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Easily attach a variety of accessories to the front of your vehicle with this fully welded, corrosion-resistant trailer hitch receiver. Perfect for winches, spare tire carriers and more.
Features:
Specs:
Draw-Tite's Tested Tough program provides testing standards far superior to those outlined by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), the go-to source for engineering professionals.
Each Draw-Tite trailer hitch receiver undergoes extensive fatigue testing and static testing with the ball mount that is either supplied or recommended for use with that particular hitch, thus ensuring results that are applicable to real life use. Fatigue testing is also conducted on hitches rated for use with weight-distribution systems.
In addition, Draw-Tite performs static testing on a simulated automobile, as opposed to the rigid fixture used for SAE testing, resulting in a more true-to-life scenario.
At etrailer.com we're committed to the products we sell, and to our customers. Our experienced and knowledgeable staff are available via both phone and email to address your questions and concerns for the lifetime of your hitch. The technicians at etrailer perform hitch installations on a daily basis, making them a valuable resource for do-it-yourselfers. The one-on-one, personal service you'll receive comes straight from an expert in the towing and automotive field. We've installed it, we've wired it and we've towed with it, so whatever your question, we can answer it.
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Average Customer Rating: 4.9 out of 5 stars (202 Customer Reviews)
Easily attach a variety of accessories to the front of your vehicle with this fully welded, corrosion-resistant trailer hitch receiver. Perfect for winches, spare tire carriers and more.The #65053 front trailer hitch fitted perfectly to our 2019 Ford E450 Jayco 31F RV.
Thank you for a precision product with the necessary hardware and draw wire to make the installation straight forward.
Removing the front grill completely, made it easier to measure and cut out the square hole than is shown in the instruction video.
A 2 3/4 inch square opening fits easily behind the flange of the hitch when remounting the grill.
Remove retaining screws and plastic retainers to dismantle the front grill. The plastic retainers are removed by lightly knocking out the square centre pins with a suitable punch.
See photos.
The instruction video shows the removal of one lug on the number plate mounting to relocate it.
This is not necessary. Simply separate the grill from the chrome bumper with a screw driver at that point and push the mounting with attached lug between the two.
Super fast delivery! Ordered on Tuesday mid morning, received Friday afternoon, Missouri to Texas on my porch, amazing! Watching the install videos super helpful. It took me a little over 3 hours to install stopping a few times to play with the dog, let spray paint dry on the drilled holes and have a cup of coffee. Being alone, I had to get creative holding up one end with stands and blocks to bolt up the hitch. The ‘fishing’ wires that came in the install package worked great! I installed this front hitch on a 2021 E-350 Ford Class C motor home in my driveway laying on a piece of cardboard. I am 69, not the best or worse mechanic.
This is a quality product. I installed it by myself in less than 3 hours. A floor jack with a little creative support jig made the install quite easy. A little extra trimming of the facia and splash guard beforehand made reinstallation easy. I'm very happy!
The Draw-Tite Front Mount Trailer Hitch Receiver was easy to install, the installation video was very helpful. Works great for carrying our ebikes on the Kuat bike carrier, and leaves our van doors in the rear more accessible. Bombproof mount. Also great customer service as always from etrailer.
Great product and simple to install thanks to the etrailer video. Added this to our C Class motorhome for our bike rack and works perfect. Just needed to relocate the license plate.
As advertised. Installed fairly easily with a little cutting to the plastic air-dam. Does the job of carrying bike racks and motorcycles on the front of my 1-ton van, when needed. I haven't actually moved any trailers around with it but it's good to know it is there if I need it for that.
Very easy to install with no help. But beware - the video shows cutting the bumper facia all the way thru, don't do it, only a small portion needs cut out above the line, if done properly it's not noticeable when it's all done (unlike the video). Be sure to read the directions.
Also directions say NOT to remove the bumper, not sure why. Once I installed the hitch the bumper went back in with no problem.
My splash guard needed a bit more trimming than the directions called for, not sure if it's due to the year model (mine is a 2014), once I did the initial cut and put it back in place I could easily see where more cutting was needed.
I did the whole project - alone - in just a few hours.
I would definitely recommend this hitch. Draw-tite hitches are well made and - in my experience - always easy to install, not to mention etrailer's great price.
