Arrives before Christmas To see if this custom-fit item will work for you please tell us what vehicle you'll use it with.
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This fully welded, corrosion-resistant vehicle trailer hitch receiver is perfect for your light-duty towing needs. Draw-Tite's Tested Tough guarantee ensures that this hitch exceeds industry standards. Drawbar sold separately.
Features:
Specs:
Draw-Tite's Tested Tough program provides testing standards far superior to those outlined by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), the go-to source for engineering professionals.
Each Draw-Tite trailer hitch receiver undergoes extensive fatigue testing and static testing with the ball mount that is either supplied or recommended for use with that particular hitch, thus ensuring results that are applicable to real life use. Fatigue testing is also conducted on hitches rated for use with weight-distribution systems.
In addition, Draw-Tite performs static testing on a simulated automobile, as opposed to the rigid fixture used for SAE testing, resulting in a more true-to-life scenario.
At etrailer.com we're committed to the products we sell, and to our customers. Our experienced and knowledgeable staff are available via both phone and email to address your questions and concerns for the lifetime of your hitch. The technicians at etrailer perform hitch installations on a daily basis, making them a valuable resource for do-it-yourselfers. The one-on-one, personal service you'll receive comes straight from an expert in the towing and automotive field. We've installed it, we've wired it and we've towed with it, so whatever your question, we can answer it.
California residents: click here
Average Customer Rating: 4.9 out of 5 stars (117 Customer Reviews)
This fully welded, corrosion-resistant vehicle trailer hitch receiver is perfect for your light-duty towing needs. Draw-Tite's Tested Tough guarantee ensures that this hitch exceeds industry standards. Drawbar sold separately.
If you are purchasing this hitch for a 2015 Subaru Forester, look closely at my photos!
Dealing with ETrailer was great (I have purchased from them in the past and will again). Installation instructions were clear. Installation was moderately difficult, due to having to drop exhaust and remove & trim heat shield. My reason for giving only three stars is that the hitch does not stick out far enough from under the bumper. The trailer ball in my photo is 1 7/8”. There is barely enough room to get a trailer attached, and it would be very difficult to not scratch your bumper hooking and unhooking a trailer. My primary reason for purchasing the hitch was for a bike rack. The easiest solution, to make this usable for my needs was to purchase an extension that fits between the receiver hitch and the trailer ball. The manufacturer of the extension warns it is not to be used for towing.
The hitch is advertised as working for 2015 Subaru Forrester and "technically" it fits as in the bolt holes all line up, however, what they don't tell you is the trailer hitch will not clear the bumper (see attached photos). I also have a bike rack that will not clear the bumper either. The hitch and bike rack work perfectly fine on my Ford Focus and Chevy Cavalier (where the trailer hitch extends out to the bumper). Solution is to spend another $xx.xx to buy a hitch extender which according to the information from the manufacturer reduces the towing capability by 50%. Clearly the wrong item for this car. Not a happy camper!
Tyler M.
2/9/2021
Hi Chris, Thanks for your feedback! This hitch does sit back far behind the bumper. From the center of the hitch-pin hole to the back of the bumper is 6.75 inches. We do not recommend using hitch extenders as this does decrease your towing capacity by 50 percent. For a hitch ball mount that would work best in this situation, I would recommend the Draw-Tite Drawbar for 1-14 inch Hitches, part 3594 .
Helpful Links
Nice hitch when done but the install was more difficult than it should have been. I had first thought of removing the muffler but when I saw the rust on the muffler bolts with a two-year-old car, I decided not to risk that. Dropping the exhaust system went fine. Removing the heat shield was difficult because of the rust on the screws which resulted in bending up the outboard attachments. Fortunately, they did not break and could be bent back. So far, the problems weren't the fault of the hitch. Then I followed the instructions to enlarge the center mounting hole. Sure the piece with the square hole will go through but the bolt won't. Fortunately, I found that out in time. Apparently, the instructions are written for the class I hitch with smaller bolt heads as the 3/4" hole needs to be enlarged to 7/8" to get these bolt heads through. So I followed the method in the video and used the fourth hole, toward the front, that is already 7/8" diameter and only needed a little filing to work. The hitch went on fine but it unnecessarily blocked attaching the inboard muffler hanger. My hanger attachment may have less clearance than most of these cars but this is still inexcusable. The interference is inboard of the large hole on each side of the hitch and having that metal there serves no purpose. Looking at the other hitches sold by etrailer, this is the only one with metal there. It was difficult to file the hitch in those close quarters but with that and a little trim on the hanger, I got things back together. This is the third etrailer hitch that I've installed and definitely the most difficult. If the instructions were correct and the hitch was made right, the install would have been pretty easy, especially on a new car without rust. Inexcusable.
