Trailer Hitch Installation - 2001 BMW 530i
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Trailer Hitch Help
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This Product Fits The Following Vehicles
1999 - 2003 BMW 5 Series Sedan and Wagon
Products Featured in this Video
Installation of a Trailer Hitch on a 2001 BMW 530i
Today we are going to install part number 11179 from Curt on our 2001 BMW 530i. To begin our install, we are going to get underneath some access panels here. First off, we have to get to the spare tire cover and actually take out the spare tire. We will be drilling into the spare tire well, so it is always a good idea to stay away from the spare tire. After removing the spare tire, we will get behind these access panels here. And there are three nuts with integrated washers that actually bolt the bumper to the end of this frame rail, right here. And we need to take those three completely off. And it will be the same on both sides. All right, there are three clips that need to be removed to take off the bumper. There is one on the bottom, one kind of on the side there, and then finally there is one up there toward the top. We just need to take the center part out of it and the rivet will come out, and we can move this splash guard out of the way. Okay, at this point we can go ahead and remove the bumper. We need to do that to have access for drilling. And at this point, you will need an extra set of hands.
Take the bumper and just pull straight back. All right, next we can go ahead and mark the vehicle to drill the holes out onto the trunk pan. This will be the part of the trunk pan, right here, that the holes will be drilled out in. What we need to do is find the center of the vehicle, which is conveniently marked by this little rubber plug right here. We actually measure from here to the top of the energy-absorber bolt, and that totals our center. So we just double check that that is right. So that is our center, and this will be our center rib right here. So we will actually align our hitch with this rib right here. We will hold the hitch up, mark the holes, using the Sharpie, and then we will go ahead and drill out our holes. To help our drill bit stay centered, we will go ahead and punch these out just give it a little divot to work into. Now we are back inside the trunk area. And what we are going to do is start installing our bolts. And we are going to install them from the inside out. Alternatively, instead of marking these two holes back here and drilling them out separately, you can actually do the holes in the rear of the vehicle and use the hitch for a template itself and drill out your holes.
All right, next we will install our hardware from the inside out, once again. Take our bolt and our plate and just push them through, and then we will guide the hitch onto the bolts from underneath. We will install our nut and lock washer. All right, and we will snug everything down at this point. All right, next we can go ahead and torque down our bolts. And it is always a good idea to refer to the proper torque that is specified in the instructions. All right, at this point we can go ahead and reinstall the bumper. All right, at this point we can go ahead and reinstall the fasteners that were in the fender well. All right, and one of the last steps we need to do is go ahead and reinstall the spare tire. And with that, that finishes our install of part number 11179 from Curt on our 2001 BMW 530i.
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