Video Transcript for Easily Install Your TowSmart Class III Trailer Hitch - 2020 Dodge Grand Caravan

Hi, everyone. Jesse here with etrailer. Today we'll be taking a look at and I'll show you how to install the TowSmart custom-fit trailer hitch receiver on our 2020 Dodge Grand Caravan. Adding a hitch to the Grand Caravan really makes a ton of sense. These are people movers, so you're gonna have all the seats filled up and there's not a lot of storage space inside the vehicle. So adding this hitch on allows you to add some extra store space to the outside of the vehicle, whether it be something like a cargo carrier or a bike rack, where you can even do some towing with it.

Just remember, if you plan on doing any kind of towing, you will need to get trailer wiring to ensure that you're safe and legal on the road. I like the CURT kit. It seems to work pretty well and it's pretty simple to install. Here's a closer look at our hitch installed on our neighbor's vehicle. The cross tubes are gonna be completely hidden behind the fascia, so all you'll really be able to see is the receiver opening.

That's gonna be your standard two inch by two inch opening, so most of your accessories will fit right in there. And then another standard is the 5/8 inch pinhole. The pin and clip, not included with the hitch. However, we have many options available here at etrailer. Also, any accessory that you add on will most likely come with one included.

And then for towing, we also have a wire type safety cable loop. Very easy to access with whatever style safety cable you have, like an S-style, like this, or even a large Clevis, like this. For some quick measurements, we'll start with our ground clearances. From the ground to the top of the inside of the collar is just at about 13 3/4 inches. Then from the center of our pinhole to the edge of our bumper is a little over four inches.

That's the number you'll want to keep in mind for any folding accessories that you might add on to ensure they don't make contact with the vehicle. As for our weight capacities with this hitch, we have a gross trailer weight of 4,000 pounds. That's the amount of weight that you can pull behind the vehicle. We have a maximum tongue weight of 400 pounds. That's the amount of weight pushing down on the hitch. You do have the option to use weight distribution with this hitch. That'll bump those numbers up quite a bit. If your gross trailer weight goes up to 5,000 pounds, that tongue weight will be 500 pounds. And always be sure to double-check your vehicle's owner's manual, compare those numbers, and go off the lowest-rated component. All in all, if you're looking to add a hitch to your Grand Caravan, I think the TowSmart is a good option for you. If you have any questions or concerns about this hitch or anything else we offer here at etrailer, feel free to reach out to us. We'd be happy to get you pointed in the right direction. When it comes to the installation with this hitch, it's honestly a pretty easy hitch to install, but it does involve getting up under your vehicle, lowering the exhaust, and lifting the weight of the hitch up. So if that's not something that you're looking to do yourself, check out our dealer locator. You can find someone local to you that would be happy to get you set up. If you are looking to see how this gets installed, then follow along and I'll walk you through the process. To begin our installation, we'll need to lower our exhaust to get it out of our way. So I have a 13 millimeter socket. We'll start on our rear hanger here. It's just bolted up with one bolt. (drill whirring) Take that out. We'll follow our exhaust up and remove one more. (drill whirring) Now we have one more hanger, a little bit further up. And when we remove this one, just kind of hold up on your muffler here (drill whirring) and then we can let it rest on our subframe. On the passenger's side frame rail, you'll see three bolts here. We're only going to be removing the back two, so we're gonna skip over that one. This middle one is an 18 millimeter. (drill whirring) And then the one on the back is 15. (drill whirring) Then on the driver's side, we'll be removing all three bolts. I'd recommend grabbing an extra set of hands. I have my friend Daniel here to help me out. We're gonna lift this up into position and reinstall that factory hardware. (metal clacking) As long as we can get one started on both sides, that should hold the weight of the hitch up so we can get the rest of the hardware and stuff. (metal clacking continues) And we'll take our sockets and tighten everything down. (drill whirring) (drill whirring) (drill whirring) (drill whirring) (drill whirring) And now we'll take our torque wrench and torque everything down to the specifications in the instructions. (torque wrench cranking) (torque wrench beeping) All that's left is to hang our exhaust back up. But otherwise, that's gonna do it for our look at and installation of the TowSmart custom-fit trailer hitch receiver on our 2020 Dodge Grand Caravan.