Will Removing Heat Shield & Leaving it Off to Install e98839 on 2014 Subaru Forester Cause Problems

Updated 12/10/2020 | Published 12/09/2020

Question:

The heat shield was removed but not re-attached. Does this not seem like a risk?

asked by: Erin T

Expert Reply:

Actually, removing and leaving off the heat shields won't present a problem. Instead of the thin metal of the heat shields, there's now a hitch installed which will provide much better heat shielding than the factory heat shields did. Plus, if they were left in place, the shield would be sandwiched between the hitch and the vehicle frame rail and it wouldn't be possible to torque down the fasteners correctly.

This is shown in the linked installation video.

expert reply by: Mike L