Trailer Hitch Installation - 2003 Ford E-350 Van

Installation of a Trailer Hitch on a 2003 Ford E-350 Van

Today on this 2003 Ford E-350 Van we will be installing Draw-Tite hitch part number 41906. First thing you want to do is lower the spare tire and get it out of the way. Over here on the driver side frame rail, if your model has the carbon canister attached to the frame rail, we need to remove that as well before we get started. There are two nuts holding the carbon canister here to the outboard side of the frame. So we want to go ahead and take those off and that will allow us to pull the carbon canister out of the way. With the carbon canister out of the way we can go ahead and place the bolts into the frame and then get our hitch going. We will be using different combinations of blocks and washers depending on your particular vehicle. On this E-350 Van, here at the rear attaching point, we are going to be using a flat washer along with the bolt. And in between the frame and the hitch, we will be placing one block.

Here at the center attaching point, we will be using the hex bolt with the smaller 3/ 16 by 1 by 2 block. We are actually adding two of the 3/ 16 blocks in between the frame and the hitch. And then the third attaching point is going to vary. Some vehicles, the hitch will line up with one of these existing holes, and you may need to enlarge them to 9/16. One of our applications here, the third hole actually does not line up with any of the holes in the frame so we are going to have to drill that out to 9/ 16. Okay, and now that we have got all of the bolts installed we can go ahead and torque them down. You will want to check with the directions to verify the appropriate torque rating for each individual bolt. And with the bolts torqued down, we just need to put our carbon canister back up. And then put your spare tire back up into place and your installation will be complete. This will conclude the installation of hitch part number 41906 on a 2003 Ford E-350 van.