Today we are going to install part number 11179 from Curt on our 2001 BMW 530i. To begin our install, we are going to get underneath some access panels here. First off, we have to get to the spare tire cover and actually take out the spare tire. We will be drilling into the spare tire well, so it is always a good idea to stay away from the spare tire. After removing the spare tire, we will get behind these access panels here. And there are three nuts with integrated washers that actually bolt the bumper to the end of this frame rail, right here. And we need to take those three completely off. And it will be the same on both sides. All right, there are three clips that need to be removed to take off the bumper. There is one on the bottom, one kind of on the side there, and then finally there is one up there toward the top. We just need to take the center part out of it and the rivet will come out, and we can move this splash guard out of the way. Okay, at this point we can go ahead and remove the bumper. We need to do that to have access for drilling. And at this point, you will need an extra set of hands. more
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Posted: 11/17/2008 3:19:23 PM
Today we are going to install part number 13535 from Curt on our 2006 Honda CRV. First, we will show you where the hitch mounts up. First will be on the drivers side, on that frame rail right here. And then the center point, where the tie-down loop is, it uses that. And the same two holes on the passengers side, which is right now hidden by the muffler. more
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Posted: 11/5/2008 3:26:47 PM
Today we are going to install part number 13465 from Curt on a 2007 Dodge Charger RT. The first thing we need to do is lower the exhaust. We have got two points we need to lower: one here, and one in the back. Now, we can simply unbolt those from the frame and it will come down. And we will do that on both sides. And also, for added safety, and to keep the stress down on the exhaust, we added this safety strap here. And one other point we need to disconnect will be right here, that is going to be right in front of the converter here. And basically we are going to just take this off and let the exhaust fall down as much as possible, limited by the strap, of course. And that will give us plenty of working room. Now we will take down this side of the exhaust. All right, and now we will do the passengers side. more
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Posted: 10/21/2008 3:32:22 PM
Today we are going to install part number 87486 from Hidden Hitch on our 2008 Nissan Murano. This also applies to part number 75647 from Draw-Tite. The first step we need to do is go ahead and remove this tie-down bracket. We will take this off and it will stay off completely. Next we have to lower the exhaust top away. And there are three rubber hangers that we have to remove. There is one here, right behind the bumper here, and there is one on the other side of this bracket tube. These two, and then on the passengers side. And on the passengers side there is one that needs to be removed also. All right, we spray down this hanger right here, and that makes it a little bit easier to push off the exhaust system. Now we move over to the passengers side. Right, now that will give us a little more working room to install the hitch. more
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Posted: 10/16/2008 2:13:21 PM
Today we are going to install part number 60846 from Hidden Hitch on our Mazda 6, 2006 model year. On some models, two holes have to be drilled out, basically in this general area here and right here. There is a bolt and plate that gets installed right there. Some models will have the hole pre-existing, but in this one we will have to drill them out. Our next step is to go ahead and lower the exhaust to a level where we can do our install. There are three rubber hangers to be removed: this one right here, one back in the center and then one on the passengers side also. We also put in this temporary strap here so when we lower the exhaust we have something to control it as it comes down and we can actually support it at a specified height. more
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Posted: 10/15/2008 3:25:59 PM
Today we are going to install part number 75374 from Draw-Tite on our Ford Econoline van, the E250. And this also applies to part number 70755 from Hidden Hitch. To show you where the hitch installs out on the frame, it uses these two holes toward the end of the frame, here. And then this hole right here on this part of the frame. It is identical on both sides. And for clarity, we did take down the spare tire. It is not a necessity, but it tends to make things a little easier to work around in. more
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Posted: 10/3/2008 4:55:16 PM
This is a hitch on a 2004-05 Pontiac Vibe. This one has preexisting fasteners in the frame right here, which in this case are a little bit corroded out. So, we will have to clean them out first with a bolt and some WD-40 to run through so we can fasten the hitch on. We already sprayed down the bolt. Then we are just going to run the bolt a little bit and then back them up. Put a little bit more in and go at it again. Just keep going at it until the bolt starts to spin freely, like it is doing now. You probably will not have to worry about much like that. One down, three to go. Work on the other two. Sometimes they do not go in right off the bat. And once you get the bolt half way in, it backs out pretty easy. Chances are you are pretty much down with that part. more
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Posted: 9/30/2008 5:48:00 PM
