Trailer Hitch Installation - 2009 Ford Edge

Installation of a Trailer Hitch on a 2009 Ford Edge

Today on this 2009 Ford Edge we are going to be installing hitch part number 75526. This application will also apply for Hidden Hitch part number 87433. Okay we are underneath the vehicle and before we can get started we need to go ahead and lower the exhaust down and get it out of the way. There are three hangers located here at the rear of the vehicle that we need to remove the exhaust off of. One here on the drivers side, one here at the center of the vehicle, and one hereon the passengers side. Before I do remove all three hangers from the exhaust I want to make sure I support the center exhaust tube here. Once we remove the exhaust from its hangers the exhaust could fall and damage itself. I am just going to take a basic ratchet strap here and just hang it from the suspension enough to support the exhaust tube here. We want to just spray the stud here down with a spray lubricant like a WD-40. Then we can just use a crowbar and try to get behind there and pry it off.

Next we are going to go ahead and remove these screws that are holding down the fascia support strap here. We are going to go ahead and push that up out of the way. After that we are going ahead and remove both heat shields from both the driver and passenger side frame rails here. To do that there are three screws and one push rivet that we are going to need to remove. But there is also a clip here that is holding the wiring harness onto the driver side heat shield, you are going to want to pop that out as well. And with the heat shields removed now you can see holes a little better that we are going to be using for our trailer hitch.

The next step is to go ahead and fish wire our bolts in through the end of the frame down through the holes we are going to be attaching the hitch with. We are going to start with the forward most hole and we are going to fish this from that hole out through the end of the frame here. There is a slight opening here where the frame meets the bumper that we can feed this through. Next we are going to take our block and feed it onto our bolt leader and then we will take the 1/2 inch carriage bolt and wrap it around the threads of the bolt leader. You want to make sure you keep the bolt and block independent while pulling it through the frame which will make it a lot easier to get it down into place. All right you will just want to repeat that procedure for the passenger side as well. Now you can go ahead and put the heat shields back into place before we install the trailer hitch. Again we want to notch out the areas to insure the hitch touches directly to the frame. See we have notched out perfectly around the bolts in the frame. We are not going to be putting this bolt or this bolt back in, we are simply going to attaching it by the push rivet and the bolt in the middle.

All right now we are going to go ahead and put the hitch up in position. We are going to be attaching each one of the carriage bolts to the hitch with the conical tooth washers and the hex nuts that are provided with the hitch installation kit. Okay and now we want to go ahead and torque the bolts down and verify with the instructions the appropriate torque rating for your individual hitch. And then we want to go ahead and put the screw back in where the fascia strap was. And then finally we just want to reinstall the exhaust back up on its hangers. And this will conclude the hitch installation of hitch part number 75526 on a 2009 Ford Edge.