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This fully welded, corrosion-resistant vehicle trailer hitch receiver is perfect for your light-duty towing needs. Draw-Tite's Tested Tough guarantee ensures that this hitch exceeds industry standards. Drawbar sold separately.
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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Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Today on this 2007 Volkswagen Passat, we're going to show you a Draw Tite Sport Frame Class 1 inch and a quarter receiver, part number 24848. This is what the hitch looks like when it's installed on our Passat. You can see the entire body of the hitch. It is square tube construction and it does fit below the bumper because of the way the body is built behind the bumper. There's no way of going around it. It has an upright that goes up into the frame on the passenger side and also when it goes over to the driver's side, it actually reaches up and over your exhaust. There's plenty of clearance there, you don't have to worry about rattling or anything like that.
This is our inch and a quarter opening right here. These are our loops for safety chains from your trailer. This does use a half inch hitch pin or your favorite locking pin. The weight capacity of this hitch is rated for 200 pounds tongue weight, which is the weight pulling down on the hitch and also 2,000 pounds pulling weight, which is the total weight of your trailer you can pull. Always double check with your owner's manual or the manufacturer of your vehicle to determine that your vehicle can carry those kinds of weights. All of this is wrapped up in a powder coat finish.
This hitch does require a little bit of drilling, not bad, and it's easy to drill through. It also comes with all the hardware needed to install. Next we'll go ahead and give you some measurements to help you out in selecting some accessories such as a bicycle rack or a cargo carrier. From the top of the receiver opening down to the ground will be about 12 inches. From the center of the hitch pin hole to the outside edge of your bumper will be about 5 1/4 inches. Now we'll go ahead and show you how the hitch is installed on the vehicle. All right, to start off to install our hitch, we need to go ahead and remove this panel right here and also loosen up the bottom of the bumper cover at these two bolts.
All right now to remove these fasteners, we'll need a T25 torque's bit. Next are our fasteners on the panel. Let's go ahead and loosen up our bumper cover a little bit further. There are these little tabs, push in here, push up and you can pull it out. There's one on this side and there's one by the muffler too.
Mainly this will give more working room around in this area here. Next we'll go ahead and trim out our bumper cover maybe a couple inches over. We'll follow this edge here, go over and down, because our hitch needs to reach up in this area and go across up by the muffler. I'm just going to use some tin snips and also it helps to have this loose as well to work with it. Now we need to lower the exhaust support right here. Pretty simple, two bolts we have to remove using a 13 millimeter socket and an extension. I'll just go ahead and just tilt this back, that should bring the hanger down a little bit so it folds over itself. That will give us some room to put the hitch up into place. What's going to happen is that it will put up our hitch up against this part here, bring our bracket back up and the hitch comes with new bolts that will go through both pieces and into the weld nuts. You definitely need an extra set of hands to help hold this up while I put it in place. It does help to use the same extension and socket to help put the bolts back in. Now I'm just snugging these down where it just brings the hitch back up and not super tight, we can't move it around if we have to. All right, now we'll go ahead and adjust our hitch to where we want it to make sure the receiver's in a straight line with the vehicle. Optionally, when you put your hitch up to mark it, if you can, the best bet is to go ahead and use something to support the hitch up here. That way you can be as accurate as possible marking out the center of your holes. Once we find our location, we'll go ahead and mark it with a half inch drill bit first. Then we'll drill a pilot hole out, then go back at it for our half inch drill bit. All right, let's go ahead and install some hardware. What's going inside the frame will be this long block and a 7/16ths carriage bolt. To run it inside, we're also going to be using this bolt leader which comes with the kit. We're going to run this through our hole we're going to use and out our access hole, which is the oval slot going up towards the front. We'll take our block, thread it on first and push into the frame, then we'll thread on our bolt. We'll push that into the frame and pull it through. We'll install a conical tooth washer and nut. This is the washer right here, you'll notice there's teeth on it, they always face towards the hitch. Then we'll go ahead and put our bumper fascia back into place. We'll reinstall our two screws. At this point, I can go ahead and tighten down all our hardware. We'll use an 11/16ths socket for this hardware here and torque it down as specified in the instructions. Now we've reached the optional point here. We can go ahead and take this panel and leave it off or we can actually trim it to make it go around the hitch. Also, the hitch is going to be really tight against the trunk pan here, so we'll probably just go ahead and just take off a little bit right here. Now you can cut this with a really sharp knife or you can use a rotary tool. All right, we'll go ahead and put it back into place, do a test fit and make any adjustments if necessary. Once you're satisfied with the fit, we'll go ahead and put in all our fasteners. That will finish it for our Draw Tite Class 1, inch and a quarter receiver hitch, part number 24848 on our 2007 Volkswagen Passat.
