EcoHitch Hidden Trailer Hitch Receiver - Custom Fit - Class III - 2"

Video Transcript for EcoHitch Hidden Trailer Hitch Installation - 2019 Subaru Outback Wagon

Today on our 2019 Subaru Outback wagon, we're going to be installing EcoHitch's class III two inch hidden trailer hitch. This is what our hitch is going to look like when it's installed. It's a class III, two inch by two inch receiver, so it's going to be great for all of your towing needs. It remains hidden completely behind the bumper, and all you can really see here is our receiver tube sticking out the back.It uses five eighths inch hitch pin. Now, one does come included with the hitch, but you can pick one up here at etrailer.com. And features plate style safety chain loops.

They have a nice, large opening, so they should be able to accommodate just about every size and shape of safety chain. It features a 350 pound tongue weight. That's the force going down on top of the receiver, and a 3,500 pound gross towing capacity. That's how much it can pull behind it. You do want to verify in your vehicle's owner's manuals that you don't exceed any of its towing capacities.Now I've got some measurements for you to help you when deciding on accessories.

From the ground to the top inside edge of the receiver tube, it measures about 17 inches. This is important when determining if you need to drop, rise, or raise shank on any of your accessories. Now, from the center of the hitch pinhole to the edge of the rear bumper, it measures about three inches. This is important when determining if any of your folding accessories can be placed in the upright storage position without contacting the bumper. We'll begin our installation at the back of the vehicle with our hatch open.

We're going to need to remove both the left and right side taillights. We'll start with our Phillips screwdriver to remove the small plastic pins located on the inside.You'll unscrew the center of the tab. Once it pops out, and then pull the whole pin out. We'll repeat that for the three remaining tabs, one on this side and two on the other side. We can now remove the taillight covers.

Those just pry off. We're just going to use a trim panel tool here to help that. Behind that, you'll find two bolts that we're going to remove using a 10 millimeter socket. We can now pull our assembly rearward to remove it. Once you've got it pulled off, we're just going to remove the bulbs from the housing. Just twist those counterclockwise and they pull out, and unplug the electrical connector here. Now we can set the assembly aside. We'll repeat that on the other side.Underneath your taillight assembly, you'll see a small plastic cover. We're going to use a flat-bladed screwdriver to pop that cover out, exposing the bolt behind it. We'll then remove that bolt using the same 10 millimeter socket. We'll do that on the other side as well. Next, we're going to move into our inaudible 00:02:53 wheel area and remove the fasteners here so we can get our fascia off. You'll find one here at the top. Take a Phillips screwdriver and we're going to press in on the center of it. That will allow the pin to be released. You can then take a flat-bladed screwdriver and get behind it and pry it out.Down towards the bottom here, if you have the splash guards like we do, there are a couple fasteners we're going to need to remove. You're going to find one behind the wheel here. We'll use our flat-bladed screwdriver. We'll pop out the center of the pin and then we can remove the entire pin. Then underneath, if you pull the mud flap down, you'll see there's a fastener located here. We'll need to remove that one as well. Now underneath, going around the perimeter, you're going to find pins that we need to remove on the bottom. There's a total of five. Those are all going to remove by popping up the center and then just pulling the pin out.Now we can remove our fascia. We're going to start on one side, pulling outward to release the tabs. And now that both sides are loose, we're going to grab an extra set of hands to help us pull the fascia rearward. Check for any electrical connectors that may be present. We found one here on our driver's side, so we're just going to disconnect that. There's a release pin you press in there and then pull it out. And now we'll set our fascia aside where it won't get damaged. We can then take the foam off of our crossbeam. We can set that aside. We're not going to be reinstalling that. And now, we need to remove our crossbeam here. There's four bolts on each side we're going to take off using a 14 millimeter socket.We can now take our crossbeam off and set it aside. We can now set our hitch in place, sliding it over the studs that was holding our cross piece on. Now, I would recommend taking a nut and just threading it on there, turn to keep it from falling off, while we grab our cross brace. We're going to line it up. We'll have to make sure we take that nut off that we we're using to support it. Line all those holes back up, and set it into position. We'll now use the new nuts that come included with our hitch and install those onto the studs. We'll then tighten down all of our hardware with a 14 millimeter socket.We can then go back and torque all of our hardware to the specifications found in our instructions. Gone ahead and marked out our fascia per our instructions how we're going to need to trim it for it to fit back on with our hitch in place, and I'm just going to use some tin snips to cut that out. There's now a trim piece that comes included with your hitch that you can install onto the fascia where we cut it out. This'll just help make it blend in nicer. This'll just simply slide on, following the edge that we just trimmed. Any excess you have left over, you can just trim that off. Now we can reinstall our bumper fascia, and we're just going to follow reverse on how we removed it to get it reattached. And with our taillights back in place, we're all set. That completes our installation of EcoHitch's class III two inch hidden trailer hitch on our 2019 Subaru Outback wagon.