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Fully welded vehicle trailer hitch is strong and durable. Draw-Tite's Tested Tough guarantee ensures that this hitch exceeds industry standards. The combination of an e-coat base and a powder coat finish provides excellent rust protection.
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.
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Average Customer Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars (149 Customer Reviews)
Fully welded vehicle trailer hitch is strong and durable. Draw-Tite's Tested Tough guarantee ensures that this hitch exceeds industry standards. The combination of an e-coat base and a powder coat finish provides excellent rust protection.
Great product, perfect fit. Etrailer is a fine company that is fast and supportive.
We’ll made and Fairly easy to install using the included installation paperwork. We also reviewed a few YouTube videos to learn a little more.
Tony
9/6/2024
After a year’s use, the trailer has maintained the exact same distance behind the tow vehicle, thanks the this tow hitch.
I needed a hitch for my wife's brand new 2018 Subaru Forester to haul our Yakima bike rack. I also did not want the hitch cross-bar to hang down below the back bumper as the Forester already sits fairly low. I went with the Draw-Tite 76182 over slightly cheaper brands/styles for this reason. The hitch is way more heavy duty than needed but all of my draw bars and bike rack are 2" so I did not want go with a different size.
I ordered the Hitch from etrailer.com on Wednesday and it shipped the same day and arrived Friday. It was very well packaged with internal supports inside the box. Packaged perfectly and arrived in great condition.
The install was fairly straight forward. The fit was perfect and all the bolts lined up perfectly. The threaded feed wires for feeding the bolts through the frame worked AWESOME and took about 10 minutes to install all 6 bolts (3 per side) in the frame. The biggest trouble I had was trimming the rear bumper on the underside. I had to remove the hitch and re-trim the bumper cover 3 times before I had a perfect fit as I did not want to trim too much. I used a Dremel with a cutting wheel on medium speed. I also used painters tape to mark my cut rather than a marker and this worked well.
Rather than completely removing the rear bumper cover assembly, I bent the 2 support tabs as suggested by the install video. I was hesitant to do this on a brand new car but it was quite easy to bend with my hands and bend them back. This was a smaller risk than removing and reinstalling the bumper cover and risking scratching it or dropping it. Also since it was still no the vehicle, this made it easy to trim and I did not need another person to hold it still.
On the rubber muffler supports, use a little WD-40 on your finger and they will slide right off/on the welded studs.
George from etrailer.com was great and even followed up with an email to confirm my hitch was delivered and to check that it arrived ok. I usually shop Amazon for nearly everything, but the great reviews of personalized service and support prompted me to go with etrailer.com. I highly recommend them and they have the best price to go with that great service and support.
The hitch turned out great and looks like a factory install. Thanks etrailer.com!
Jeff
8/23/2019
1 Year Update: I am still happy with this hitch and would purchase it again. Install Tip: make sure you follow the trim outline on the backside of the Subaru bumper cover. I did not trim the horizontal portion high enough as I wanted it to be hidden as much as possible. The problem was, the horizontal cut was too low and the plastic rested on the top of the receiver tube. This allowed water and salt to sit in this spot and start to rust. I ped the hitch and trimmed the horizontal cut 12 higher so that it does not touch the receiver tube. Cleaned up the hitch and touched up with satin black and it looks brand new again. This was my rookie mistake, not the fault of the hitch. I would purchase this same hitch again. The quality, fit, and finish is perfect.
The hitch is ill fitting but it did go on. The measurements on instructions are not correct. I had to cut almost an extra inch on my bumper to make it fit. Hitch is not made correctly it was made to narrow and pushed in my spare tub and the big round clearance holes only one lined up the other was offset again hitch was made to narrow. Passenger side is fine but drivers side is bad. It did go on but very disappointed.
Jenny N.
5/17/2023
It looks like the side brackets are flexed inward. This can happen as when the hitches are shipped to us they are shipped together in large pallets. What we do recommend is flexing the side brackets back out to align back with the holes. Please see the FAQ below to see the different ways that this can be done,
Helpful Links
I've been using etrailer hitches on all my vehicles for years, this one, as normal, went on without a hitch, lol. I will continue using etrailer for all my towing needs. Thanks guys for a job well done.
