Trailer Hitch Installation - 1997 Jeep Cherokee

Installation of a Trailer Hitch on a 1997 Jeep Cherokee

Today on this 1997 Jeep Cherokee, we are going to install part number 13084 from Curt. First we are going to show you what the hitch looks like on the vehicle. Next we are going to give you some measurements that will help you out in ing accessories such as a ball mount, a bicycle rack or a cargo carrier. First off, from the top of the receiver tube down to the ground is going to be 15-5/8 inches. And from the center of the hitch pin to the outside edge of the bumper is going to be 5 inches. Next we will go ahead and show you how it got installed. 0:28

Before you start on the vehicle, you want to take a look at the frame because there are three different variations. The first variation is going to be like what we see here. It is going to have one, two, three, four holes that are empty, nothing inside. That is one of the more common options and you will have that on both sides of the vehicle, just like that. Now the second option is you are going to have the same driver side frame rail open like this. But, on the passenger side you are going to have a bar inside with some threaded weld nuts. You can see the threaded weld nuts one, two, three and the fourth one is being used by the muffler hanger. Now on this particular vehicle, this is the most common because we have a blank on the driver side and the threaded holes on the passenger side. The third version is threaded holes on both sides which is pretty rare. Chances are you probably will not run into that. 1:11

So, since we are here on the passenger side, let us go ahead and start cleaning out the threads. Since this is an older vehicle, you are going to have to take some time out to clean out the threads really good. We will start off by spraying some lubricant in there and use a wire brush to clean out the threads. And that brush is part number 814092. Next what we want to do is take one of the hitch bolts and thread it into place. Run it in and back it out a few times, until you run the bolt all of the way through. Once you have one of the threads cleaned out, go ahead and do the same thing for the remaining threads. Now our kit comes with two different style bolts. You will notice that the one bolt has numbers and that is for the metric threads. And the threads we just cleaned out are going to use this bolt for metric. The other bolt with three marks on it, that is the SAE bolt. This one will be used with the hardware that comes with the hitch. But on anything that is going into threads already existing in the vehicle is going to be the metric ones. So, if you have a hard time threading the bolts in, just double check to make sure you have the right bolt in the right application. 2:06

Alright, now our hitch is going to use this existing bolt in the frame that is already in place being used by the muffler hanger. So we are going to have to remove the muffler hanger temporarily to install the hitch. Alright, now back over to the driver side frame rail, we are going to start installing our hardware. What is going to happen is this bolt right here and this block need to be installed in the frame. And when we install these, we want to make sure that the block sits like this inside the frame, where it is perfectly flat. And you want to make sure you have room for one here, you have plenty of room. And on this one, we are going to orient the block on the inside like this. We will use the included bolt leader. And we are going to push it through the hole we are going to use. And we are going to push it out back, towards the end of the frame, where there is an opening. Take our block and go ahead and push it into the frame. Make sure you put it in the frame the way you want it to end up in the inside of the frame when we are done. Thread on the bolt. Push the whole assembly through. And we will pull it down into position. And you will know you have it right if the bolt is vertical straight down. If it is at a little bit of an angle, like this, then you know you have something wrong with the block that is sitting too close to this side. So, make sure it sits vertical and you are good to go. OK, we will go ahead and repeat the same process for these two holes here. You can see, in this oval hole, how this block is sitting. We do not want that. So we are going to have to go ahead and just use a screwdriver and poke it around to orient it the right way. OK, on to the next one. This hole here is going to use a different fastener. But, it is best to install that after we have the hitch installed on these three bolts. 4:16

OK, at this point we can start lifting the hitch in position. Now it is a good idea to have an extra set of hands to help hold it up and do this. Alright, now the fastener towards the very end of the frame is going to use an extra flat washer and then two little bolts will get just a bolt and a lock washer. We will reuse the factory nut and install the factory bracket back into place, going towards the front of the vehicle. OK, we are going to leave everything loose. Let us go to the driver side and finish up the fasteners over there. These three bolts right here will get just a flange nut. OK, now this fastener here is going to get the hex bolt, with the three marks on it, and this small block. And we will put it into place. And that will only get just a flange nut also. It is easier to line up three bolts instead of four when you put the hitch up. That is why we do this last. OK, with everything started, we can go ahead and snug down the hitch and then torque it down as specified in the instructions. And with all of the bolts torqued down, that will finish it for our install. And there you have it for part number 13084 on this 1997 Jeep Cherokee.