Trailer Hitch Installation - 2011 Chevrolet Impala - Draw-Tite

Installation of a Trailer Hitch on a 2011 Chevrolet Impala

Today on this 2011 Chevy Impala were going to install DrawTite Hitch, part number 36407. Here are a couple of measurements that will assist you with selecting accessories for your new hitch. From the center of the pin hitch hole to the outermost point of the bumper is 7 inches. From the top of the receiver tube to the ground is 13-1/4 inches. Now let go ahead with the installation. Before we can install our hitch, we need to lower the exhaust.

We will remove these two hangers here and lower the exhaust. Before I go ahead and lower my exhaust, Im going to put a safety strap underneath of it so we can control how far and fast it will fall. Now to remove the hangers Im going to use a little spray lubricant first, this will make it easier to remove and reinstall later. We will go ahead and use a pry bar and simply remove the rubber hanger from the upper portion of the hanger bracket. With our hangers removed we can go ahead and lower the safety strap so that the exhaust will come down.

To give myself a little more working room, Im going to go ahead and remove the hanger off the exhaust pipe also. Now we can lower our safety strap and this will give us enough working room. We have a total of 6 fastening points, four on the frame, two on the drivers side, two on the passengers side, and then weve got two on the cross member between the frames. Everything we show you on the drivers side we will repeat it exactly on the passengers side. We are using our pull wire to fish our fasteners into the frame and cross member.

We will go through the fastening point, and back out the access hole. I will slide my block on, and then thread on my bolt. Simply take my block push it up into the frame, followed by my bolt, then we feed up into the frame and pull into position. Now I will go ahead and remove my bolt leader and repeat the same process for my forward fastener. With our install kit we get a total of four bolt leaders so I am going to go ahead and leave this one on as it will assist me to put my hitch up into place without pushing the hardware back up into the frame.

Now lets do the one for the cross member on the drivers side. For our cross member we will be using the 1-3/4 inch carriage bolts. Go into the access hole, well go in through our attachment point, and out through the access hole. Just as we did on the frame. Once we have the hardware up into the cross member we will go ahead and pull it into position. I will go ahead and leave my bolt leader in place. Now I will go ahead and repeat the same process on the passengers side. Now with all of our fasteners in place its a good time to get an extra set of hands to help you put the hitch up into position. Well feed the bolt leaders through the hitch and go ahead and install our conical tooth washers with the teeth of the washer facing the hitch, and our half inch nuts. Now with my two cross member fasteners in place we can go ahead and remove our bolt leaders and tighten down our fasteners. Now with my two cross members installed finger tight, we will go ahead and remove the bolt leaders and install the conical tooth washers and half inch nuts on our remaining fasteners. We will just tighten our fasteners down finger tight until we get them all into position. With all my fasteners into position we will go ahead and tighten them down. Now with all my fasteners tightened down we will go ahead and torque to specifications as indicated in the instructions. With all my fasteners torqued to specifications we will go ahead and reinstall the exhaust. Alright with my exhaust reinstalled we can go ahead and remove the safety strap, and that completes the installation of our DrawTite hitch part number 36407 on a 2011 Chevy Impala.