Video Transcript for Trailer Mate Class III Trailer Hitch DIY Install - 2022 Honda Pilot

Hello, neighbors, it's Brad here from etrailer, and today we are taking a look and installing the Trailer Mate by CURT Trailer Hitch Receiver on a 2022 Honda Pilot. And this is gonna be a great option for those of you that are looking to either tow a small trailer or load up accessories on those road trips. A trailer hitch is a great starting point. And this is a great option, so let's take a closer look at it. The great part is, is the only thing that you're gonna see is the receiver tube opening and the safety chain loops, as the rest of the hitch is hidden behind the fascia. So you get a nice clean look, but all the usability of your hitch.

Now, this is a two inch by two inch receiver tube opening, which is a great size for a lot of different accessories. It's the standard when it comes to trailer hitch receivers, so bike racks, cargo carriers, ball mounts, you're gonna have a ton of options. And all of them are gonna stay in place with a 5/8 pin and clip. A lot of times, when you pick up accessories, they'll have their own pin and clip included, which is really nice. But something I'd recommend, if you don't have a pin and clip and you plan on leaving your accessories on here long term, I would get a locking pin and clip.

It's a good deterrent. That way, people can't just come by, take out that pin and clip, and those accessories with them. Towing trailers is something that you may wanna do with this hitch, and safety chain loops are pretty standard here. Super easy to hook up your safety chains, whether it be a standard S-hook, the clevis-style that's smaller, or even a large clevis-style, there's gonna be no issue here. Now, speaking of towing, the weight capacities on this hitch are pretty good.

You do want to compare that with the owner's manual to see what the vehicle's capable of towing and take the lower number so you stay safe. But out the gate, with a 5,000 pound gross trailer weight rating, that's gonna be pretty good. And that's the weight of the trailer plus the accessories loaded onto it. So, with 5,000 pounds, there's a lot of different trailers that you could tow and do it safely with this. Now, your tongue weight rating is also pretty good at 500 pounds, and that's gonna account for a lot of your suspended accessories, so bike racks and cargo carriers because it's the downward pressure on the inside of the receiver tube opening.

