Trailer Hitch - Helpful Videos and How To Articles

Trailer Hitch Installation - 2005 Toyota Camry - Video

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

Trailer Hitch Installation - 2001 Toyota Rav4 - Video

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

Trailer Hitch Installation - 1998 Toyota Sienna - Video

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

Trailer Hitch Installation - 2008 Toyota Rav 4 - Video

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

Trailer Hitch Installation - 2007 Toyota Prius - Video

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

Trailer Hitch Installation - 2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser - Video

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

Trailer Hitch Installation - 1998 Toyota Camry - Video

To begin with it may be easier to lower the exhaust to provide clearance to remove the heat shield bolt. The next step is to remove the tow down hooks on the drivers and passengers side of the vehicle to expose the existing holes in the frame. This particular model doesnt have tow hooks existing, but you can see the two bolt holes that you would use for the mounting of the hitch. Then we remove the rearmost heatshield mounting bolt under the frame, that the hitch will use for attachment. The next step is to put the hitch up into place and mount it with the holes that go down where the tiedown brackets were removed more

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Posted: 7/23/2008 12:15:25 PM

Trailer Hitch Installation - 2008 Toyota Highlander - Video

Today we are going to do a hitch install on a 2008 Toyota Highlander we are going to be using the Valley part number of V81312. First thing we need to do is take off a few plastic components and the tow hooks, this cover here will be taken off, this tow hook will be taken off, and there are the same things on the driver side. Joe uses a screw driver and a socket wrench to remove existing bolts that hold the plastic shields in place Now I have access to take off the bracket, and we will do one on this side and one on the other side. Next what we have to do is lower the exhaust here a little bit, we will take off this rubber hanger and that way we get more flexibility and room to fit the hitch in. With this model here, they actually have these protectors to protect the treads, rather handy when you install a hitch. more

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Posted: 7/23/2008 12:15:51 PM

Trailer Hitch Installation - 2000 Toyota Tacoma - Video

At this point we can install the hitch on the vehicle, youll have to stick it in between the frame and suspension components so its good to have an extra set of hands to do this with. Sometimes with the exhaust, some sit higher than others, you may want to lower it a bit or in this case we may want to take the bolts out to fish the hitch in and then well put it back in. Now we install our bolts going towards the front of the vehicle. Well let the back ones loose of course so we can wiggle it around and set it where we need it. Now well move on to the other side. We just need to get it started and then we torque it down. Now well go to this rear bolt here and install our washer. Now well repeat for the other side. Now we can snug up the bolts and make sure the hitch sits the way we want it, then well give them their final torque. Last but not least well tighten the bolts that hold the brackets to the frame. There you have it for part number 87579 on our 2000 Toyota Tacoma more

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Posted: 7/23/2008 11:29:52 AM

Trailer Hitch Installation - 1998 Toyota Tacoma - Video

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 more

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Posted: 7/23/2008 11:25:24 AM

Trailer Hitch Installation - 2006 Toyota Highlander - Video

Today we are going to do an install of part number 75153 on a 2006 Toyota Highlander. This also applies to part number 70778 from Hidden Hitch. Before we begin there are just a few things we should do before you can start. First off this shipping bracket has to go so we will take out these 2 bolts. There are also 2 rubber plugs back here that will need to come out also. We will use this bolt hole for the install but you want it to get as flat as possible or steel to steel. So what is going to happen is we are going to take this rubber plate off also. This will apply to both sides of the vehicle. Now the hitch is ready to be installed on the vehicle. It is also nice to have an extra set of hands to help lift up and install the hitch more

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Posted: 7/23/2008 11:57:52 AM