I believe this is a sold hitch receiver and the install was straightforward enough. I recommend it, but it's not perfect:
- Like other reviewers pointed out, the fascia cut is not deep enough. We ended up cutting off at least an inch more if not 1.5". Also, the width of the cut is the exact width of the hitch receiver, and if you leave the fascia on for this install, the corners of the cut will pinch in as you push on the fascia. We ended up tapering the cut on to another 1/4" on each side so that the hitch would fit through as we were forcing the fascia away (So we made a trapezoidal cut with a lower base of 3.75", upper base of 3.25", and a height of 3.5")
- Like other reviewers pointed out, we found it easier to make a template and drill holes in the heat shield rather than snip. You can keep all the heat shield screws in because the hitch receiver does not interfere with one, and has a large hole to go over the other.
- One of our bolts had a minor imperfection that made it impossible to get the nut past when hand tightening. This was very scary when we only realized this after we had the hitch bolted elsewhere and all the wires for feeding the bolts were removed. We were able to use a metal brush on the bolt to get the chip smooth enough for the nut to pass with a wrench
- We took off the muffler rather than dropping it down. It really is no big deal to take off, and really opens up space. I think this would be way more difficult/impossible with out either removing the muffler or removing the fascia
Just installed this on my 2017 Forester XT yesterday. I will say I went with the not removing the bumper method and just dropping the exhaust (keeping mufflers on). That combine with the dual exhaust of the XT and just doing it on the ground with jack stands made the installation a massive pain. I would recommend removing the bumper and maybe the mufflers it will save you time in the long run. Also the template for trimming the bumper was no where to be found so I just guessed and it worked out pretty good.
I purchased this hitch for my wife’s 2015 Subaru Forester and highly recommend it. The hitch arrived in fine shape, with the packaging intact. I noticed that the “loop” for attaching the safety chains is slightly lower on one side of the receiver than the other, but this does not appear to affect its functionality and the hitch is otherwise well made. A few notes about the installation may be useful to others. Instead of using tin snips to carve up the heat shield, I made a paper template to locate the points at which the mounting bolts for the hitch passed through the shield and drilled 3/4-inch holes in the shield to accommodate the bolts; this is much neater looking. Rather than lower the muffler and use a safety strap to support the exhaust, I found it easier to remove the muffler entirely, giving me more room to work and an unobstructed view; the exhaust pipe is supported by an additional hanger “upstream” of the muffler, so no strap is needed if the muffler is removed. I also removed the rear bumper cover (fascia) to give me more room for the install and avoid the need to bend the two sheet metal tabs on either side of the receiver; having the fascia off the car also makes it easier to do the necessary trimming. Because I was doing the install without a helper (and being old and weak), I used a pair of floor jacks at either end of the hitch to lift it into position. To provide sufficient clearance for the hitch receiver and ease reinstallation of the fascia, I made my “hitch cut” about 10 mm wider on either side than recommended in the instructions. (Subaru has kindly marked a square on the inside of the fascia that makes it easy to find the center-point for your cut. Outline your cut with painter's tape to ensure it's square and straight.) I also found it necessary to do some additional trimming of the fascia to provide clearance at the two mounting tabs mentioned above. (See photos.) I still ended up bending the tabs slightly toward the rear of the car to allow reinstallation of the two plastic clips that secure the fascia at those point. All in all, the installation took me about 4 hours, but I’m sure it can be done more quickly. Unlike a factory Subaru hitch I installed on another Forester years ago, this one does not contact the muffler hanger and is blessedly free of annoying rattles. I think the hitch looks great and I’m looking forward to getting a lot of use out of it for carrying a bike rack and towing a utility trailer.
Delivery was fast and complete with all items. This is one hefty hitch. I read a lot of reviews and watched numerous videos before installing.
I'm a 69 year old, 150 pound weakling. I did the installation myself in about 4 hours. The key for me was connecting the hitch to my floor jack with a piece of wood to do the heavy lifting. Once it was close to being lined up, I used my Forester's scissor jack on one of the wings to raise the hitch and level it.