I bought the Draw-Tite trailer hitch receiver, Thule bike rack, and T-One wiring harness. They arrived within a week of ordering. Everything works great. Now I can tow my rowboat or haul our bikes when we go on vacation. Excellent products and service!
Easy to install, with the right tools. Product arrived fine and super fast! Correct item. All hardware needed. I did have to go buy myself a quality Ridgid drill/driver to replace my Harbor Freight drill. I tried to do it with a budget drill and it simply did not have the power or battery life to drill the two holes as needed. But I needed a new drill anyways, so that just expedited that purchase. I simply referred to the etrailer installation video for 2017 Subaru Forester on YouTube. It was super easy and I would say took me between 45-60 mins, taking my time doing it. I did it by removing the muffler as this made it easier for my vehicle. Now my car is ready for the bike carrier that I bought!!
We are using our hitch for the bike rack...here's a pic for you!
Kim B.
10/23/2017
All is good! We will be using it for our bike carrier this weekend. Thanks!
This is the second hitch I have purchased from you people, as with the last one I think the quality was excellent, the instructions were clear and easy to follow, I only had a little difficulty getting the muffler off (not quite as easy as the video shows) after that slight glitch the rest of the went smoothly. I would highly recommend this product and if the need arises I would purchase another one from etrailer again. This one was installed on a 2016 Subaru Forester.
I installed the trailer wiring and a friend helped install the hitch. Etrailer website is excellent. I got the right items on time and the fit is better than my wife’s dealer installed hitch. Videos on the etrailer site are clear and correct. One caveat, don’t try installing the hitch without at least one other person and having a way to lift the car(we used ramps) is a great help. The only possible way etrailer could be any more helpful is if they could recruit some local shops that would be willing to do the installation. I especially like having my wiring in the passenger compartment when not in use. It keeps it out of the Salt here in the northeast.
Roger
8/17/2020
Works great. I like it better than my wife’s factory installed hitch.
Hitch arrived in a timely fashion - as others have reported the box was cut but everything was intact. Watched the videos and was able to install on my 2017 Forester without jacking the car up - only assistance required was extra hands from wife to lift hitch in place.
Great hitch / quality for the price! Etrailer's video installation and supplied instructions made installation very easy. Any "weekend warrior" can install with no issues - 2 out of 10 of difficulty stage.
I have installed the hitch but not used it yet. I just wanted to say two things about installing the hitch and the wiring harness.
The hitch installation instructions show how to enlarge a hole in the vehicle frame in order to get the mounting plates in, but it misses the fact that the mounting bolt heads are too large to get through the hole as shown. You have to make the holes larger. The Tech Writer should have caught that.
The harness connector in the 2014 Forester is not easily found and the instructions give no help. It is up out of reach behind a panel where the tail light assembly is. I was able to pry the panel loose in that area with a screwdriver.
Paul H.
6/30/2015
got the hitch and had a local shop install it . Perfect and looks good. They went a step further and drilled holes in the heat shield where the n mounting bolts are and the fit was perfect. Looks factory. they did not cut the heat shield as shown on the video. Also the the ball mount was not in the box when shipped as I had ordered a bike rack and they were put in the same box. with one phone call the problem was taken care of, thanks E trailer great job
Was checking available hitches on various websites. Wanted hitch for a bike rack that wasn't a shin banger when installed or so far under the car it was hard to mount bike rack. etrailer had the best prices but that isn't the thing that sold it. The pictures installed and the how to video to install helped me determine which hitch company,design and ease of install was right for me and my skill set. Great site etrailer!
William
2/28/2019
One year and hitch is performing well. Holds a 80 lb Thule bike rack and 2 ebikes. Paint is still like new even being coated with winter salt.
Sales service was excellent. Hitch arrived in a couple days. Package was compromised but all parts were inside. Box seemed sufficient for the job so the problem was likely a result of poor handling in transit. Had a third party do the install and all seemed to go well. The snake spring idea got two thumbs up. I anticipate using the hitch receiver for a bike rack for as long as we own the car. It looks very substantial.
Lee M.
6/26/2017
So far so good. The hitch receiver gets a fair amount of use and it does its job well.
Hitch was, and still is, a good product. It was easy to install and the instructions were easy to follow. I'm using it for a bike rack and also to tow a small trailer. I've had no problems whatsoever. Hitch has a good finish which is still in good condition after about a year.
Jake
1/22/2021
Hitch is still functioning as expected. Quality product!
Package delivered in perfect order. Installation was very easy by following the instructions. The "fishing" wires to pull the bolts into position included in the kit made the installation go much easier. It is exactly what I was looking for.
Dennis W.
7/27/2018
No issues, glad i purchased it from you and would again when needed
Received the hitch for our 2018 Subaru Forester. It was delivered in perfect condition with all the needed hardware to install it as well. This hitch is spot on to solve our issue of hauling our bicycles to the shore,without trying to put bikes on the roof or into the interior and doing damage to either one. Our hitch was also delivered 2 days earlier than the given delivery date ! Sorry there are no pictures but I am not tech savvy at all ! I will gladly purchase here again.
