Most Popular 675 lbs TW for 2018 Toyota RAV4

Like many other reviews state, the holes did not all line up with my vehicle. (see photo) I had to attempt to install and remove the hitch three times, using a hydraulic jack and some 2x4’s to spread attachment points apart about half an inch to get all the holes to finally line up. It would seem they just slap these together and throw them out the door with zero quality control.

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Bought this to tow a 2990 LB GVWR trailer behind our 2018 Rav4 Adventure. It does it’s job by far with ease. Took 20 minutes to install the hitch on the car, a few hours to run the wiring kit (tricky going through the firewall with the power wire) I would recommend this product!

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This review is a little about the hitch, but more about the installation process in hopes of helping others and saving them some additional money. First of all, we bought two hitches: 1) 2004 Toyota Sienna = Draw-Tite Max-Frame Trailer Hitch Receiver - Custom Fit - Class III - 2" - Item # 75237 and 2) 2007 Toyota Rav4 = Draw-Tite Max-Frame Trailer Hitch Receiver - Custom Fit - Class III - 2" Item # 75235. Both frames arrived in excellent condition despite one of the boxes being damaged in shipping. They are obviously well built and meant to fit the specified vehicles. etrailer.com understands how to match vehicles and hitches. Both hitches fit perfectly and no alterations were needed for the hitches. We just finished installing them yesterday and look forward to using them with our new bike rack. Installation hints: 1) Make sure you have everything (tools, lubricant, brush, etc) ready and organized before you try to install your hitch. In my case, I was missing some tools I thought were in the garage and had to make other arrangements. The installation time in the etrailer videos (extremely helpful) is only accurate if you have everything prepped and you don't have any problems with the weldnuts (see #2 below). The actual installation is surprisingly straightforward and could be completed in close to the estimated time. One item you will need, that you might not have, is a torque wrench. Here's the first money saving tip, check with your local auto parts store, to see if they participate in a tool loaner program. Basically, you pick up the tool from their store and pay a deposit (which is the price of the tool), use it, return it, and get your deposit back. While many guys are looking for excuses to buy more tools, I opted to borrow a torque wrench as I don't see myself needing one in the future. If I do, I know where to borrow one :) 2) If your vehicles are a bit older, or if your vehicles operate in wet or snowy areas, there's a very good chance the vehicle weldnuts (threaded inserts - this is where the bolts will thread into) will have dirt, grime, and rust built up in the inserts. I strongly recommend taking the time to make sure your bolts will go into the weldnuts before you mess with the hitch installation. The weldnuts on our 2007 Rav4 were in great shape and only required me to spray in some lubricant (Sea Foam Deep Creep) and clean out with a wire tube brush (Nylon Tube Brush - 1/2" Item # 814092 etrailer.com). If I hadn't done this simple step, I wouldn't have been able to get the bolts to thread. Once I did this, the install was simple. I didn't spent much time doing this. Our 2004 Sienna was a different story. Besides being 3 years older, it also came from an area with more snow and they likely salted/treated the roads which contributed to the problem. Using the lubricant and brushing out several times was not sufficient to get the weldnuts clean enough. The good folks at the local auto parts store listened to the description of the issue I was facing in this installation project. The gentleman helping me said something like, "It sounds like you need to chase the threads to clean them out. We have a thread restorer kit in our tool loaner program." (see two screen shots from their website). I knew what a tap was, but hadn't heard of a thread chaser. I was able to use the thread chaser to clean out all of the junk built up in the weldnuts. In my case, this was a major project as they were in bad shape. I was also being cautious as I didn't want to mess up the threads. Some of the weldnuts required me to go part way in with the thread chaser, bring it out and clean it, relubricate the weldnut and chaser and go again several times. Some of the weldnuts were less problematic. In short, if you run into this issue, see if you can borrow this kit. The thread chaser is designed to be used with a socket and socket wrench. Always start the thread chaser by hand to ensure it isn't cross threaded. Once you're certain it's in the correct way, start slowly with the socket wrench or a drill with socket adapter. The instructions that come with your hitch will provide the specs on the bolts. In our case it the bolts were M12 x 1.25 (I think M12 has to do with the diameter of the bolt and 1.25 refers to the thread pitch (or spacing). 3) Torquing the bolts to spec. The bolts are in an awkward place to work with and torquing them to specification can be a challenge. The Rav4 process went well and I was able to complete this step on my own. Perhaps I was worn out while working on the Sienna or having trouble with the torque wrench, but I finally gave up to seek help. I didn't want to break the bolts! I ended up stopping by the shop which services our vehicles and they torqued to bolts to spec. Because we take our vehicles there on a regular basis, they didn't charge me to take care of the 6 bolts. In conclusion, if you prepare for the install by getting everything ready and your weldnuts are in good shape, this is not a difficult installation project. One of our hitches had 6 bolts and one had 5 bolts. Not rocket science. If your weldnuts are full of junk, try the steps I've mentioned above. Good luck.

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I purchased this hitch for my wife's 2016 Toyota Sienna. I chose this particular model because the reviews said that it had the most clearance. Once installed, it is even with most of the mechanicals on the bottom of the vehicle. While it doesn't reduce your ground clearance, it could easily have been designed to sit an inch or so higher. However, because it isn't flush against the vehicle, I was able to get the plastic trim piece back on the van with very little trimming. I suspect that there must be fairly significant differences on the rear pan as some of the reviews indicate they couldn't reuse the trim piece and the instructions show cutting away most of the plastic. Either the rear pan for the cargo area was slightly smaller on previous year's models or the one I received had been dropped and the mounting flanges bent towards each other. Though there was no visible damage. The mounting flanges were about 1/4" to 1/2" to narrow for the 2016. Because of this, what should have been a 1 hour job turned in to a 4 hour job. Having to convince the mounting flanges in to place caused more than significant issues. I marked the product down for this reason. I've never had an issue like this with items from etrailer so I'm guessing the Toyota engineers must have made small, but troublesome size changes on the 2016.

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Trailer hitch "after installation" is fine. It was a BEAR to install; though no fault of Draw- Tite or etrailer. The problem was Honda, almost like they didn't want you to install a 3rd party trailer hitch. First there were no captive nuts inside the frame; so it was necessary to fish bolts through with the provided spring wires. And after the bolts were fished through there was nothing to keep the bolts from being pushed back into the frame by the trailer hitch. (I installed trailer hitches on prior models of CRV and RAV4, and both had captive nuts in the frame.) Then after I got the latest trailer hitch bolted into place; I couldn't the exhaust hanger band back on the pegs. Finally had to get help from someone I knew at a body shop. And then it took them 20 minutes.

Just what I needed for a plug-in bike carrier and to tow both small utility and sailboat trailers. It was an easy install with the provided directions being spot on! My second go round with an etrailer hitch - they do not disappoint!!

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I needed a good hitch for my Kuat bike rack and eTrailer made it easy to find and order a compatible one for my new vehicle. (2019 Toyota Rav4) I have installed hitches myself before and this specific installation was the easiest. I was initially worried about needing to drop the muffler per the instructions but following a few other reviews, I saw that wasn't necessary and I ended up being able to install it w/o dropping the muffler. Saved me time and hassle. After a year of use, she is still going strong and getting me out to where I'm going. Thank you etrailer for always supplying top-of-the-line products to us.

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this trailer hitch was very easy to install. my husband and i easily installed it together onto our 2008 chevy equinox. the hitch is made very well. i attached my kuat bike rack to it, and it is very solid.

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