Great product with custom fit. Install time is pretty accurate. Only issue I have is the product description. It says "Easy, bolt-on installation - no welding required". This is true but it should also state that there is some drilling required. I even emailed e-trailer support to confirm there was no drilling required and I was told that was true. The staff should be better informed.
The other thing I noticed is that the Hidden Hitch and Draw-tite receivers are the same thing. The only difference is the accessories included (ball mount, pin, and clip). Overall I'm very satisfied with and would definitely recommend it for light towing needs like bike racks and cargo carriers.
Service and product is outstanding. Hitch installed easily without a problem. Looks great too!
Thanks,
Jon Dawson
The installation of the trailer hitch was pretty straight forward. Having the vehicle on a car-hoist really helped, too. All the hardware was included in the proper qty and the instructions were pretty clear. This was my third e-trailer hitch installation on VW's (two Jettas and one Passat) and I noticed that in two of them (07 Passat and 05 Jetta) the instructions call for discarting the facia plates. In both installations, I was able to simply cut out the contour of the hitch out of the facia plates and reinstall it. These plates are there for a reason, i.e. keep dirt out, make the car run more quiet and save gas. Maybe you can include that suggestion in your instructions - it is easy to do for the average mechanic.
The hitch came well packed and in good time. The instructions were well laid out and easy to follow. I was impressed on the engineering forethought on how to make installation this easy. The finished installation is strong in construction and connection to the vehicle and makes outside appearance minimal. Perfect for my use. I am well pleased !
Exclent product. I put this hitch on a Volkswagen CC for a Yakima platform bike rack. Had to drill a few holes on the opposite side of the muffler. Easy to do and not a problem if you are handy with tools. The hitch works well. Delivery was prompt within a few days and all parts were there.
Jesse
5/19/2015
Hi. Can you tell me a few measurements? How far from top of hitch opening to the ground? Have you had trouble with it dragging? Would you mind showing a pic or two? Thanks
Great product. Instruction were very good. My VW actually had a side access in the frame that made it very easy for one of screws to be located. The other had to be fished, but the one supplied is short, so get some light wire. Me and a buddy got it done in about 30 minutes.
The H.
5/16/2014
I love it. Great purchase. Being able to tow a small trailer has helped me be able to get more utility out of my current vehicle. The hitch has already saved me ten times the cost.
The installation went well using the instructions. I use the hitch to haul a 5x8 utility trailer carrying 2 dirt bikes. The car sits low already and when I back out of the driveway, the hitch and chains are prone to dragging when I back off the curb. It is a minor issue. All other times I don’t have a problem with the height of the hitch receiver. I also use the hitch for a bike carrier and find it easy to install the pin. I would recommend the receiver for anyone driving a VW CC.
Great product - install was a little more difficult than some other vehicles I have put hitches on (trimming plastic underbody parts), but in the end looks and works great.
Only issue I have is that the VW CC is already so low that the hitch addition sometimes scrapes the ground, and requires any accessory attached (bike rack, platform) to have an offset to raise it to avoid further issues. That is not this item's fault, just one of the consequences of such a beautiful car!
Super easy to install on my 2013 MINI Cooper Coupe, no cutting or wire splicing needed. The MINI tailights incorporate both LEDs and regular incandescent bulbs and have a somewhat convoluted wiring harness, but I had no issues and everything worked as it should out of the box. Recommended.
Purchased the hitch and shipping occurred on the following day.
After watching the video and reading the instructions, I felt comfortable installing the hitch myself. The installation went exactly as the video showed and I was able to install the hitch by myself.