Today we are going to do a hitch install on a Ford Escape Hybrid, built 05-07. And we are going to use hitch number 75281 and it is a class III receiver hitch and we will get to installing it. The first step that we are going to do is to make things easier on ourselves. We are going to go ahead and disconnect the rubber exhaust hangers on the exhaust. We will lower it down just to give us a little bit more finger room. Now we have a lot more working room. What we will do next is pull our bolts through the frame. We will start by running our leader through the bolt hole itself and then out the access hole. Then we will pull our bolts back in through. OK, lets do the other side, the same process. OK, notice how the bolt got caught. What you need to do is just roll it back and forth until it twists around and falls into place. Do not pull too hard. And you see how the plate came through first, which is good. Then you can pull the rest through. more
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Posted: 9/30/2008 5:48:42 PM
Today we are going to show you part number 75099 from Draw-Tite. We are going to install this on a 1996 Chevrolet pickup 1500 with an 8-foot bed. All right, the first thing we need to do on our install here is, we need to remove this bolt here, and the hitch will reinstall at this attachment here and also this hole right here, and the one back here, also. This one we will run a 1/2 inch bit through just to clean it out and dig out some of the rust and stuff, but basically it is really a no-drill application. We will go ahead and run the drill bit right through here just to clean it out. And maybe you will have to do this on yours or not, but it is always a good idea. And we will go ahead and remove this bolt and the same thing for the other side. OK, we will go ahead and install the hardware. The plate and the bolt go right here and another one goes through this hole right here. And go ahead and repeat it for the other side. more
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Posted: 9/29/2008 4:26:18 PM
Today we are going to be installing part number 24748 on a 2003 Volkswagen Jetta. The first thing we want to do is to go ahead and remove the spare tire out of the spare tire well because there are going to be two holes that we are going to drill in there. OK, looking under the vehicle now, we are going to locate the area where we actually are going to be installing the hitch. There is an existing hole here on the back side of the tow loop that is going to be one of the mounting points. We actually are going to hold the hitch up into position using the bolt and the nut into this hole location and then kind of straighten the hitch out and mark all the other holes, because all the other holes are going to have to be drilled out. more
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Posted: 9/26/2008 3:20:30 PM
Today we are going to be installing hitch part number 11018 from Curt for a 2008 Smart Fortwo. Looking up under the vehicle, we are going go ahead and point out where the hitch is going to mount. The rear-most attaching point will be through this bolt here, so we are going to need to remove that on both sides. This hole here, we are going to a block and bolt down through. And we are going to use this access hole to get the bolt and block up through the frame. On the passengers side, this hole will need to be drilled. Taking a look over here at the passengers side rail, you can see that this area here where the hole was on the drivers side is not here, so that is one we are going to have to drill. And the access hole that we are going to use to run the bolt and block through the frame up into that hole actually has a plug in it, so we are going to need to remove that, as well. And there is one a little bit forward on the frame, as well, that needs to be removed. So that way this piece will completely come down. more
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Posted: 9/23/2008 12:06:51 PM
Today we are installing hitch part number 87108 on a 2008 Ford Taurus X. The first thing we want to do is to go ahead and lower the exhaust. We just need to remove the exhaust from the rubber hanger here. Now that we have got the exhaust off of the rubber hanger, we want to go ahead and remove the hanger assembly itself. And we can do so by removing these two bolts here. OK, now with the exhaust hanger removed from the frame, we want to go ahead and fish the carriage bolts into the frame here on the drivers side. We just want to go ahead and run the fish wire that is provided in the kit. We want to run it through this hole and out through the access hole here at the top. Pull it down into position, like so. We want to now remove the fish wire from the thread you can just unwind it. And then we want to go ahead and put the other carriage bolts into the horizontal frame position here, as well. We will fish through the same access hole, and up out through the hole. This location gets the 1 x 2 inch block along with the 1/2 inch carriage bolt. Now I am going to run the fish wire down through the hole, like so. This position gets the 1 x 2 inch block along with the 1/2 inch carriage bolt. Pull that through like so. You want to go ahead and leave the fish wire on the carriage bolt in this position so that, when we put the hitch back up, if for some reason the hitch forces the carriage bolt back into the frame, you can just pull it back through. more
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Posted: 9/23/2008 4:55:08 PM
OK, today we are going to be installing hitch part number 75526 on a 2007 Ford Edge. OK, before we install the hitch, we need to lower the exhaust unit down. And, on the Ford Edge, there are 3 separate exhaust hangers that we are going to have to lower down. There is one here on the passenger side and there is one in the same location over here on the driver side and there is one directly in the middle, between the 2 exhausts. Before we move the third hanger here, we want to go ahead and put some kind of support under the exhaust because, once this hanger has been removed, the exhaust will fall all the way to the ground. So I am going to just use a regular strap here. Pull it tight underneath so it still allows the exhaust to lower but not lower too much. OK, the next step, we are going to need to remove both, the driver and passenger side, heat shields, which are held on by 3 screws. And we are going to need to trim the heat shields to allow access to this hole here and this hole as well. That is going to be the 2 attaching points for the hitch. more
