded end on it. The hole is offset on the block. We want to make sure that the short side goes toward the bumper because there is less space that way. We will just pull it down into position and fasten it with a conical-tooth washer and nut. And now that we have got the conical-tooth washer and nut on there, we can go ahead and tighten all the bolts down. We are first going to go through and tighten them down with the air gun, and then we are going to come back and torque everything down to their specified torque rating. And now we are going to go back through and torque them all down. And you do want to check with your instruction sheet to find the specified torque rating for each individual bolt. OK, with all the bolts torqued down, we want to make sure we put the exhaust back on its hangers. That will conclude the installation of hitch part number 87409 on a 2002 Toyota Land Cruiser.