Video Transcript for Installing the Blue Ox Trailer Hitch Receiver on a 2021 Kia Sorento

Hi, this is Greg with etrailer. Today, we're gonna look at our Blue Ox Class III Hitch on our 2021 Kia Sorento. Okay, this hitch has got a nice matte black finish, blends in well underneath your vehicle. It's got a standard two by two opening, which is good for most of your bike racks and cargo carriers. This hitch comes with a 675 pound tongue weight, which is the downward force on here, and also comes with a 4,500 pound towing capacity, which is good for your small to medium sized trailers. You wanna check with your owner's manual to make sure you don't exceed your vehicle's specifications.

We'll double check on our measurements now, see what kind of ground clearance we're at. If we measure from here to the top of the inside of the opening, we're at 14 5/8, which is pretty good for ground clearance. It shouldn't have any problems on any steep inclines or driveways. And as you can see, it's pretty flushed with the bumper fascia. And from the pin, you're looking at 2 3/4 inches.

So any of your folding accessories you put on there, you should be straight in front of your clearance. Double check that before you use those. Okay, and we have our hook loops here, which are pretty good size. Your S-hook goes in there nice, moves around freely. If you use a clevis hook, you have two different sizes here.

Small one fits. I think even the large one will fit in there. It's a little tighter, but it works. So you shouldn't have any problem with the hooks. This also takes a standard 5/8 pin and clip, which does not come with the hitch.

But it usually comes with most of your accessories. Somewhat, it's a fairly easy install, there's a few challenges with some of the bolts. If you feel like you can tackle it, that's great. If not, check our dealer locator, and find someone near you that can get it installed for you. If you decide to tackle it yourself, stick with us, and we will get it installed. Okay, we're gonna start our install by removing this plastic cover. There's two nuts up here that are like a 14 millimeter. You can take them out by hand. You can get them so far, and then that pop out. And use the socket extension, and just take them out by hand this way too. (socket wrench ratcheting) (plastic cover clunking) And then there's one, two, three tabs we'll pull out. Ease your screwdriver to get these started. And probably pull them out just like this. You could use a tool like this also, a tab tool, so they come right out. (plastic cover clunking) And drop that down. Okay, now, we're gonna remove our exhaust hangers. We have one, two, three. And possibly one in front of the muffler, depending on how much room we need. And it's good to spray these with some silicone, help them slide off of there a little easier. If you have a hanger tool, it comes in handy. (metal clanking) Or you can get a pry bar, whatever works best for you. Also, we did strap the exhaust up with a hanger or with a strap here. You can use a jack stand if you're on the ground. (metal clanking) (metal clanking continues) Okay, and there's a rubber stop here on either side. You wanna remove these for clearance, so the hitch will mount flush. And then, also, these holes are exposed. So you're probably gonna go ahead and take some penetrating oil and tap and clean those out. And test your bolts to make sure they go in and out easily for your hanger hitch. Okay, with extra set of hands, we're gonna go ahead and raise our hitch into place. (hitch clunking) There we go. You'll go ahead and get yours started first if you can. (metal clanking) Get it up in there, and we'll get a bolt started on one of the holes. (metal clanking) (hitch thudding) (metal clanking) Oh, still one up. It's little bit of a challenge, so you wanna get one hole lined up and get a bolt started on each side to hold it in place. Then you can work the other ones in. Okay, and once you get your hardware in, might be kinda challenging, so you have to move some bolts around and some shifting, but install everything down. (impact driver buzzing) And then we will torque it to the specs in the instructions. (impact driver buzzing) (torque wrench ratcheting) (torque wrench beeping) Okay, now, with our hitch installed and torqued, we hung our exhaust back up. And we would go ahead and put our plastic cover back up, but we have some wiring to use, so we're gonna leave that off. Another thing is the flange here and the holes were a little off on this hitch. So it was kind of a challenge, so you would pay attention to that, you might have to finesse it a little. But that could cause you some problem, so pay attention to that. And that'll do it for our install of the Class III Blue Ox Hitch on our 2021 Kia Sorento. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us. I'm Greg with etrailer. Thanks for watching.