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Posted: 9/23/2008 4:13:51 PM
Today we are going to be installing part number 87451 on a 2008 Chrysler Town and Country. We are over here on the drivers side frame rail, and there are three attaching points: one there, one there, one there. So we are going to need to remove all three of these bolts. All the hardware for the hitch is actually already in the frame of the vehicle so there is going to be no bolt kit that comes with the hitch. Again, it is this one, this one, and this one that need to be removed. And if we go over here to the passengers side, we are going to have to go ahead and take the exhaust off the hanger to access the passengers side bolts. You can kind of see there is one toward the rear here near the bumper, and then one a little bit more forward, as well. We need to remove those bolts. more
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Posted: 9/22/2008 12:49:01 PM
Today we are going to do an install of part number 90148 on our 2005 Montana. The first thing I am going to show you is where the hitch goes. It will mount up here. These two bolts will come out temporarily, and this exhaust bracket will come off temporarily. The hitch will mount up with these bolts here, and the hitch will serve as a template to drill out two holes. There will be one up here in this general vicinity and back here. On some models, these holes are pre-existing. It just depends on what you have. And on the drivers side it will mount on these two holes here and plus an additional hole up in this general area here will have to be drilled out also. Now these bolts will be replaced by the bolts that come with the hitch. All right, on some models you might actually have an air compressor that is a load-leveling device. That comes equipped on some models. If you have that you should only need one bolt on there and then the other bolt hole will actually be covered up. What you do is put the hitch upon there like normal go ahead and drill out the second hole - just through the bracket, and try not to hit the nut. And then take the hitch back down. Then put the hitch up flat to the frame. And then the bracket for the compressor goes on top of the hitch. more
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Posted: 9/22/2008 5:05:12 PM
All right, today we are going to install part number 75038 on a 1994 Ford F-150 pickup truck. All right, the hitch gets mounted to the frame right here. There is actually a dent in the hitch where it mounts against this rivet right here. And it mounts onto the frame about this far back. And you do have to drill all the holes out in the frame. So the best way to do it is to clamp it up to the frame and then use the hitch as a template and drill out all the holes. All right, one other thing you want to do before you install is lower the spare tire as far as possible to give you some working room to get up in there. more
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Posted: 9/22/2008 3:26:49 PM
Today we are going to be installing Curt hitch, part number 13591, on a 2005 Chevy Equinox. The first thing that we want to do on the Equinox is go ahead and remove this center section here which is going to allow for clearance to get the bolts mounted in the bumper flange at the bottom here. We will pull out these pop rivets, one on each side. OK, with the cover removed, you can see the 2 mounting points at the bottom of the bumper being here. There are 2 weld nuts which we are going to use the existing end 12 fasteners that are going to go in to those points there. OK, then again on the outside of the frame rails here, you can see the 2 attaching points. There is a weld nut here and one above it as well, and that is going to be the same for both sides of the frame. And now, we are going to go ahead and put the hitch up into position, using these attaching points. This hitch will actually be easier to get up into place if you have an extra set of hands because it is a bit awkward. more
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Posted: 9/20/2008 10:39:15 AM
Today we are going to install part number 36361 on our 2003 Oldsmobile Silhouette. This also applies to part number 90148 from Hidden Hitch. First, we will show you where the hitch gets installed. It will use this attachment point here and there is also another threaded hole behind this bracket right here. What will happen is we will put the hitch up on top the bracket, use the hitch as a template to drill out the hole in the correct location, take this bracket down and then put the hitch back up against the frame. And then, this will go on top of the hitch. There is also going to be a drilled hole around in this area, also, here. And on the passenger side, the hitch will install on these two attachment points right here, plus a drilled hole towards the rear of the vehicle, and just forward of this round slot here will be another drilled hole also. First, we will start with this bolt. And we will leave this bracket the compressor stays right there, right now. more
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Posted: 9/17/2008 5:36:21 PM
Today we are going to show you the proper operation of a handle nut. Basically, a lot of hitch installs will use this type of device here. You can manipulate this handle any way you want to, to run this nut into an area that has a tight fit. You can bend this at will, basically. Just take it like this and bend it, and then put another hook into it, and make a handle like that. And you can thread it into the frame, where you can actually run your bolt through the bottom of it. All right, and now we will go ahead actually and install this handle nut on a typical application. more
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Posted: 9/17/2008 4:44:45 PM