First off I got this hidden hitch because it does not decrease ground clearance unlike other hitches, and due to the fact I will not be using this hitch much, I do not want the possibly of scraping on high inclines becoming a frequent occurrence despite the Forester's great ground clearance. Quality of this product was excellent for my 2016 Subaru Forester 2.5i. The trimming of the bumper took a while! I will get to that shortly. My father-in-law and I did this in about 3 hours. We took our time of course. We did not remove the bumper. Just measure and cut measure and cut. We repeated this several times before we got it right. Now, I wanted to retain the silver bumper underguard, so I had to make two separate cuts (both the bumper and underguard are plastic pieces). People were saying any hitch is not compatible with this extra piece, but I successfully trimmed and mounted it back on to its original location. No extra drilling. The only issue we had was having to make sure the cut on the silver portion was similar to the original fascia trimming. This took more time. As you can see in the head-on picture I had to trim a smaller amount on the right side to account for clearing one part of the hitch. Really not a huge eye sore. In a perfect world everything would be perfectly centered, but as shown in the picture you have to improvise a little with cuts. Pardon some of the scratches on the hitch during our install (if you can see them!). I plan on providing some high quality gloss paint to prevent rusting. All in all, the amount of work was straight forward but did take a while to complete. Still, considering how high this hitch mounts, it was still worth it. Thanks again to e-trailer for great customer service!
I have a 2018 Subaru Forester. I chose etrailer.com for my trailer hitch receiver. Personnel from etrailer were very professional and helped me make the right choices for my hitch & electrical wireing. The estimated time of delivery was excellent. Level of difficulty is rated 10 out of 10, and is recommended to be installed by 2 people. I did it by myself. I raised the unit by blocking up the mounting brackets while using a floorjack to raise the receiver end with the ball hitch installed.
Instead of trimming the heat shield, it was premarked for drilling, so I drilled two 1/2” holes and they matched up perfectly. For the bumper facia that had to be trimmed, I measured for center point, then used a scribe to put small holes in the facia. Then I put masking tape along my lineup holes, and cut the facia for a perfect fit.
The finished installation looks like it came from Subaru, and the only part you can see is hitch mount. I watched the installation video 3 times and followed the instructions that came Draw Tight. Only problem was the instructions said to remove two screws that are under the tail lights to remove the facia. That did not work, so I did the job with facia in place, but with the six plastic plugs removed. I held the facia out as I raised the hitch into position, as it showed in the video.
I am extremely satisfied with the installation!!
The engineering on this hitch is impressively precise. The fit has clear 1/8 margins with no rubbing. With heat shield modifications the fit is perfect. It required building a little jig on my jack to lift it up into place because I was doing the install on my own, and I needed a helper to pull the bumper plastics away while I used the floor jack.
We plan to use this trailer hitch on our 2018 Forester with a bike rack to carry e-bikes, maybe tow a trailer some day. Installed on a Saturday morning, less than 3 hrs from start to finish, including time to stop and watch the etrailer video. There are a few installation tips to help the next person do it even easier and faster. See below.
Extremely happy with the final result - it is virtually invisible after installation. Very happy with the quality of the product - very rugged 1/4" thick steel, Happy with the installation video and there ate a lot of great tips there. Wire chasers are AWESOME!
Some tips to help:
- we are told to throw away the rubber plugs after chasing the bolts. I put the larger plugs back in.
- the video instructs to keep the fascia in place, whereas the written instructions tell you to take off the fascia. I followed the video and kept it on. I like the idea of not messing with cosmetic parts. worked ok for me, but need to be comfortable bending the metal tabs out of place and re-bending them back.
- I used a hydraulic car jack to hold the hitch and position it in place. worked out well for someone working solo on the ground.
- the tire well is a bit to large, so i needed to dent it in to allow the hitch to fit. see photo.
- the muffler hanger post interferes with the hitch, so i needed a pry bar to help it "sneak by" during installation. see photo
- the suggested size for the cutout in the fascia is 3.25" wide x 2.5" deep. I needed to make it more like 3.5 deep to avoid bending and distorting the fascia. see photo
- the sides of the hitch interfere with the plastic mounting tabs on the fascia. i needed to cut away notches. see photo
have fun!
2018 Forester XT Touring. This model has two exhaust cans and a bunch wires, sensors and extra brackets in the rear facia. This complicates the install beyond what is shown in the video but don’t let that dissuade you from getting this hitch. On my install I did not remove the facia but I highly suggest removing both exhaust cans. Very easy to remove and reinstall the cans.. Extra wire/sensor brackets in the facia need to be bent out of the way so the hitch can be installed. I drilled two holes in the heat shield at the two dimples and that worked perfectly. No need to cut shield. The original shield screws can also be reinstalled. Additionally, the frame plug closest to the front of the car can be reinstalled too. This hitch is heavy. I installed a Honda CR-V hitch immediate after this install and the CR-V hitch seems like it weighed 1/2 as much. I had my XT on a car rack and feel this is definitely a two person job. Once complete it looks fantastic.
