Valley Trailer Hitch Receiver with Drawbar - Custom Fit - Class I - 1-1/4"

Video Transcript for Trailer Hitch Installation - 2010 Chevrolet Cobalt

Today on this 2010 Chevrolet Cobalt we are going to install part number V58020 from Valley. The first thing we need to do is give ourselves some working room so we are going to lower the exhaust. We are going to do that by spraying down the rubber hangers with some lubricant and then we will pry them off. There are two in the back and there is one going towards the front. We have got the exhaust out of the way so lets find the points on the frame that we have to drill out. There is an oval hole here on the bracket and a round hole. On the round hole is the one we want to mark and drill. We are going to start off with our 1/ 4 inch bit and work our way up and drill it out to 1/ 2 inch bolt size. Then we will go over to the driver side and repeat the same process. These are the parts we are going to use to install to the inside of the frame of the vehicle. We have got this block plate here with a square hole and our carriage bolt and we have got our bolt leader that comes with the kit. 01:12

We are going to thread our bolt leader through the hole we drilled out through our access hole and we are going to pull these two parts back inside. Pull it all the way through, you might have to shake it a little bit. Now we have got the passenger side done. Lets go over to the driver side and repeat the same process. Now we can lift the hitch into position. We will rest the driver side on the exhaust and then we will concentrate on the passenger side first. Next we are going to snug down our bolts to put the hitch into proper position. Sometimes on small cars they actually use a little bit of hardened material on the bumper part so sometimes a regular drill bit does not do so great in there. In this case we are going to use what is called a rotabroach bit. This is part number 6810. We are going to use the hitch as our template that will hold it in to position. It is a really mean little hole saw. 02:03

You want to use the low speed approach on this too. Now we have got our holes drilled out and we are going to do one extra step, put this block between the hitch and the bumper and we will slide it into place. Then thread the bolt leader through and come out this side behind the bumper, pull it down and then we will install our plate. We will push that into the frame of the bumper and then we will thread in our bolt. We will let that sit for now and repeat this on the other side. Next we will thread our hardware on here. We will put a conical tooth washer and nut on here. The threads are a little bit short on here so we are just going to put the nut on for now and we will draw the hitch up close to the bumper and that will back it off and that will give us some extra threads. We can also loosen the back bolt too which helps give us a little more wiggle room. Now you can see we have got more room to work with. Now with all of our hardware installed we can snug everything down. 03:39

Once we have everything snugged down we can torque the bolts down as specified in the instructions. Before we put the exhaust back up make a quick test fit to see if the hitch is in the way or anything. It looks like this exhaust tip is a little in the way so we are going to take this off for now and reinstall it as our last part. Now you can reinstall the exhaust tip. We are pretty close to the bolt on the hitch still so we are going to lower the hangers that are on the frame of the vehicle but bend those down a little bit to give us more clearance. With the exhaust back down we are going to take this wrench and we are going to put it over and use the hitch as a fulcrum point and we will just pull it back out of the way and that will come down. Do the same thing to other side and then we will give it another shot. Once we have the hangers adjusted where we can keep the muffler away from the hitch we will be good to go. Lets reinstall our exhaust tip and then our install is finished. From the top of the receiver tube opening down to the ground is almost 14 inches. From the center of the hitch pin hole to the outside edge of the bumper is about 3-1/ 2 inches. There you have it for part number V58020 from Valley.