Video Transcript for TowSmart Class III Trailer Hitch DIY Installation - 2012 Jeep Wrangler

Hi there, Jesse here with etrailer. Today, we'll be taking a look at and I'll show you how to install the TowSmart Custom Fit Trailer Hitch Receiver on our 2012 Jeep Wrangler. Jeeps are super popular for adventures and off-roading and camping, so it's always nice to be able to add some extra storage space to it, which a hitch allows you to do. With a hitch, you can add on a cargo carrier or a bike rack or something like that, and you can also do some towing with your Jeep. Here's a closer look at our hitch. As you can see, there's really no cross tubes.

It just mounts to your bumper, so all you'll be seeing is the receiver opening with that nice gloss black finish. That's a standard two 2" by 2" receiver opening. Behind that, we have another standard 5/8" inch pinhole. The pin and clip are not included with the hitch. However, we have many options available here at each trailer.

Also, any accessory that you add on will most likely come with one included. Then we have our safety cable loops here. They're super easy to access with whatever style safety cable you have. For example, this large clevis here or an S like this. Now for some measurements, first we'll get a ground clearance measurement.

It sits up pretty high, so we have a measurement from the ground to the top of the inside of the collar here is 19 1/2," that's a good height. You don't have to worry about making contact with the ground at all, but I might look for something with a drop if you're looking to hook up to a trailer or anything like that. And then for our clearance from our pinhole, we do have the spare tire here, so I'll measure to that. From the center of the pinhole to the outside of the tire is about 7 1/2.". So keep that in mind for anything that you're gonna get that's a folding accessory.

You might wanna look for something with a longer shank to it. Let's make sure it doesn't make contact with this tire. For the weight capacities of this hitch, we have a gross trailer weight of 3,500 pounds, that's the amount of weight that you can pull behind the vehicle and then a maximum tongue weight of 350 pounds, that's the amount of weight pushing down on the hitch. You do have the option to use weight distribution with this hitch. The numbers will bump up a little bit. That gross trailer weight will be 4,000 pounds and your maximum tongue weight will be 400. Just be sure to double check your Jeep's owner's manual to ensure that your Wrangler can handle that weight safely. All in all, I think a hitch is a must have with a Wrangler. I'm surprised they don't come with them from the factory. And this tow smart option's a really good choice. For the installation, it's a pretty simple process. It's just a matter of lifting that hitch up, maybe lowering the exhaust. You don't necessarily have to, but if it's not something that you're looking to do yourself, maybe you don't have the time, the space or the tools to do so and feel free to check out our dealer locator. If you are looking to get this installed yourself, then just fall along and I'll show you how we set up ours. Also, if you've installed this hitch on your Jeep and you have some tips or tricks to share with us, or you just want to share some photos of what you're using your hitch for, then please feel free to leave a review or a comment. We'll begin our installation by getting our exhaust lowered down. You don't necessarily have to, it's just gonna make things a lot easier. And what I did before is this Jeep's pretty old, so there's some rust built up. So I sprayed some soapy water on our hangers here. Hopefully that makes it a little easier. I'm just gonna use a pry bar prying against the isolator and the frame and work on getting this popped off. Another thing is to make sure that you have the exhaust supported by something like a cam strap. It's just gonna help us safely lower it without damaging the exhaust. It does help to have an exhaust hanger tool like this, but you should be able to get it with a pry bar. Let's just get that muscle the way off, then we should be able to get it by hand. All right, so that hangs loose. We're gonna work on the passenger side now. (pry bar banging) and we have one more a little farther forward on the vehicle. With that pop loose, we can see that we have a little bit of wiggle room to move our exhaust around and we can loosen our strap up a little bit. One thing I do recommend before you get the hitch lifted up into place, just run your hardware through all four of your holes, make sure that it actually fits through both sides 'cause on our, in our instance, we did run into a couple of holes that weren't quite large enough, so I just brought a drill bit in and ran it through. I'll show you how. Just ran it through all the way to our rear hole. We just kind of worked around just to get that metal spread out just a little bit and I double checked to make sure our bolts would slide through. So now we're ready to lift our hitch up. So now we can grab our hitch and two bolts, make sure each bolt has a washer on it and we'll just lift it up. We'll line it up with our four holes on our bumper and we'll get one bolt started on each side and that'll hold it up into place so we can easily get our other two bolts in. How for our nuts, they're kind of a tight space. So one thing I do is just put some painter's tape on the outside of the nut that'll help me hold it on so I don't have to worry about dropping it. And then I pulled the bolt back so it's flush with our hitch and kinda leverage up in there and then she'll be able to try to get that lined up and spin the bolt to get that threaded on. We'll just continue that process with all four of our bolts wand I am using a 3/4" wrench. I will take a 3/4" socket and that same wrench and get these tightened up. (drill whirring) (drill whirring) Now we'll get these torque down to these specifications listed in the instructions. If you don't have your own torque wrench, we do have many options available here at etrailer or you could always rent one from your local auto parts store. Once everything's torqued down, that's gonna do it for our look at and installation of the TowSmart custom fit trailer hitch receiver on our 2012 Jeep Wrangler.