For 2010 and similar year VW Passat/CC owners. After mounting the hitch to the muffler side, I had some trouble deciding how to be sure the hitch was perpendicular to the vehicle centerline. DO NOT line the plate edge up with the edge of steel frame member that extends back to the bumper. If you do, this will put the hitch on crooked. Install the muffler side first as in the instructions, then hold the hitch up to the frame bar and slide toward the front of the car as far as it will go. This will put the crossbar of the hitch in contact with the corner of the plastic pan that hangs down, (would assume this is the spare tire pan). This will get the hitch nearly perpendicular to the car's centerline.
Took me about 45 minutes to install. I would rate it as easy to moderate if you have worked on cars previously.
This trailer hitch went on my 2013 VW CC with no problems. The instructions were clear and straightforward. It took me about 1.5 hours (including using a Dremel to trim the fascia and reinstalling it). It's a great product. A tip: If you're doing the installation by yourself, put a little bit of sealant on the large washers used for bolting the one end of the hitch to the frame rail to hold it up against the hitch mounting flange while you use one hand to hold hitch and the other to put on the nut.
Just bought a 2013 VW CC and installed the hitch in less than half an hour thanks to the instructional video. The hitch works perfectly and is certainly strong. The only minor issue I had was excess metal around the drilled holes for the locking pin. I used a file for 15 seconds and they were gone. The hitch is really well hidden and doesn't take away from the look of the car at all. Really satisfied with the whole experience!
I have a 2008 VW Passat and needed a trailer hitch for a move across country. The hitch was in stock and arrived within a few days. The installation was done in a few minutes and according to the mechanic, quite easy. Im very satisfied, the company notified me of its departure from depot, transit and asked if I was satisfied.
Id recomend this product!
Instructions strait forward. I used a Uni-bit to drill the holes in frame. mounting the frame was easy. Modified the plastic panel and replace it on the car. Used a Dremel multi tool to cut the plastic panel. 45 minutes to install.
Fit great on our 2010 Passat. I needed this for vacation and chose 2 day shipping to get it here on time. Hitch arrived the very next day! I will always chose etrailer. Quality parts and great customer care. Thanks.
It came way faster than I was expecting it, as always great fast shipping.
I might be a bit biased because I've been buying my hitches from etrailer for the last several vehicle I've owned.
Always quick order to ship time, and fast shipping, arrives in great condition with no parts missing, and install is fairly easy and spelled out in instructions.
This one I just got and unboxed. I'm quite sure it will be a little difficult but that's only because it going on a Volkswagen Passat, but we'll see.
etrailer customer for life!!!
Product appears to be a high quality piece. The instructions were well written, and the installation took about 45 minutes. etrailer got the part to me two days sooner than estimated. Great communication on the buying/shipping process. Great company to do business with.
2009 Passat wagon. Follow the directions carefully. You will have to fish the bolt in with a wire. Works great, using it for a bicycle rack. Check the bolt tightness after a while, ours loosened up, or we didn't get them tight enough.
Fit well installation took about an hour. Wasn't sure about the pianowire to fish the bolts in but it worked well. The wirencould have been a couple of inches longer I didn't have much to grab on to when installing the furthest bolt.
Very nice experience
It fits my 2014 VW CC and was an easy install for a mechanically minded person. I believe the 40 minute estimate to be accurate, though my wife insisted in interrupting the install with a coffee break. The bolt feeding was my biggest fear, but the wire was very purposeful (Surprisingly painless). Watch the install video on the site as it's well done. etrailer delivered promptly so not much more to say here...
Great product. Shipping was super fast. It was a breeze to install. The fishwire that my kit came with is the best thing since sliced bread. Neat little gadget!! Overall great experience all the way around!!
I need a way to tow a small trailer for yard and water toy use. I was going to buy a used pickup truck but they were all such junk I decided to put a hitch on my VW Passat and use it instead. Very good decision.
worked great, used a Fein multi tool to cut the shield to fit around the bracket. Didn't have to move the exhaust pipe. Did have to lengthen the wire and spring that threads on bolt a little. But over all, I love it.
And it came in two days!
If I'm going to do the installation by myself it would take me at least have a day....good thing a have a friend from Volkswagen...put my car in the lift and only take him 30 minutes to install...overall the product is very good...highly recommended
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Ed P.
11/7/2017
Its been a full year since I installed this hitch and a am still very happy. Great product!