Today we are going to be installing hitch part number 36288 on a 2002 Pontiac Grand Am. All right, we are under the vehicle, and the first thing we are going to do is locate the two 8-mm bumper bolts on the inboard side. There is one on each side. And we want to go ahead and remove the nut from each one of those. And now that we have got the nut removed, we want to go ahead and cut off the bottom portion of this plastic flange that is attached to the front side of the bolt. This is going to allow us to unthread the bolt out of this hole here. And we want to go ahead and do that on both sides. And with the bolt extracted, we want to go ahead and kind of open up this gap here in between the two pieces of metal where we removed the bolt. There is still a little clip in there that was kind of holding the bolt in place, and we need to get that out of the way. So we kind of pry this open and the clip will fall right out for you. And, again, we need to make sure we do that on both sides. more
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Posted: 9/17/2008 4:13:27 PM
Today we are going to be installing part number 13831 on a 2003 Nissan Frontier. All right, we are under the vehicle here, and we are going to go ahead and point out the mounting holes. You can see right here on the drivers side frame rail there are three holes, one large and two smaller holes. Set that over the top, where it will align through the holes. Go ahead and put our bolts down through, like that. And then we want to go ahead and do the same thing for the passenger side. as well. And now we have got the plate in place along with the bolts, we can go ahead and put the hitch up into position. We just want to attach it with the nuts that are provided. more
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Posted: 9/17/2008 4:02:49 PM
Today we are going to install part number 87522 from Hidden Hitch. And we are going to install this on an 2003 Dodge Durango. This also applies to part number 75081 from Draw-Tite. First off, we are going to show you where the hitch mounts. It is going to mount on this bracket right here, with the two bolt holes. And it is also going to come to the end of the frame, to the last crossmember, and it is going to use this hole right here. And there will be a stiffener plate that is going to go inside of here, also. It is a little bit different on the other side. On the drivers side, you are going to use the same hole on the end of the frame, right here. Again, it will get a stiffener bracket, and then also one of the bolt holes back here in the back. You need this one right here in the frame. more
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Posted: 9/17/2008 3:47:26 PM
Today we are going to install part number 82534 from Hidden Hitch. We are going to install this on a Dodge Ram 1500. First off, the hitch we are going to install on the frame and the side brackets. We are going to use this hole here, this one at the end of the frame, and this side bracket. It is going to be the same on both sides. And also, this install requires that the factory hitch not be installed on the vehicle. To begin our install, actually we are going to go ahead and put the hitch up against the frame. And there are two bolts that we are going to run into on the side brackets that hang down vertically. We are going to use those to put the hitch into position, and then we are going to wire the bolts to the frame. To show you an example here, some models have a significant gap between the hitch frame and the bracket coming down. It will be pretty similar on both sides if yours is off. It does come with these optional spacers right here to put in between the frame. They will go right here, and then that will take up some of the extra slack in there. When you tighten down the hitch, the bracket and the hitch will conform to take up the necessary space. We will go ahead and install these spacers on this particular hitch. more
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Posted: 9/15/2008 4:57:43 PM
Today we are going to install part number 36136 on a 1991 Dodge Dynasty. Where the hitch installs on this vehicle, it will install on the two EA bolts right here - the Energy Absorber. The hitch will sit on top of this plate and get bolted back into place, and then it also will attach to one of these holes back behind the energy absorber, in the frame here. And we do the same thing on both sides. However, we will have to modify the exhaust lower, before we are all said and done, on the drivers side. And this is the exhaust bracket that we will have to lower and modify, but for now we will just go ahead and unbolt it into the frame plate here. And we will leave that there, that just like that, for now. more
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Posted: 9/12/2008 4:04:17 PM
Today we are going to install part number 13344 on our Chevrolet Uplander. All right, the first thing we need to do is go ahead and lower the exhaust and temporarily remove this body bracket here. At this point we can go ahead and hang the hitch on the vehicle and snug it down to the frame because we have to use the hitch as a template to drill the rest of the holes in the frame. All right, with the hitch in place we will go ahead and drill a pilot hole, and the other holes we have to drill out in the frame will be right here. We will do one on each side toward the rear of the vehicle. And on some models you do not have to drill out back here, but on this model we actually have a hole that lines up with the body mount - no, the body bracket - so we will just go ahead and use that one. The next thing we do is install a handle nut that goes into the side of the frame here. We will bring it to the direction we need to match it to the hole right here. And repeat for the other side. more
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Posted: 9/11/2008 5:03:01 PM