John N.
9/26/2020
After a year of usage....this hitch is STILL in good condition.....paint is still holding up very well considering we live in the northeast and there is a LOT of salt used on our roadways here.
I received my order yesterday and I must say that it exceeded my expectations. The product looks so well built, very strong.
The delivery was on time and everything that I ordered arrived in perfect condition.
I also asked questions regarding the hitch that I needed before ordering and I had an answer right away.
I would definitely recommend eTrailer.
Thanks
Anthony
4/11/2019
We have used our trailer hitch many many times and it has not let us down. Glad my son in law recommended your company.
Anthony
4/11/2019
The hitch has performed super, no complaints! Very good product.
Good hitch, works well, installation was fairly simple. I've pulled a few loaded trailers and use it for a bike rack, no major issues found. Pressed to find something to critique, I'd say there are two possible downsides- it's noisy from the interior and it doesn't come with a plug for the receiver opening. The noise might be solved by a rubber grommet between the rear mounts and the hitch bolt plate, but it really isn't that bad overall. The plug for the opening would just be a nice touch. I don't know why the manufacturers don't just include one with the hitch. Rust isn't generally a good selling point for a product you put your name on.
I want to thank everyone at etrailer for excellent product and most of all great service
I had my local dealership install hitch/wiring harness etc and technician said he was impressed with comprehensive instructions and available videos.. He was able to make a "better looking" cut on the heat shield and was able to route wiring through spare tire well and "hard" mount onto hitch its self with the plug mount provided.. All in all a FIVE star situation Thank you again
We received the hitch, harness and ball in excellent condition. The packaging was very good.
The hitch is very well made, as expected. The wiring harness fit perfectly.
The greatest part about this purchase, though, was the video showing the installation of both the harness and the hitch. It was a great timesaver for me and was accurate in all aspects.
I did take a chance on using the 2016 hitch listed for our 2017 Forester. There was one glitch with this. It seems that Subaru modified their muffler hanger a bit on the inboard side of the car. The rubber hanger could not be reinstalled due to clearance issues. I am still looking for a good workaround to correct this.
All in all, this has been our second great Etrailer experience.
I received my hitch and lighting kit quickly after ordering; using the standard free shipping. I waited until Saturday to do the installation so I would have plenty of time. In general, the products are high quality and easy to install, and I was very pleased with the result.
My advice is to use the videos on the web site instead of using the instructions that come with the products. The instruction for the hitch only differed in how to widen two holes on the car frame. The instructions said drill small adjacent holes and file to get a slot wide enough to slip in the spacer bars. The video showed using a hole widening bit; which I had. Also, watching the video gave me a much more clear insight into the installation as opposed to the brief instructions.
The instructions packaged with the lighting kit were just wrong for where to locate the car's lighting plug. I removed much more than I needed to looking for the plug just behind the rear driver's side seat. I grabbed my phone and watched the lighting kit installation online and found the plug was in the driver's side rear side panel of the compartment. With that knowledge the wiring installation only took a couple of minutes.
Got this hitch a year ago and had it professional installed by my service tech. No problems at all since - performs as expected and LOVE that it has a locking feature. Would recommend this hitch and using etrailer for these types of accessories - have ordered from them before and received excellent customer service and sound products at a good price delivered as expected in a timely manner. Thank you etrailer!!
My son installed the hitch and said it was relatively easy.
My use is for my 4 bike bike rack.
Jeannette O.
7/8/2020
Its been great!
OOPS; I seemed to have given a review for a different product purchased from a different company. Sorry if I confused you.
OK; I bought a hitch and wiring from you; this review is for the hitch. I was satisfied with the price, but NOT the dimensions. I had a professional install it. I would have preferred that the hitch receiver tube was a bit longer. I have to get down on the ground and reach under the car to install the hitch extender with ball. That was the piece I mistakenly reviewed when I should have been reviewing the wiring harness. Incidentally; the wiring harness was fine.
I believe my choice, with the help of etrailer, of this Draw-Tite trailer hitch receiver, along with a few other items to go with it, such as the drawbar, hitch ball and wiring harness, was a good one for my 2017 Subaru Forester. I also have to compliment etrailer for their excellent video on how to install it. All together, it really made the purchase very easy and smooth. Thanks etrailer.
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Mike L.
4/27/2019
In order to tow, youll need a longer drawbar. The longest one we offer thats similar to whats shown in your photo is 36053, which measures 9-34 inches measured from the hitch pin hole to the hole where the ball installs. If this is longer than the one you have, it should work well for you.
Helpful Links
Ball-Mounts/Draw~Tite/36053.html