Video Transcript for Installing the Trailer Mate Trailer Hitch Receiver on a 2012 Chevrolet Express Van

Hi everyone. Jesse here with etrailer. Today we'll be taking a look at, and I'll show you how to install the Trailer Mate, Trailer Hitch Receiver on our 2011 Chevrolet Express van. These Express vans are made to be work vehicles and they have a lot of storage space inside of them, but it's always nice to be able to add some extra storage space outside your vehicle. And with this hitch, you can throw in accessories such as a cargo carrier or you can even do some towing with it. Just remember, if you plan on doing any kind of towing with your vehicle, you will need to add on trailer wiring to ensure that you're safe out there on the road.

The cross tubes here are below the bumper, but honestly this hitch is one of the harder ones to notice once it's installed on the van. It does not have a reinforced collar here, so it does have a pretty stealthy look. And this receiver opening is gonna be your standard two inch by two inch opening, so most of your accessories will slide right in there. Then behind that, we have another standard, five ace inch pin hole. The pin and clip not included with the hitch.

However, most accessories will come with one included, and if not, we do have many options available here at etrailer. Below that, we have a nice sturdy safety cable loop here. Very easy to access with whatever style safety cable you have, for example, an S like this or even a large clevis like this. Now we'll take some quick measurements starting with our ground clearance. From the ground to the top of the inside of the collar here is right under 16 inches.

That's gonna be pretty average for most of your coupler heights, and from the center of the pinhole to the edge of the bumper is about three and a half inches. That's the number you'll wanna keep in mind for any folding accessories that you might add on to ensure they don't make contact with the vehicle. For the weight capacities with this hitch, we have a gross trailer weight of 5,000 pounds, the same amount of weight that you can pull behind the vehicle, the maximum tongue weight of 500 pounds. That's the amount of weight pushing down on the hitch. You do have the option to use weight distribution with this hitch.

It's gonna bump those numbers up just a little bit. Your gross trailer weight goes up to 6,000 pounds and your tongue weight goes up to 600. Always be sure to double check your vehicle's owner's manual, compare those numbers, and go off the lowest rated component to ensure that you're safe on the road. If you're looking to add a hitch to your Express van, this is gonna be a great option for you. If you have any questions or concerns, please 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 very easy process. You'll most likely need an extra set of hands just to help you lift the weight of the hitch up. If it'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. We'll begin our installation by getting our hardware set up. So on our frame rail here, we have two holes towards the rear and two holes towards the front. We'll be using three of these holes, so we'll be using the one back here that's closest to the rear and these two up here. We'll just take a carriage bolt and a spacer block, slide the bolt into the carriage or the spacer block and drop that down your hole. We'll do that for all three of those on this side and then do that same thing on the other side. I recommend grabbing an extra set of hands. I have my good friend Daniel here to help me out. We're just gonna lift this up into position, get our bolts lined up with the holes that are hitched, and then thread on our hardware on both sides. It's kind of tricky, because that bolt will wanna kind of suck up into the frame. If you put some sideways pressure on it, you should be able to get that threaded on. And once you have one on, it'll really hold the weight of it so you can focus on getting that hardware installed. Now we can tighten our hardware down with a 19 or three quarter inch sock. Now we can take our torque wrench and torque everything down to the specifications in the instructions. Once you have everything torqued down, that's gonna do it for our look at and installation of the Trailer Mate, Custom Fit Trailer Hitch Receiver on our 2011 Chevrolet Express van.