Today we are going to install part number 36336 from Draw-Tite on an 2005 Toyota Camry. The first thing we will to show you is where the hitch mounts on the frame. And the hitch will mount on the frame here using these two bolt holes for sure. However, on some models there may be no more bolt holes, and there might be an extra one here. In this case, see? There is like a black sticker covering the hole. We will check it out and see if this is a threaded hole. If so, we can actually use that. If your vehicle does not have this threaded hole here, then you just drill out two holes using the hitch as a template and then put a U-bolt inside. We will see what we have got here. And it looks like this is a threaded hole. So on this side we will be using three attaching points. On the passengers side, with the exhaust here, we have to take down these two bolts, and then the hitch goes in this place. And then the exhaust bracket actually bolts on top of the hitch. more
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Posted: 9/11/2008 4:23:22 PM
Today we are going to install hitch part number 82641 on a 2008 Chevy Colorado, and this hitch also fits models from 2004 through 2007, as well as 2004 through 2008 GMC Canyon. On the side of the frame we need to remove this rear-most bolt that attaches the bumper and bracket to the frame. And on the bottom, on pre-2008 models there are actually going to be two logistic holes here. On this 2008 model, there is actually a weld nut with a bolt into here, which we are actually going to take out, and we will be using this hole as well. We need to do that on both sides of the frame. more
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Posted: 9/11/2008 4:18:54 PM
Today we are installing part number 13328, a hitch made by Curt, and it will be going on a 2005 Honda Pilot. Okay, we are underneath the vehicle now. And the first thing you want to do is remove your spare tire, and get it out of the way. Locating the attachment points, right here on the back side of the bumper there are two weld nuts that attach to the flange on the hitch itself. And then we go over here to the drivers side of the frame rail, there is just a tow hook that needs to be removed. There are three bolts holding it on. And those three weld nuts in the frame will be the attachment points for the hitch, as well. And then on the passengers side frame rail, there is not actually a tie-down, there are just the existing weld nuts. On older vehicles, over time corrosion will build up into these weld nuts, so you want to go ahead and clean those out really well before you get started. You can use any kind of spray lubricant, like WD-40, and a wire brush to get the threads cleaned out. more
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Posted: 9/11/2008 3:43:16 PM
Today we are going to install part number 87135 from Hidden Hitch and we are going to install this on a Chevrolet Equinox, an 2005 model. To show you where the hitch installs, it will use this mounting hole right here, and then it will also mount on these two holes on the side of the frame. They are threaded. All right, you can see the one bolted on the side here, and there is one directly above it, also. All right, next we are going to start installing our hardware in the frame. Basically, what we are going to do is install this block and this bolt. What we will do is run our bolt leader through the block and then thread our bolt into it, and then push the whole assembly up into the frame. One, two, then the block - then pull everything back through. And then go ahead and repeat the same operation on the other side. more
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Posted: 9/10/2008 3:48:43 PM
Today we are going to install part number 75125 on an 2001 Toyota Rav4. To give you an idea where this hitch installs, basically it installs in the same place where this tie-down bracket is. You take off the tie-down bracket and the screws and the hitch goes up in its place with new hardware. Same thing on both sides. As you can see, we took out the bolts and it is pretty well rusted. So even though the threads are okay and everything, so it might be a good idea to just spray them down with some WD-40 or something just to clean out a little bit more when you put the new bolts in. more
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Posted: 9/10/2008 3:48:06 PM
Today we are going to install part number 87440 from Hidden Hitch, and we are going to install this on an 2008 Honda CRV. All right, first we will show you where the hitch mounts up. It will mount on these two holes existing in the frame. It will also mount to the tow hook in the middle of the vehicle. And it also attaches to two same threaded holes above the muffler. more
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Posted: 9/10/2008 3:47:45 PM
Today we are going to install part number 87638 from Hidden Hitch. And we are going to be installing this on a 1998 Toyota Sienna mini van. And this also applies for part number 75120 from Draw-Tite. To begin our install, we need to do a couple things. We need to lower the exhaust to help get it out of the way. Sometimes, you can sneak it between the bumper and tail pipe, but just to give you a little bit of extra working room, we will go ahead and lower it out of the way. And then also these tie-down hooks for shipping, these come off and stay off. And we will begin by removing these. Alright, at this point we can go ahead and install the hitch with the fasteners towards the end of the vehicle. And it is a good idea to have an extra set of hands with this one it is a little on the wide side. We will just temporarily install it with the bolts. more
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Posted: 9/8/2008 12:16:43 PM