I say take the bumper off. You are 4 nuts away and it makes life easier when cutting out the facia for the hitch to come through and two drill the two holes. I recommend using a 1/2" step drill for this. The directions should also state that the elongated hole is used. That was unclear to me until I put the hitch up on the E450. I also relocated the license plate to the driver side. I didn't want to buy a relocation product. I cut holes in the facia just like the original spot. I worked great. I used an Oscillating Multi-Tool. It worked great on the plastic.
Installation instructions were clear and easy to follow and the videos leave no doubt if you're doing it right. The new front hitch looks as if it were factory installed. Very happy with the results.
I love the hitch! Living in Minnesota with all our lakes it works great for launching my boat. It was really easy to install I did it by my self.
I installed this under the front of my 2019 Winnebago Outlook RV on a Ford E350 chassis several months ago. Had to drop the bumper to get good access to the holes. Cut up the lower shield a bit to get it back on. I'm using it to hold a CURT 31006 24-Inch High Trailer Hitch Spare Tire Mount for 2-inch Receiver. And that holds my new spare tire. I hate driving any vehicle without a spare. The RV didn't come with one, but it has one now. Added a nice cover and locked it down for security. I was delighted to find out that it barely peaks above the hood and doesn't effect visibility while driving. No noise either. Overall I am happy with this item and how it worked out. In a pinch I could also use this receiver for spotting trailers.
2016 E450 Minnie Winnie - Perfect fit!!
I was disappointed to not find any bolt up front receivers for my 2016 E450. Seems like they only "officially" support E450 up to 2014. But then a Google search led me to this site where customers reported that this fit their newer model E450 cutaways. For a $100 I thought it worth a shot since my local trailer/hitch shop wanted to charge me $650 minimum for a custom front receiver.
I read other customers posts which gave me the confidence to go ahead with this purchase and I was very pleased I did. The receiver bolted up perfectly per the instructions.
Like other customers I HIGHLY recommend removing the front bumper. It's only four bolts and easily drops down and I was able to do this myself. Tip: Remove the L & R bottom nuts and loosen the L & R top nuts from underneath. Then get out in front and remove the remaining nuts with your hand and lift off the bumper. Easy! It made inserting the bolts into the frame a million times easier. (See photos)
The most difficult part was refitting the plastic air pan underneath. I basically just held it up in it's approximate position from the front then, through the bumper opening, used a Sharpie to trace around the receiver frame. Then I used some tin snips to cut out the shape and went back and forth, fitting and trimming until it fit adequately. (See photos)
Cutting out the notch in the plastic of the front bumper for the receiver to go through was pretty easy. I held up the bumper in place while I had my son mark the sides of the receiver. Then I just used a dry wall knife to cut out that section. I took a little too much off. You can use my photo as a guide to see how far you'll need to go.
Apart from that the installation was really easy. I'm extremely pleased with this product and of course etrailer was awesome. :D
The hitch was delivered in a strong cardboard box with handy holes for carrying. Easy install. Works great for my scooter rack. The hardest part of the was trimming the plastic shield. Bumper was easy to remove which gives you more room for the install.
I installed this trailer hitch receiver on the front of my Ford E-450 motorhome, so I could carry a spare tire. I followed the video installation instructions, and found the installation quite simple. Since I did the installation by myself, I did not remove the bumper as others have done, and used the method shown in the installation video. To hold the receiver up into position, I propped it up on plastic milk crates and 2x4's. I quite easily cut the plastic trim with a sharp utility knife. Do not be intimidated, you CAN install this yourself!
Fitted to a 2014 Ford E250.
I fitted it in 1hr 45mins, because the hardest thing to refit was the front bumper.
I removed the front bumper completely, (4 nuts)and the splash guard from underneath, drilled the forward hole in the chassis with 1/2" drill bit, fitted your hitch, torqued the nuts to 75lbs. the splash guard wouldn’t go back on even with the notches cut out, so I left that off, had to cut a bit out the under bumper plastic trim to refit the front bumper.
Was very easy to fit and I've already used it :)
Great addition to our class C motorhome. Also purchased a spare tire mounting bracket for use with the hitch receiver. This allows the spare tire to be carried on the front of the motorhome since we didn't have a spare tire rack anywhere. Carrying the spare tire on the front of the motorhome does not present any vision problems or any cooling issues with the engine.