So 500 pounds means probably a four-bike bike rack loaded up. A cargo carrier on vacation loaded up shouldn't be an issue. Now, a few quick measurements. Sometimes, when choosing holding accessories, like cargo carriers and bike racks, they'll go in a vertical position, but some vehicles, it runs into an issue where it hits the fascia. So we'll measure from the center of our hitch pin hole to the furthest point of ours, and it's like right at about 3 1/2 inches. So I don't worry that you're gonna have any issues with those being able to fold. Now, keep in mind, it's very possible you're gonna block your license plate, as well as your backup camera, and you are gonna need to fold those down in order to open up your rear lift gate. But just something to keep in mind. Another important measurement is gonna be our ground clearance. So, from the top of the receiver tube opening to the ground, this one comes in at 14 inches, and that's gonna be really beneficial for figuring out a fixed ball mount for your trailer to get everything nice and level. And the way to do that, get your trailer. If you have it handy, get it level on the ground, measure from the ground to the top of the coupler, take that measurement, and then compare it with our 14 inches. And based off the math, you should be able to figure out the rise or drop necessary to get everything level. And at 14 inches, I would guess that more than likely, depending on your trailer, of course, you're gonna have a slight rise, maybe a couple inch rise. Now, if you're gonna be towing a bunch of different trailers, I would recommend getting an adjustable ball mount that really makes it nice and easy to be able to dial that in per trailer. Also, if you have a hands-free lift gate, sometimes people are worried that the hitch is gonna cause issues with it. That's not the case here. So, I have my remote in hand, and we'll see it opens up with no issue. So, you're not gonna lose any functionality that you might've had with your vehicle while installing this hitch. Now, chances are you're on this because you wanna see how it installs. And I'm here to tell you this is a super easy hitch to do. You're, more or less, just gonna be lowering down your spare tire to get some space, putting your hitch up, bolting it up, tightening and torquing, that's it. So, definitely can be done in your driveway or garage. I would give yourself maybe 15 to 45 minutes, depending on if you have those extra set of hands to help you raise it up. But beyond that, super simple. If you're gonna be tackling this, you'll be able to knock it out. But I also get it, if you don't have the time, the place, the tools, or even the want to do this yourself, and you just wanna get this hitch installed, you can have someone else do it for you by using our Dealer Locator. You'll simply put in your ZIP code, you'll find a list of shops close to you that can get your hitch installed, as well as any other towing accessory, maybe some trailer wiring at the same time. And that way, you can be on your adventures and not have to worry about the install. But speaking of it, let's take a look at that. To get our install started, it's a really easy one, but we want to give ourselves a little bit of extra space underneath to be able to raise the hitch up and bolt it up. And the best way to do that is lower down the spare tire. If you've never done that on your vehicle, it's actually really easy. Just open up your rear hatch, you can fold that cargo cover over, and there may be a plastic cover that's on here, but if you pop that off, there'll be a rubber grommet. You can just peel this back. And we'll just use our tool. We'll rotate this counterclockwise, enough to where we can get our tire on the ground and get that unhooked and moved out of the way. (part clattering) Now, you're gonna head underneath your vehicle, and we're gonna grab one of the bolts from our hardware kit and test to make sure that our weld nuts are gonna be cleaned to pass our hardware up because, really, the hitch is just gonna raise up and utilize the three threaded spots on each side of the frame rail to bolt it up. But, we don't wanna raise the hitch up, only to find that this bolt doesn't want to go all the way through. Being that this is exposed over time, you can see a little bit of rust and corrosion building up, depending on the area that you live. But that can really make it difficult for a bolt to pass in. So what I recommend doing is taking one of those bolts and try to thread it in by hand. If you're getting resistance, there's a few things you can do. You can spray penetrating oil in there and use a toothbrush to clear that out. You can use the bolt to clear that out as well. If you're getting a lot of resistance, be careful, but sometimes if you pass that through, it'll clear it out. Worst-case scenario, you can get a tap that's the same thread pattern as your bolt and clear those out. But the main thing is, is making sure that they're all clear. Again, that way we're not struggling while we have the hitch supported. So, I'll run the bolt through all the holes, make sure everything's good. Now that we've confirmed that all the holes are clear for the hardware to go up, grab an extra set of hands so we can raise this hitch up. I got Tom here to help me, and each of us are gonna have a bolt ready with the conical tooth washer. You'll see the teeth here. We're gonna have that biting into the metal on the hitch. So, Tom's being a strong man here, but having two people will make this a lot easier just to kind of support it. And our goal is to get one started on each side, and that way it'll support the hitch. Now, you may notice that a part of it needs to go a little bit in the fascia, so just raise it up until it's tucked there, align the holes, and then once you thread a little bit here on each side, that will support the hitch, and that'll allow us to get our other hardware easily passed in. So, we'll get all of our hardware started by hand. (bolt rattling) Now, with all the hardware started by hand, we can snug them down. And we don't need to get crazy here because we're gonna be coming back with a torque wrench to get it all properly torqued. But in order to get these snugged down, we're gonna be using a 22-millimeter socket. You can also get away with the 7/8, but it's a little sloppy. So ideally, if you have a 22, that's gonna be the ticket. And I'm using an impact. You don't have to, again, I'm just gonna draw it all up, so our hitch is gonna be sitting flush against the frame. (drill whirring) Come back with that same socket, and I'm using a 1/2-inch torque wrench. You could get away with a 3/8, but getting a 22 on there sometimes might be difficult. And really all you're gonna need the torque wrench for is just to get these cranked down. But it's important because you wanna make sure that it's tight enough to obviously tow and use accessories. But having like threaded spots in the frame, you can overdo it. So a torque wrench really makes sure that it's perfectly tightened. So, if you don't have one, you can get one here at etrailer, but you can go to an auto parts store and rent one for free. And really, you'll just have to knock these out and then we'll be done with it. So make sure that you do this step. So we'll just go through and get these all torqued down. And that torque setting, again, is in the instruction manual. So, pretty easy. (torque wrench beeping) Now, with everything torqued down, your hitch is officially installed. Really, all that's left to do is get your spare tire put back up, load in your accessories, put in your pin and clip, and you're ready to hit the road. Now, something I do wanna bring up is in our instructions on our website, it said that the spare tire may not be able to go back up, and that's for 18 inch. Now, this is a Black Edition with 20-inch factory wheels, and the spare tires are 17. So, I don't really expect those spares to be much bigger than that on any of the trim levels, so I really am not too concerned. So if you saw that and you're worried that you're not gonna have your spare, I'm here to tell you, I don't think you're gonna have an issue. We got our spare tire up with no issues. All that's left to do is load up your accessories, put in your pin and clip, and you're ready to hit the road. Thanks for joining us for a look and installation of the Trailer Mate Trailer Hitch Receiver on a 2022 Honda Pilot.