Today we are going to be installing hitch part number 75278 on a 2001 Chevy Venture. We are taking a look at the driver side frame rail and as you can see there are 2 existing weld nuts in the frame. If you have dual exhaust, you may have nuts already on this side holding your exhaust up, in which case you will want to just remove the existing bolts out of the frame to expose these nuts. As you can see here on the passenger side, we do have the exhaust and there are 2 bolts in the frame holding the exhaust hanger on, we are going to go ahead and remove those and it is going to drop the exhaust down here. On short wheel base models, there would be an existing hole here that we will be using as a forward most attaching point on the hitch. With this being the long wheel based model, that hole is not there so we will have to drill it, as well as the rear most attaching point. more
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Posted: 9/2/2008 12:33:55 PM
Today we are going to install part number 87424 on a 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. The hitch itself mounts onto the very end of the last cross member on the vehicle frame itself, and that is of course right behind the plastic bumper here. But it installs in 4 bolt holes here in the center. Basically the hitch wraps around the beam here and the bolts go through and attach it and basically bolt it into place. Our first step we need to do is go ahead and lower the exhaust, basically to help get the muffler out of the way so you can run the bolts straight into the frame. We just needed that little bit of flexibility to get the bolts into place. Now we can simply put our hitch up into place and then run our bolts in. Once you get your bolts started you can go ahead and snug them down. more
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Posted: 8/30/2008 2:49:35 PM
Today we are going to install part number 24763 on our 2008 Honda Civic hybrid model. The hitch is going to install above the exhaust on this frame rail behind the heat shield right here. It wraps all the way around the muffler. It is also going to attach to the tow hook right here. Also on the frame rail over here just on this side of the shroud. The first step is to remove the exhaust and also, to do that, we need to remove the rubber isolator from the exhaust muffler. And that will give us some wiggle room. Next we have to unbolt this heat shield right here. Alright next what needs to happen is that this rivet right here has to be removed. We will put it back up when we are done. What we are going to do now is go ahead and hang the hitch. We are going to start off at the tow loop. As you can see, we have the U-bolt hanging down from it. It might be a good idea to have an extra set of hands to work around the muffler. more
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Posted: 8/30/2008 9:03:28 AM
Today we are going to install part number 75432 from Draw Tite. We are going to install this on a 2008 Toyota Rav4. This hitch is going to attach to the frame, it is going to attach to these weld nuts here and here. It will be the same thing on both sides. But on the driver side, there is a tie down bracket that we have to take off. This tie down bracket will have to come off and the hitch will use this hole where this bolt is existing and this existing weld nut right here. We will begin by taking this bracket off. We will just install the bolts just to get everything started. At this point we can already start installing the hitch. It is kind of on the heavy side, so it might be a good idea to get a extra set of hands to get it in there. more
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Posted: 8/30/2008 1:53:56 PM
Today we are going to be installing hitch part number 87554 on a 2002 Dodge Dakota. Alright, the first thing we want to do is go ahead and lower the spare tire and remove it and get it out of the way. Looking under the vehicle now, at the frame rails, the attaching points for the hitch are going to be here at the bottom of the frame. This existing hole, as well as this one here. There is a vertical attaching point as well, which is going to be where this bolt is here. So we need to actually remove the nut from the outboard side and pull this piece off. As you can see, there is an extra flange here that kind of holds the bolt in place while you are putting the nut on. If that happens to be pinched in between this particular set of bolts here, you might need to loosen these to allow this to be removed. So you will want to go ahead and remove this bolt and that assembly from both sides of the frame. As you can see I had to loosen these bolts here to get this top bolt out, the flange. You will want to make sure that you re tighten these as soon as you are able to get the top bolt out. Now that we have the bolt removed from the side of the frame, we will go ahead and put the hitch up into position. more
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Posted: 8/29/2008 4:31:57 PM
Today we are going to be installing hitch part number 87717 on a 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan. We are underneath the vehicle now and I am going to go ahead and point out the attaching points that we are going to use for the hitch. As you can see there are 2 existing bolts in the bottom of the frame as well as a center hole here as well. The hitch is going to utilize this bolt here, as well as this hole here. On 2001 and newer models, we have a hole that is going to be existing here as well that the hitch is going to utilize. On this particular model, they do not have the hole already in the frame so we are going to have to go ahead and drill that out. So the first step is going to be to go ahead and take out this bolt on both sides of the frame. And then I will run it back in. It basically cleans the threads out themselves. more
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Posted: 8/29/2008 3:57:32 PM
Alright, today we are going to install part number 75471 from Draw-Tite and we will be installing this on a 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe. This also applies to hidden hitch number 87414. It is a relatively easy hitch to install. It attaches at 2 points right here, at these 2 threaded holes inside the frame. They are going to be identical on both sides of the vehicle. So first thing we will want to do, even though this is a new vehicle, is take some time out to run the bolts in and out just to make sure that you do not have any dust or road grime in there. more
