Today we are going to do an install of part number 87161 from Hidden Hitch. This hitch install also applies for part number 75082 from Draw Tite. We will install this on a 2002 Ford Ranger with the Edge package. To begin our install we must do a couple things. We have to take out this bolt and the J-Nut on top. Basically it is just a nut that clamps on the frame. It must be removed also. The new hardware will be ped in so that it is pointing straight down. This nut towards the back will stay in place however we will loosen it up so we can have better access to the J nut. Then the last piece of hardware will be going in this hole here. The bolt that we loosen will always stay here in the frame. We will repeat this process for the opposite side.
The reason I loosened the bumper was so that I could get to the J nut. You can take a screw driver and sometimes it is flexible enough you can pull down this tab and it comes right off. Now you want to just go ahead and tighten up the bumper with the just one remaining bolt. Remember that the hitch will go through the frame and bumper bracket to hold it into place. We will go ahead and our hardware in though the rear most hole. What we will do is slide our hitch in at an angle so that you come over this bolt here. It will stay above the bolt just a little but we can fix that by installing a nut to hold it all in place.
Next we can go ahead and hang our hitch. As you can see we just got the hitch held up by the nut. Just to keep it from going anywhere. We will go ahead and reinstall our hardware back here. There is also a spacer that goes between the hitch and the frame. Then we can install our nut and washer. Go ahead and repeat for the other side. We will go back to the rear hardware and install a lock washer. Again repeat for the other side. Now just simply tighten down the nuts. At this point we can give the bolts their final torque. There you have it for part number 87161 from Hidden Hitch installed on our 2002 Ford Ranger.
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