Today we are installing hitch number V81590 on a 1998 Toyota Tacoma pickup. Step one is to remove the bolts that are holding the arm on the frame here. This will allow us easier access up into the frame. For the hitch installation we will have to remove the bumper brackets from the vehicle. That will require us to remove these 2 bolts here. Then there are 2 more that are attaching the bumper brackets. In the instructions they say to remove these 2 bolts and loosen the other two that are attaching the bumper. We are going to just go ahead and remove those bolts it makes it just a little easier to get the hitch brackets into place. When removing the bumper make sure you disconnect the license plate lights otherwise you will rip the wires
Once we remove the bolts we can go ahead and take the bracket off of the frame. Now that the bracket is removed we will go ahead and put the spacer into position. Just set it inside the channel with the long arm up then we are going to line it up with the existing holes horizontal and vertically. Now that we have the spacer block into position we want to go ahead and re attach the arm that we removed from the hitch earlier. In this instance I am using the driver side just want to put it up into position and put this horizontal tab in line with the hole in the frame. We want to use the 1/2 inch by 1-3/4 bolt provided along with the washer. Then attach that with the nut they provided as well. I went ahead and hand tightened the bracket here to the frame with the provided bolt. If you can see all 3 holes align from the arm to the frame and the bracket. In doing so we are going to want to add the bumper bracket as well.
We want to make sure we line up this tab to the existing hole to the arm. It will help hold it into place. From there again we just want to align the holes. Then attach it with the 1/2 inch fastener which you want to do to both sides. After we went ahead and put that into position there is one more that we want to replace. They give us new hardware for this also. Make sure you use the teethed washer for this bolt and leave it hand tightened as well. Now that we have the bumper bracket back on and the hitch arm we want to reinstall the bumper. What you want to do is reinstall the 4 bolts that we just took out. Once you have the bumper back on and in place you will torque them down. You want to torque them at 72 foot pounds. As you can see we got the hitch assembly back into position. It has a tendency to be pretty snug trying to get that hitch up in there. You may need the use of a crowbar or something to pry the arms out just enough to get the hitch into position. Once you have done that you want to reinstall the bolts that we took our earlier. We have already torqued down the bumper bolts back into the bumper bracket. We want to make sure we torque down the 3 bolts that hold the hitch to the hitch arm. The horizontal bolt here and the vertical bolts as well. All these bolts get torqued down to 72 foot pounds. After all the bolts are torqued down your installation is complete. This will complete our installation of part number V81590 on a 1998 Toyota Tacoma
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