Video Transcript for How to Install the TowSmart Class III Trailer Hitch - 2015 Dodge Durango

Hey, neighbors. Kevin here with etrailer. And today, we're gonna be taking a look at and showing you how to install TowSmart's round tube, class three trailer hitch receiver here on our 2015 Dodge Durango. If you're like our neighbor today and you're planning on either hauling a small trailer, or you just wanna be able to throw on a cargo carrier or a bike rack to the back of your vehicle so that you can take that around with you wherever you go, then having a trailer hitch receiver is going to be an essential component. With TowSmart's custom-fit trailer hitch receiver right here, we're gonna be reusing some factory hardware to mount it up into place, and that's gonna give us a 6,000-pound gross towing weight capacity and a 600-pound tongue weight capacity with a two-inch receiver tube. Now this receiver tube being two inches, that's gonna give you the most bang for your buck because that's gonna be the bigger option when it comes to any kind of accessory.

Most of 'em are typically gonna have that two-inch-by-two-inch shank. So if you do have any smaller accessories that have a 1 1/4 inch, you could easily just get an adapter to slot into here and then hook in your little accessory versus having to buy an adapter that would cut your weight in half if you we inchesre doing this the opposite way. With that being said, having that 6,000-pound capacity doesn't mean that your vehicle has a 6,000-pound capacity. So you definitely want to go back, check your owner's manual, and double check that the capacity of your vehicle is not lower than the hitch, and if it is, then you're gonna wanna go with that vehicle capacity instead so that way, you don't ruin anything on your vehicle. Now there are a few things that go along with this.

One of the biggest things is clearance. So when we're looking at this, we typically wanna see from the ground up to the inside of the top of our receiver tube at least 12 inches. That way, we know we don't have to get an adapter to raise that height up so that our accessory's not dragging on the ground anytime we go up an incline or going down a decline. Now with our lift today, that's gonna knock out about eight inches off of this. So right now I'm at 22, it's about like 3/16.

So we'll say 14 3/16 is what our clearance is. So we know we got plenty of ground clearance, shouldn't have any issues. The other thing that we typically have an issue with is our hitch pin hole to the outside of our fascia. So on this from the center of the hitch pin hole to the outside of our fascia, we're looking right around 4 1/2 inches. So on your accessory, you wanna look at that hitch pin hole, and then see how far that is from the closest part of that accessory when it's folded up.

That way, you know when you have it in here, you can still fold up your bike rack or your cargo carrier without it touching the rear facia. If you are planning on a towing a trailer, there's gonna be a couple accessories you will need along with this, one of those being the ball mount so that you can actually hook up to your trailer. And to secure that ball mount, you're gonna need a pin and a clip, and we have a 5/8 pin and clip for this trailer hitch. Now this does not come with the trailer hitch, you will have to purchase that separately. Typically, this will come with whatever ball mount or other accessory you are installing on your trailer hitch. So you typically don't have to buy it, but I do highly recommend picking up a locking one. That way, nobody takes off with your merchandise while you're not near your vehicle. Along with that, we also are going to need to hook on our safety chains when we're towing a trailer. So with the classic S hook style, we got plenty of room on our loops. Shouldn't really be bound up by anything, but if you are going a little bit heavier duty with the clevis, you might run into a little bit of an issue. It could kind of bind up if it gets stuck in this corner, but for the most part, it is gonna rock back and forth pretty good. And we can pop that back off. For the final part of this, if you are towing a trailer, you're also gonna need some four-pole wire or maybe even seven-pole depending on if your trailer has brakes or just depending on what that connector is if you're only needing to get the lighting through. For that, there is not a mounting bracket on our trailer hitch receiver, so I highly recommend picking up a no-drill mounting bracket. With how close this is to the facia, I'd probably do the short one, and that'll only stick out probably three or four inches. So that way, you don't have your mounting point super far out for that connection. So I'd definitely pick one of those up, and then you can pick up custom-fit wiring, which will plug into your taillights and then run down to here for a four-pole. And on some select vehicles, there is even a factory tow package. So you might even have a seven-way connector hidden right behind here. So I'd highly recommend just checking in there, seeing what you have, and then you can come and use our fit guide to get the correct fit. Now as far as installation goes, this is something you could easily do at home yourself. You really don't need to ship this out to anyone else or pay any extra, but if you just don't have the tools at the time, you can use our dealer locator to enter in your zip code and figure out a shop that's near you that you can trust with your vehicle. If you are wanting to do this yourself, then stick around and I'll show you how I got it installed. Start for install, you don't technically have to drop your spare tire, but it's gonna make this a whole lot easier if you do because we're gonna be reusing the factory hardware that's already in your frame. So if you look right here on the frame, there's gonna be two bolt holes with bolts already in it and the same thing over on this side, so it's gonna be a super easy install. We're gonna start off with a 21-millimeter socket. We're gonna take these out. (socket wrench clicking) If you do have a diesel model, there will be some additional steps you'll need to fill out just because you're gonna have to drop your DEF tank just a bit. You won't fully pull it out, but you'll have to just kind of loosen it up so you can wiggle it around a bit to get some stuff through. Now this isn't a diesel model, so I won't be able to show you that, but there are steps listed in the instructions if that's something you have to do. (socket wrench clicking continues) All right, almost got this one out. And once you get these out, you can kind of see they're pretty dirty. So I'm gonna take a wire brush and just clean out our weld nut in there a bit. But we'll take all four of these bolts out and clean 'em. If yours are real gummed up or rusty, you can also shoot a little bit of penetrating oil in there first, and then run through it with your brush, just clean up those threads. All right, now with lovely assistant over here, we'll raise our hitch up into place. Now when you're putting it in, make sure that you are on the inside of that cover that goes around your spare tire. It's gonna push up right over it, and then the bracket angles back out to match up with our holes. (trailer hitch thumps) So we'll get one in. And then once you got that one in, you can get the front here. I'll pull it up. I'm getting past the point where I can do it by hand. We'll have to get our wrench and fully snug these down. (socket wrench clicking) Now with all four bolts snug down, we can come back with our torque wrench and torque these down to the specifications listed in the instruction manual. (torque wrench clicking) (torque wrench beeps) Well, I think that does it for today's look at and installation of TowSmart's round tube, class three trailer hitch receiver here on our 2015 Dodge Durango. Please feel free to reach out to us via ask the experts link and comment on this video or a phone call to our customer service department, and we'd be happy to help you out on your journey.