Trailer Hitch Installation - 2012 Acura TL - Draw-Tite

Installation of a Trailer Hitch on a 2012 Acura TL

Alright, today on this 2012 Acura TL, we're going to install part number 24834 from Draw-Tite. Alright, first thing we're going to do is go ahead and lower the exhaust. Grab the two rubber hangers on each side; we're going to spray now some lubricant to make it a little easy to remove. On the driver's side, we're going to unbolt the muffler, to get a better view of what is going on. Now, you're not going to have to do this on the actual install. Okay, on the passenger side, we find out that we can a little more room, if we remove the third hanger going towards the front.

Now, we'll go ahead and remove the heat shield, and then modify the frame to accept the hardware. Alright, now we can go ahead and show you the attachment points on the vehicle. We'll use this hole, and it's going to be the same pre-existing hole on the passenger side. Now, we'll install a hardware using this access hole as indicated right here. We'll also use this tie down loop that's located in the center of the vehicle by the bumper.

First thing you're going to do is make a test through the block, if it fits through the hole or not. If it does, great, we can go in and install the hardware, if not, as in this case, we're going to have to enlarge the hole a little bit to make room for the block. Now there's a variety of ways you can do this, you can drill a hole right out next to it, to get your clearance, you can deform the metal for wrench and bend it, or in this case, we're going to use the rotary tool with a carbide chip on it to make a little notch. Okay, with the hole opened up, we can go ahead and install our hardware. We'll run a bolt leader with the hole that we're going to use and not our access hole.

We'll throw it through our block, we'll push it into the frame, then we'll follow up by threading on the bolt and pulling it through. We've dealt with the driver's side, now we'll repeat the same process on the passenger side. Okay now and the last piece of hardware to install is the U-bolt that goes over the tow inaudible. Then we go ahead and lift up the hitch in position, make sure we're going to run the bolt back into the frame, then we'll attach our hardware. The bolt will receive the conical tooth washer and nut; we'll make sure the teeth on the conical tooth washer face towards the hitch.

Same hardware applies to U-bolts as well. Okay with the hitch loosely installed, we're going to tighten down all the hardware and then torque the bolt down as best cited in the instructions. Then we can go ahead and reattach the heat shields, we're going to put them back in its place, and see where we can trim around the heat shields to make them go back in. We'll go ahead and make our cut, and then reinstall the heat shields, after that we can go ahead and install the exhausts. We're finished. There you have it for part number 24834 from Draw-Tite, on our 2012 Acura TL.