Today on this 1994 Chevrolet Astro Van we are going to be installing Hidden Hitch part number 87516. We are underneath the vehicle and we want to point out the mounting locations that we are going to be using to install our trailer hitch. Take a look at the driver side frame rail and look towards the end of the vehicle you can see we have got an existing bumper bracket and we are going to be removing this bumper bracket and using its fasteners to attach the hitch to the frame. That is going to be the same on both the driver and passenger side. There are three fasteners holding the bumper bracket to the frame and two that are holding it to the bumper. 00:30
We are now going to move on to the forward most attaching hole. You can see this one is very dirty. You are going to get that with most vehicles that have seen at least one winter. If that is the case, what you want to do is clean it out thoroughly before we get started. What I am going to do is take a spray lubricant like a WD-40 and spray it down. We are just going to take a wire brush like the one that we offer here at Etrailer.com and it into the weld nut. Run it in there a few times and that is going to help loosen up that rust debris that is built up in there. You may need to do this several times depending on how rusty yours is. It is a good idea to do it a few times and then run your bolt in and out and you can see if you have got any resistance. If you do you want to repeat the procedure. We want to do that for both sides of the vehicle and then we can put our hitch up into place. 01:30
We are going to be using all new hardware to attach the hitch to the frame. Into each one of the weld nuts we are going to be using the ten millimeter bolts along with the lock washer and flat washer. What you want to do is get your bolts started until you get them all into position and then we can tighten them up. That is going to help make sure we can align all of the bolt holes and weld nuts properly. At the two bumper attaching points we are going to be using not only the bolt but the nut as well. You want the head of the bolt to be going towards the bumper. On the other side we are going to attach it using a flat washer, lock washer, and nut. 02:15
With all of the bolts tightened down we want to go back through and torque our bolts. You want to verify with the directions the specific torque rating for each of these bolts. For the torquing process I am actually going to torque the weld nuts in the frame first and then move in to the bumper bracket bolts last. Now that we have got our hitch installed we are going to give you a couple of necessary dimensions that you will need when choosing your hitch accessories. From the top of the receiver tube opening to the ground is going to measure 12-1/ 4 inches and from the center of the pin hole to clear the rear edge of the bumper is going to be approximately 4-3/ 4 inches. That will conclude the installation of Hidden Hitch part number 87516 on a 1994 Chevrolet Astro.
