Video Transcript for How to Install the TowSmart Class III Trailer Hitch - 2026 Lexus TX 350

Hi, this is Scott with etrailer. Today we're taking a look at and installing our TowSmart Class III Hitch on our 2026 Lexus TX 350. Our Lexus is a really versatile vehicle and it's nice to add some versatility to it by adding a hitch. With a hitch, you're going to be able to put your bike rack on there and haul your bikes around, maybe a cargo carrier, haul some extra gear, or you could even pull a trailer. Our TowSmart hitch is going to be a mostly hidden cross tube design, so most of that's gonna be hidden behind your fascia. All you're really going to see is just your receiver hanging down out of the bottom of your fascia.

This hitch is gonna have a 5/8 pinhole opening, that's gonna hold in any of your accessories that you put into the hitch itself. Now, this won't come with a pin and clip, so you may want to pick one of these up at etrailer. We do have some options available for those. Now, keep in mind a lot of your accessories like your bike racks and your cargo carriers may come with an anti-rattle pin. This hitch has heavy-duty, welded on chain loops.

It's gonna accept either your S-style hooks or your clevis-style hooks. So either one of those are going to work when you're pulling a trailer. As far as measurements go, from the center of our pinhole out to the edge of our bumper, we're looking at a measurement of right at around 3 1/2 inches. Now that measurement's going to help you figure out if any of your accessories that fold up or stow away will make contact with the back of your Lexus. Now, from the top inside lip of our receiver down to the ground, for that measurement we're looking at right around 14 inches.

That measurement's going to help you figure out what type of a ball mount you may need if you plan on pulling a trailer, but that one will also help you figure out if you need any rise of the shank of either your bike racks or your cargo carriers for clearance. As far as weights go for our TowSmart hitch, we're looking at a tongue weight rating of 675 pounds. That's going to be the weight of your bike rack loaded down with your bikes or your cargo carrier loaded down with all of your gear, pushing down on the lower portion of the hitch itself. Now for a gross trailer weight rating, we're looking at 5,000 pounds. That's going to be the weight of your trailer and everything that you have loaded on that.

Now keep in mind, it's always a good idea to take a look in your owner's manual and make sure that you're not exceeding any of your maximum towing capabilities listed in there. Now, if you do plan on pulling a trailer or you have lighted accessories like your bike racks or your cargo carriers, I always recommend go ahead and picking up your trailer wiring and get that done at the same time as your hitch. Now, if you have any questions about this hitch for your Lexus, you can always get a hold of us here at etrailer. We'd be glad to answer any of your questions. Now, as far as installation goes, this one really isn't too hard at all. It's definitely one of the easier ones that we do. But if you don't have the time to do this one yourself or you just don't have the tools or the place to do it, you can always take a look at our installer locator and get something done for you locally. If this is something you feel like tackling yourself, stick around, watch our video, and we'll help you get it installed. To start our installation, we have our Lexus up in the air. Now you can do this down on the ground. We just have it up because it makes it a little bit easier for you guys to see. Now on the sides of our frame underneath of here, we're going to have a couple plastic plugs that we're going to need to remove. So I'm just going to use a flathead screwdriver. On the side of our frame, we're gonna have these little plastic plugs. I like to get underneath of that with a screwdriver and just pop that out. We're going to have two on our driver's side and then two on our passenger side as well. Now in our weld nuts, these we inchesre covered up, but I like to go ahead and take a tube brush and just clean those out. They should be good to go, but it's nice to just make sure that they're good before we go lifting our hitch up there. And what else I'll do is take a little spray lubricant and just shoot a little bit of that in each of those holes. It tends to help make our hardware go in just a little bit easier. Now, as far as your hardware goes, you're going to have four bolts in your kit and you're going to have your conical tooth washers. When you get these together, you're going to want to have it where the teeth are going to be facing the hitch. Now with an extra set of hands, I'm going to have Daniel help me lift this up into position. What we want to do is just lift it up and line it up with our holes. Now you will need to lift up over your exhaust hanger, just kind of loop it up and in. And once we do that, we can get our hardware started. I like to get one in on each side and then we can get the rest of our hardware put in place after that. Now, with a 19-millimeter socket we'll come back through and we'll snug down all of our hardware. (tool whirring) With all of our hardware snug down, we'll come back through with our torque wrench and we'll torque down all of our hardware to the specifications listed in our instruction manual. Now, if you don't have a torque wrench, you can always pick one up here at etrailer. We do have some options available or you can take a look at your local auto parts store. You should be able to rent one there for free. (torque wrench beeps) With everything torqued down, that'll do it for our look at and our installation of our TowSmart hitch on our 2026 Lexus TX 350. I'm Scott with etrailer and thanks for watching.