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Posted: 8/28/2008 11:31:46 AM
Today we are going to be installing part number 24579 from Draw Tite. We are going to install this on a 1993 Geo Prism. The hitch installs in these 3 points on the side of the frame. And on this vehicle we actually have a threaded fittings. Some varieties of this vehicle will not have threads at all. In fact, we would have to drill a hole into the frame to install hardware. In this case we do not have to do that because the 3 holes here are threaded. Also when you install the hitch we will have to make a notch in the sheet metal here to put it in place. We can do that with a simple set of sheers. It will not be too hard to install. Basically you will do the same thing on both sides. The firsts steps involve is to go ahead and take down these bumper straps off the trunk pan here. We will just go ahead and take those off. We just need to pull those out of our way for now. Next what we will do is hold up the hitch and find out where exactly on the sheet metal we need to cut. more
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Posted: 8/26/2008 8:01:42 AM
Today we are going to install part number 60818 from Hidden Hitch on our 2006 Chrysler PT cruiser. This install also applies to part number 24759 from Draw Tite. Alright, the hitch will attach where this tow hook is. This tow hook will be removed and kept off. The hitch will be bolt into place right here and also there will be a part in the frame up a little further around this area that we will have to drill out for access of a carriage bolt. It is basically the same thing on both sides. On the driver side we are going to have to lower the muffler to get to the access there. Also we took down the spare tire for now. Theoretically you should not have to take it down but it makes it just a little bit easier to put the hitch back up against the bumper and then put the spare tire up when you are done. First of all, remove the exhaust hangers. more
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Posted: 8/7/2008 4:27:42 PM
Alright today we are going to install part number 41920 from Draw Tite. We are going to install this on a Ford F250 lite duty version pickup. The hitch will install in these pre existing holes in the frame here. There is also a bracket that needs to be installed at the end of the frame. That goes over the top of the rear set of holes, and there also has to be a hole inside of the bracket that needs to be drilled through the side of the frame. Our next step is going to be going ahead and temporarily bolting this bracket into place. We are going to just use existing hardware. That will just give us a guide for our drill bit to go on through. Okay we drilled out our pilot hole a 1/4 inch, then we will follow it up with a half inch bit. Now we are going to repeat everything for the other side. more
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Posted: 8/4/2008 1:43:14 PM
Today we are going to install part number 11468 from Curt and we are installing this on a 2007 Toyota Prius. First thing we need to do is take down this shield right here. This will come off and the hitch will go in the place where this tie down hook is. Once we take this shield off we can unbolt this hook and there is another hook on the passenger side that we need to take off also. The first thing we need to do is take down this shield here for now. We will end up trimming it when we put the hitch back up. Alright, next we will want to take down the tie down bracket. Now go do the same thing for the other side. Next we can go ahead and install the hitch onto the vehicle and you can actually put the passenger side over the exhaust and let you help hold it up while you do the driver side first. Once you have the hitch held up by a couple bolts, it is a good idea to go ahead and snug down the bolts to help you line up the hitch with the rest of the holes. Alright once you get your holes lined up, you will have to move around the hitch a little bit and get your last bolt on this side started. Go ahead and snug it up and then go back and do the remaining one on the driver side. more
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Posted: 8/7/2008 4:26:30 PM
Today we are going to install part number 13465 from Curt. We are going to install this on a 2007 Chrysler 300c. To begin our install, we have to lower our exhaust out of the way. We actually have to lower it down pretty good, a pretty far distance. Basically we are going to remove this hanger here, we are going to unbolt it here. We will unbolt this hanger also. Now on the back here, we will need to undo this rubber hanger here too. This whole exhaust system will be resting basically on this point right here. So it may be a good idea to throw a strap around the exhaust for safety purposes to it keep it from really falling down. It looks like we have plenty of clearance to do our work here so we do not have to undo that last strap, our last hanger, so we should be in good shape. more
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Posted: 8/7/2008 4:27:14 PM
Today we are going to be filming hitch part number 36252 on a 1999 Ford Taurus wagon. Looking under the vehicle here we are going to point out the attaching points for this hitch. We are going to remove this bolt on both sides of the frame. It will become the upright fastener for the hitch. We are going to be using the existing hole that is just a little bit forward from this slot here on the side of the frame. So the first thing you will do is remove the bolt from both sides of the frame. You can see on this model they have tow hooks which not very many models have but this particular one does have them, so they need to come off as well. With the bolts now out of the energy absorbers, we want to go ahead and lower the exhaust. There are 2 hangers that are holding it on. There is one here to the rear side near the bumper and then there is one more towards the forward side, towards the front of the exhaust here. more