Front Hitch has been one of the best investments I’ve made on my RV. Had to do minor trimming but fit perfectly. Having the option to place bike rack in the front & dinghy flat tow in the rear has made my glamping excursions more fulfilling. etrailer did a magnificent job with quality on this product. Highly recommend
No safety chain hookups. Otherwise good
2018 Ford e450 Super Duty, Forest River Forester Class C
- Read all the reviews for Hints to install
1) TOP HINT TAKEN FROM OTHER REVIEWS: I spray painted the back side of the bumper bracket to show me exactly where it was supposed to go once I reinstalled it. Spray painted around Nuts and extra holes on backside of bracket, made locating the reinstallation of bumper much easier.
2) Like most folks, determined that the fairing was not going to be able to be put in the exact same position and ended up using tie straps on the back end to hold in place.
3) Took less than an hour to remove bumper & fairing , install receiver, and reinstall bumper; took another hour to reinstall fairing.
4) The measurements on cutting out hole in plastic bumper were spot on.
5) Had to take out some plastic rivets and small bolts around license plate to take it off, as it was right where I needed to cut out for receiver to pass through. Once I took it off, slid it to the right and reintalled, so I can put on the front license plate.
I ordered this literally less than 24 hours ago and it arrived to my doorstep!!! I think etrailer needs to call Amazon and tell them how it is done. Like honestly, I am not even prepared to put it on yet as I was expecting a week for delivery! Holy cow, do you all sell groceries as well?
Great product, easy installation, great price and customer service from etrailer. A couple of installation notes: rather than totally removing the front bumper like many have mentioned in their comments I followed the mfg’s instructions and used the included “fishing” wire springs to get the bolts and spacers into the frame rails. They worked very well in my opinion. Also, I sprayed the washers, nuts, and bumper mounting flange with white paint before I loosenef the 4 nuts. This was to give me witness marks so I could get the bumper alignment back to its original position. Don’t be surprised if your bumper is not centered perfectly, check before you start. Mine was off by about 1/4”. It’s not a big deal, but it can make the 3”x3” hole you cut in the plastic facia not match perfectly. You may have to trim a bit bigger to get the front of the receiver to pass thru. Like others. I couldn’t get the small screws back into the rear of the trimmed plastic air deflector, so I used zip ties for the 2 rear screws. Lastly, I was able to reuse the plastic front license plate mounting frame by cutting off the drivers side top tab. I then installed it back on the plastic facia by snapping the passenger side plastic tab into the original drivers side small facia slot. This offsets the front plate to the right side by enough to clear the new front receiver, and yet leaves the plate visible. Total install time was about 2.5 hrs.
I got the hitch three days after ordering.Installed front hitch on a 2017 Winnebago C class ,which is a ford 450 super duty e series frame. Drilled out front holes on frame and hitch bolted up with no problems.I did take front bumper off which made it easier.
Fits my 2016 E450 motorhome perfect.
This went on nicely. It was about a 2.5 hour job following the 5 or so easy instructions that came with it to mount it on the front of my 2015 Jayco Melbourne 4x4 RV which has an Econoline E-450 van front. The nice tip I picked up on this forum was to take the bumper completely off, which made things a lot easier. It was simple to do and the bumper is pretty light.
I cut the fairing underneath as shown, although this was kind of tight getting back in. The other cutout on the bumper was pretty minor and I followed instructions on the measurements and used a sharp utility knife. You should see that on the final closeup of the bumper. Overall really happy with this design and the quick service from etrailer.
I just received and installed the front hitch on my 2013 Jayco Greyhawk 31SS Ford E450 motor home. Was not hard to install. Finished the install in under an hour and a half. Instructions were good. I felt it was easier to take the bumper off rather than leaving it on but loose. Made it easier to put the bolts through the frame after drilling out the two front holes to a bigger size. Cutting the plastic under the bumper was simple. Relocation of the license plate was also simple. Did not have to cut any tabs. Moved it over and drilled into license plates bottom tabs and zip tied to plastic under bumper.Easy Peasy. etrailer is a great company. Very knowledgeable and will research the information for you. They answer your questions in a timely manner. Will order from them again.
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