Trailer Hitch Installation - 2011 Toyota Sienna

Installation of a Trailer Hitch on a 2011 Toyota Sienna

Today we are working on a 2011 Toyota Sienna. We are going to install Curt hitch part number C13105. Here are a couple of measurements that will assist you with ing accessories for your new hitch, such as a bike rack, a draw bar or cargo carrier. From the center of the hitch pin hole to the outermost point of the bumper is 5-1/4 inches. And from the top of the receiver tube to the ground is 11 inches. Now let us go ahead with the installation. 0:27

Our first step is going to be removing the underbody trim panel. For now we will set our trim panel aside but we are going to go ahead and notch this out for out new hitch and reinstall it later. Now, following the instructions, we need to cut out a notch in our underbody trim panel so that we can reinstall it before we put our hitch in. First I am going to take my marker and mark out the width. Per the instructions, go over 2-3/4 inches off of the corner of this cut out. And then out length is going to be 12-1/2 inches. Now that we have it measured out, we will take a straight edge, draw a line and then cut it out. To cut it out, you can use a utility knife or a Dremel, whatever works best for you in this application. I will just be using a sharp blade utility knife. 1:49

You will see the weld nuts in the frame here, which are our three attachment points on the driver side. They are also covered up with these plastic plugs. We are going to go ahead and remove those now. These plastic plugs can be removed and thrown away, as they will not be reinstalled. Now we will go ahead and repeat the same process on the passenger side. With the plastic plugs removed, I am just going to take a nylon tube brush, part number 814092, and a little spray lubricant to each one of my fastening points. Just to make sure the threads are clean and clear. A little lubrication helps with the install. Now I am going to go ahead and repeat the same process on the passenger side. Now we can go ahead and reinstall our underbody trim panel and then put out hitch in place. 2:37

With just the four push pin fasteners reinstalled on the underbody trim panel, I can then go ahead and take my hitch and put it up into place to make sure my cut out is accurate. As you can see, our hitch fits up nicely through the hole in the cut out of our underbody trim panel. While I have it up here, I am just going to go ahead and take one of my fasteners and just install it finger tight to hold the hitch in place. Let us go ahead and put all six of our fasteners in the hitch. And then we can reinstall the rest of the fasteners for the underbody trim panel. Now with all six of our fasteners installed, we can go ahead and tighten them down. There are the three on the passenger side. I will repeat the same process on the driver side. With all of our fasteners tightened down, now we can go ahead and torque to specifications as indicated in the instructions. With the passenger side done, I will go and repeat the same process on the driver side. Now we can go ahead and put all our two piece push fasteners back in the underbody trim panel. With all of the push fasteners reinstalled, we can go ahead and put in the five screw fasteners in the underbody trim panel. With our hitch torqued to specifications and all of our underbody trim fasteners reinstalled, that completes the installation of our Curt hitch part number C13105.