Everything but the instructions regarding the heat shield and facia cuts is great. The “templates” for the heat shield cut is an inaccurate line drawing with no dimensions, and the “template“ for the facia cut might be a photo, but I can’t tell since it’s so dark, with overlaid dimensions which where both wrong. The mount itself and the hardware are outstanding and not difficult at all to put in, disregarding the facia cut. The cut for my 2015 Forester, with absolutely no damage to the rear end, turned out to be 3 3/4” wide and 3 1/2” from the lower edge.
Jenny N.
1/6/2022
I recommend viewing our video on a 2018 Subaru Forester to see how we handled cutting the fascia and heat shield.
Helpful Links
First ordering, shipping, and available instructions are absolutely 5 stars. But this hitch stuck out a touch more than I thought it would. Perhaps an unrealistic expectation but it thought end of hitch would be around the end of bumper however it sticks out just a couple inches. Not sure if it’s becasue of the model year but I installed this on a 2018 Forester Premium.
Notes about install. I removed the heat shield and drilled holes as mentioned in prior review which worked great. I also had some difficulty removing the fascia so decided to instal hitch without removing it and just pull the fascia down after all plugs were removed which worked okay but produced some cursing. I had previously cut the fascia 2.5x3.25” per instructions but found this was not enough in either dimension. I then looked up a video specific to removing the fascia and found that there is a tab underneath taillight that will pop out but requires a little more pressure. Once fascia was removed on the inside there were lines that seemed to be a cut guide. I used a coping saw and followed the rounded corners. Reinstalled and it fit perfect.
In summary I think the model car (18 Forester Premium) I have may be slightly different then previous installers because the hitch projects further back than I expected. I would recommend removing the fascia and following the cut guide if you have this model car. I think the Curt hitch may also project rearward but, since I bought and installed this hitch, I don’t really know.
Overall happy with the product.
I just installed the Drawtite hitch this morning. Installation was mostly easy. I put the back of my 2017 Subaru Forester on ramps. I ran into a little trouble when on of the heat shield bolts snapped off. The tip to spray lube on the muffler hangers made it so much easier. I picked this hitch because it is hidden behind the fascia and the heat shield was trimmed and replaced rather than being discarded as in some other hitch installations. The tip to not remove the bumper fascia was great. I can’t wait to start using it for a small utility trailer and bike rack.
Fits great & looks even better on my 2018 Forester!
Very satisfied!
Great product installation photos, gives a first hand look what it looks like on your vehicle.
2nd etrailer purchase! I always recommend etrailer.com to friends, who have also been very happy with the products they have purchased!
I can now take my boat or trailer in tow with confidence!
I also purchased the 118467 T One Vehicle no splice quick connect wiring harness.
Thanks Again etrailer.com!
Trailer hitch was easy to install and was exactly the same as depicted in the installation video. The hitch is low profile and barely hangs below the bumper and extends slightly beyond the bumper.
When the hitch arrived on my porch in less than 2 days I was shocked! The turn around from shipping to arrival was phenomenal.
The box was appropriately sized and packaged so that none of the parts broke through (despite the shipping companies best attempts).
We have a 2018 Subaru Forester XT with all the features, so the install wasn't as straight forward as the instructions specify.
The instructions did specify that with a dual exhaust (which we have) you would have to do more work to cut both heat shields.
But then this is where the instructions are incorrect, you can install all 4 screws into the heat shield once the hitch is installed!
There are holes etc that allow for it.
The next part that was tough was that my bumper has the backup sensors in it.
When putting up the hitch, it bumped into one of the connectors, I originally pushed up on it to bend it out of the way, but that did not work as the hitch goes really deep into the bumper.
So I advise that you pull that connector arm down towards the ground and into the bumper.
I did a walk around review of it!
Order error on my part was handled and fixed by etrailer personnel quickly and very efficiently. Thank you very much for your handling and understanding.
I received my order thank you.
Great product for my 2015 Subaru Forester. I don't like seeing the whole hitch sticking out under the car, this one is hidden except for the receiver part. Also, the hitch is higher off the ground so it won't scrape at sharp angles.
This Draw-Tite trailer hitch receiver works well on my 2018 Subaru Forester. I use it to tow a 5ft x 8ft utility trailer. As received, the paint was chipped off at several areas on the hitch receiver. I repainted the hitch before installing. The installation videos by Draw-Tite and etrailer were very helpful.
Product fit exactly. Installation video made DIY a snap
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John
12/1/2024
Solid, and performing perfectly.