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Posted: 7/25/2008 11:57:03 AM
Today we are going to install part number 87594, from Hidden Hitch, on our 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee. This install will also apply to part number 75139 from Draw Tite. To make our install a little bit easier what we are going to do is pull out these rivets here where the bumper cover is. That was we can pull it out a little bit and give it a little bit extra wrench access room. You will need access here, which will not be so bad, but on the other side you will need all the room you can get to pull it out. The first thing we are going to want to do point out is that a lot of people miss the hole going towards the rear of your bumper, this one right here with the strap gets used. It is kind of hard to see but you take that bolt out and this one and this furthermost one here. The last one stays in place because it will keep the rock shield in place. more
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Posted: 8/7/2008 4:28:40 PM
Today we are going to be installing hitch part number 90153 on a 2005 Honda Odyssey. The attaching points for the hitch are going to be on both sides of the frame. They are going to be these rear 2 most weld nuts. On a lot of the models that have seen at least one winter you will see lots of road grime and corrosion built up into these weld nuts. So definitely it would do you some good to go ahead and lubricate these with some WD40 and clean them out as best you can with the wire brush or basically anything you can get in there to clean it out. We are going to need to remove the exhaust off the exhaust hanger. Okay, with the weld nuts throughly cleaned out, we are going to want to go ahead and put the hitch up into position. more
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Posted: 8/7/2008 4:28:06 PM
Today we are going to install part number 31367 from Curt. We are going to install a front mounted hitch on a 2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser. To do our install the hitch mounts in 3 different places. One is right here where we are going to take this bolt out here. There are three nuts over here on the right side where we take out the lowest one on this side. The hitch also attaches to the tow loop here and they will be the same on both sides. Go ahead and break these loose. It would be a good idea to have one of these ratcheting wrenches, this makes life real easy on this install. Next we can install our hitch. One thing you have to do obviously get the arms up in here to match that, but also the tabs on the hitch have to fit over the tow hooks. It is a tight fit, you just have to wiggle it into place. At this point we can go ahead and re-install our hardware. more
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Posted: 7/24/2008 1:14:58 PM
Today we are going to install part number 65043 from Draw Tite and we are going to install this on a 2006 Ford F150. This will be a front mounted hitch. Our hitch will install on the inside of the frame. It will use existing holes that are in here. The holes that will be used in the frame will be the square hole here and this round hole up here, that is sometimes covered by this balance right here. We can start by actually holding up the hitch into position. This is a good one to have an extra set of hands for. It goes on the inside of the frame and there are 2 notches on there to keep it a little bit higher or a little bit lower depending on clearance with your bumper. It is a good idea to install your hitch as close as possible then install your hardware. In this case we have the hitch install in the lowest position. That should give you an idea of what kind of clearance you can expect. Once you have your bolts installed you can go ahead and install your hardware. You still want to leave it loose because you might have to move your hitch back and forth for the rest of the hardware. more
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Posted: 7/23/2008 12:33:29 AM
Today we are going to be installing hitch part number 36407 on a 2007 Chevy Impala. The first step in our installation is going to be to lower the exhaust and you can see here on the passenger side there is 2 bolts holding the hanger into place. We want to go ahead and remove those hangers. As you can see, we have the same thing on the driver side here, 2 bolts that need to be removed. To further gain access to the frame we want to go ahead and lower off the 3rd hanger also. That one is just on a rubber piece so we will just pry that off. After we take the 3rd tab out of the 3rd hanger here we want to make sure that we support the exhaust system from when we remove it because it will fall to the ground and that could damage your exhaust. So what we will do is apply a tow strap around the exhaust itself here and then pull it tight. Then go ahead and remove the exhaust off the hanger here. more
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Posted: 7/23/2008 11:05:40 AM
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Mehmet, Savannah, GA |
How to Install a Trailer HitchTowing System ComponentsTrailer Hitch Classes ReviewTrailer Hitch TypesSpecialty Trailer Hitch ReviewHow to Determine Your Hitch SizeQuestions and AnswersTrailer Hitch Classes and Weight Capacity ComparisonClass I Trailer Hitch and Weight Capacities ReviewClass II Trailer Hitch and Weight Capacities ReviewClass III Trailer Hitch and Weight Capacities ReviewUsing Stove Wire as a Bolt Leader DemonstrationLowering Exhaust Pipe on Vehicle with Rubber HangerLowering Exhaust Example for Trailer Hitch InstallationUsing Fish Wire for Trailer Hitch InstallationDrilling a Spare Tire Pan for a Trailer Hitch InstallationDrilling to Enlarge a Frame Hole for Hitch InstallHandle Nut DemonstrationBall Mounts (10)
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