Trailer Hitch Installation - 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee

Installation of a Trailer Hitch on a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee

Today we are going to be installing Hidden Hitch part number 87567 on a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee. OK, looking underneath the vehicle, we are going to go ahead and point out the mounting locations for the trailer hitch. We are taking a look at the passengers side right now, and as you can see, there are two existing studs. We are going to use those as two of the attaching points. And then, more forward on the frame, there is an existing weld nut right here that we are going to use as the third attaching point. And then over here on the drivers side you can see we have got the same studs and weld nut at the forward side, but on this particular vehicle we have got a fuel tank skid shield that we need to remove first. And then we can put the hitch up into place. To remove it, again, we just need to remove the two nuts off of the studs here at the rear of the frame, and then remove the bolt at the forward attachment point.

Now that I have got the fuel tank shield removed, we can put the hitch up into place. Before we do that, though, I am going to go ahead and clean out both the threads here on the passengers side and the threads inside the weld nut as well. In order to do so, I am going to use a spray lubricant like a WD-40. And you can use either a wire brush or basically anything you can get up inside the threads there to get them cleaned out. I am actually going to use a battery terminal post cleaner and work that up there and rotate it a few times, and that will get a lot of the corrosion out of there. I am going to do that a few times until we can get the bolt up in there threaded properly.

Now, with the weld nuts cleaned out, we can go ahead and put the hitch up into position. You want to make sure you check the instructions for the proper location for each individual piece of hardware. You can see we have got the hitch up into position now. You want to put the spacer blocks on the bottom of the hitch itself in all three of the mounting locations. And then you put the lock washer and either the bolt or nut assembly. Once you get the hitch up into position, you can go ahead and torque the bolts down. You want to make sure you check with your instructions to verify the appropriate torque rating for each individual bolt. With all the bolts torqued down, our installation is complete. This will conclude the installation of Hidden Hitch part number 87567 on a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee.