Draw-Tite Max-Frame Trailer Hitch Receiver - Custom Fit - Class III - 2"

Tow bar installed exactly as described on my 2008 Taurus X, but the receiver arrived damaged despite being in a box with lots of packaging. I suspect it was damaged before being shipped although I am not sure.

Specified torque for passenger side bolts stripped out the horizontal one, but my torque wrench hasn't been calibrated probably since I was born.

Muffler hanger basically sits right against the bar. So far I haven't noticed any noise. 146128

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Video of the installation procedure was great! Watching it will save you time!

The two driver side bolts went easily through the hitch and I got the nuts started.

Passenger side holes did not line up well between the frame and the hitch. It took extra time to resolve this problem. This is the first time I encountered a problem on any hitch installation.

This hitch will be used primarily for carrying a bike rack.226317

Mike B.

9/17/2016

The hitch is working great with our bike rack.

by: Shawn R07/08/2020

2008 Ford Taurus

I purchased this hitch receiver from etrailer for my 2008 Ford Taurus X a little over a year ago. The installation could not have been any easier. Holding it up to the frame I quickly noticed that the bolt pattern aligned perfectly which made installation a breeze. It's still used to this day trailering kayaks to and from my favorite water holes. Thanks for a great product! 829757

Shawn R.

7/8/2021

To date Ive not had any issues with my hitch receiver. Thanks again for selling me a quality product.

by: Frank T11/09/2016

2006 Ford Five Hundred

I was going to install it put paid my nephew to do it. He needed money for college. Ive been so busy using it I forgot to review it. Hope the car lasts a long time so I dont lose out. I use it on my ford five hundred and tow a small trailer for leaves and my snowblower. I also use to seasonally put in and take out my 17ft searay boat. Highly recommend this product. Nephew said threading that one bolt was a little challenging but fun once he got it, his father did help him. Money well spent.315205

Frank T.

11/11/2017

Hitch and light connection still work great!!!!! Gonna use it this weekend to cleanup the yard and used it for the same last weekend. Also used it to haul my boat and will use to put my boat in winter spot. My ford five-hundred is a power horse and all is great

This is a great product and great experience from etrailer. There was one issue that no M12 bolts is in the kit shipped to me, which is needed for my 2009 Taurus X. After talking to the customer service a new set of bolts was shipped to me fairly soon, in couple of weeks.

Thanks for the great video, installation is smooth. I got the muffler hanger hook cut at a local muffler shop. I was able to mount it on my own. The tip is to screw one bolt halfway onto the horizonal weldnut on passenger side, then use some metal wire to hang the end of hitch on the bolt through the bolt hole on the hitch. I used hanging wire for big picture frame and it worked really well. Then a jack stand can support it quite well.

Fishing the bolts was quite easy to me. Most of time was spent on aligning it and the muffler hanger bracket, and tightening the bolts to spec. I didn't need to jack the car up and was lying on ground when doing it.

After installed, I found that the rubber muffler hanger is in contact with the hitch and squeezed a little bit. Hopefully it is just fine. Also the soft edge of bumper is pressed under the hitch as shown on the picture here. Again not a problem to me.

For tools, a 19" deep wall socket is needed to tighten up the bolts, besides others. Quite stadard one.147305

Installation picture. 408370

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I really thought this would be a difficult job. Was I ever wrong! I jacked the car up (both wheels due to my girth size). Each will was about 2-3 inches off the ground. I ran the fish wires through and ran the bolts in as directed. I taped the wires off so as not to lose anything! Had the wife hold the one end up while she moved a 5 gal bucket under it so all I had to do was hold the drivers end. She kind of stabilized the passenger end so it would not fall off the bucket while I attached the drivers side. Note, the wire fish is hard to remove while holding up the hitch and one handing the bolts. Since there are only two, it is best to have a guy help - hold the hitch while you unthread the wire fish and place the nuts on. I used the hitch weight to pinch the bolts while getting the washer and nuts on. Once the drivers side is done, the rest falls in place.
The hitch fit perfect and I spent more time jacking the car up / down and putting tools away than doing the install.
564957

Great product! Just taking our time. My buddy and I put it on in about an hour. We backed the 2008 Ford Taurus X up on ramps in the driveway. We had an ipad to watch the video on how to install the trailer hitch off the etrailer.com website. Having the right tools made it a breeze. Was a little tricky putting exhaust back on, but that goes back to having the right tools and in that case a car lift would have been nice.. Lol. Once again Great product and will suggest to anyone that needs a trailer hitch to get it from etrailer..

Thanks etrailer.com! 82172

Wow!!! Unbelievabl;e that a 80 year old man could install item#75299 on his 2007 Ford Freestyle.....by imself. Yes!!! But it took me aprx 6 hours on my back in my garage...no lift involved. Followed the video and paper instructions. Removed the muffler bracket as instructed, but the muffler didn't lower enough to allow for the hitch to go over top. Had to angel, tug, pull...etc., used several wooden blocks to elevate, plus my floor jack. The fishing wires worked great....but one think that I didn't like was the self-threading bolts on the passenger side. I used the two on thebottom railing, but on the side I drilled out and used one of the bolts/washer etc. Makes for a more safter installation. All in all, I needless to say....sleep very sould after finishing this project. Next comes the light installation...piece of cake.144759

Excellent product, and great video... as usual, most automotive aftermarket installation instructions are 1 sheet of paper printed in black on white - the video was all that was needed. There were extra parts in the kit, based on a couple variations that occur based on the model year. My 2008 Taurus X used the self-threading bolts for the passenger side and two of the bolts/washers/anti-rotation plates on the drivers side.

With everything loosely mounted, I was easily able to get the bolts all perfectly aligned. The product was very well made and works perfectly.13250

Etrailer was excellent to deal with. I live in British Columbia and had the hitch shipped to Sumas, WA. The hitch was shipped right away, exactly as promised and was delivered in great condition. It took the garage less than 30 min to mount it. Etrailer is a great company to deal with. It is very easy coming back across the border, no hassles with customs. The hitch looks great on my wife's car. I will definitely order from etrailer again.43882

I did the installation by myself in my garage. Had to work on the floor, however, the carton that the hitch came in made a great padded floor covering to use. I also had a small floor jack and several jack stands to hold the hitch while lining up the bolts. The instruction video was spot on for this hitch and my 2009 Ford Taurus. It took me about 1.5 hours to install it, but that included clean up after it was completed. Great hitch and great installation video.149117

Simple-ish bolt on hitch. Fairly easy to do. Watched a bunch of videos on how to install it.
Great product!486814

Rich

3/20/2019

I still love the products. And I’ll probably be ordering new hubs in the near future. Also I was glad to see that you guys had partnered with “big rig big rv”’s YouTube channel. I feel like he does a good job showcasing your stuff.

I don't have a hoist, so I backed my car up onto 2 steel ramps, and that was more than enough clearance. I referred only to the video during the install, and everything went smoothly. I took my time with everything, and even without a second person, I was still finished in about 2 hours. If you were to do it again, it would probably only take an hour.
Also, delivery and followup by eTrailer was fantastic. I highly recommend them!81309

I am really pleased with this hitch. It was easy to install. The video was very helpful too. It went on as easy as shown in the video. We got this hitch to carry our bikes on the bike hitch rack, and. It does a good job of that.13007

The toughest step was dealing with the unthreaded weld nuts on the car's frame but this site has helpful tips for that and the product itself came exactly as advertised and was very simple. I've seen other after-market hitches that look ugly and this design is very neat. I highly recommend.61855

Pay attention to exhaust brackBasically went in according to instructions but with a few surprises. The horizontal carriage bolt block had to be carefully slid into position which took some time. The fishing of that bolt also was tricky. I fashioned a hook out of some stiff wire I pushed up in the hole to snag the fish wire. Before you tourque everything down make sure the holes for the exhaust bracket are lined up or you will have to loosen everything back up, realign, and retighten (that was a bummer). I had to go out and buy a 7/8 inch socket for the carriage bolts and 15 mm socket for the M12 bolts. I thought that was weird. Most sets don't have those. (Who uses a 15mm socket?) I was able to do it all alone without jacking the car up - not all that bad.2066

Installed perfectlyI bought and installed this on my 2006 Ford Freestyle SEL. Etrailer.com had the best price and the installation video gave me confidence that I could install this on my own. Without power tools or a lift it took more like two hours, but that was with taking my time, especially with routing the two driver side bolts that need the fish wire (which worked extremely well). You will need a second person to hold an end as the video shows. Also, the two large nuts are 7/8 inches while the rest are metric, so a 7/8 inch deep socket is required (a minor purchase that will save you time and frustration, believe me). 2270

Perfect fit - as easy as it can get.This installation took me about 1 hour and 30 minutes but I took my time and went over the directions a few times. I definitely recommend watching the installation videos as it helps to clarify the diagram in the instructions. It would also be helpful to have an extra pair of hands to assist in lifting the hitch in place. Socket extensions and an impact wrench will also help shorten the install time. Great product that looks and works just as described.3783

perfect fit! nice low profileI ordered this hitch for my 05 Freestyle. The hitch fits perfect and all holes aligned. I was able to install myself in about 2 hrs. Fishing the washer and bolt through drivers side frame was a little difficult and took me about 1 hour. I used a floor jack to position the hitch as I lifted the bar (fairly heavy) into place. A second set of hands would have cut my time. 765

Box had minor damage which showed up on some scratches on the hitch itself, but nothing too terrible. Install was just as the video showed. I am not handy whatsoever, and I was able to do it in an afternoon. Definetely need help positioning the hitch when it comes time, but I was able to do it without propping the car up.

Agree with other comments about the fishing bolts, it took time and patience. My biggest problem was reinstalling my catalytic converter; the video is correct in that these bolts are very touchy and will fall out to any amount of pressure. They are only held in by a flap of metal fit into a tight hole; make sure to hand tighten as much as possible to avoid my problem.

Otherwise it worked great, installed easy, would recommend this to others.
15534

2nd time to order and install a hitch for my cars. Quality products, quality customer service, easy to follow how-to videos, and amazing prices. Will definitely order all hitch components here in the future.746524

by: Devin 01/31/2020

Mounting was fairly easy, especially with the provided video. Hitch is sturdy and robust. Very happy with my purchase!746171

Seems to be a great hitch for the price. Very sturdy, good welds, and coated well. Time will tell but I am optimistic. I'm from Wisconsin so winter can be tough on just about anything taken on roads. Instructions were good, but the video and pictures provided on the website made it so easy to install. I took about 1 and a half hours start to finish...I think most of the time was taken fishing those bolts. Thank goodness for those fish wires! Also, I highly recommend a helper. If like me and you don't have a helper, I found that a floor jack also works very well. I would definitely recommend to others.68650

Installed this on my 2008 Ford Taurus X SEL AWD for a tow from Illinois to Arizona, and it was excellent. Installation was easy, and we had no issues what-so-ever. I placed my order over the phone, and each person I came in contact with was extremely pleasant to talk to, I will DEFINITELY return and purchase any additional necessary items through etrailer.com. 153063