Trailer Hitch Installation - 2000 Ford Windstar
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How to Install a Trailer Hitch on a 2000 Ford Windstar
Today we are going to install part number 13085 from Curt, and we are going to install this on a 2000 Ford Windstar van. I will show you where the hitch bolts up to the frame. It is going to use this existing hole right here. We are looking at the drivers side frame rail. And there are two more holes up in the frame which will be drilled out for the hitch. And it is going to be identical on both sides of the vehicle. First off, we are going to start by installing the hardware into the frame. What is going to happen is, we are going to run this fish wire into the end of the frame rail and out this existing hole here. We pull our hardware from outside back in, and then back out the bottom. It is kind of on the short side, so be careful that you do not pull your wire all the way through. That is it. We will do the same thing now on the passengers side.
At this point, we can go ahead and install the hitch onto the vehicle just using the two bolts just installed. At this point, go ahead and get the bolts finger tight, and then center the hitch on the frame the way you want it. You have got plenty of movement with the bolt hole in the frame. You can move it left and right or front to rear, as needed. Generally I like to try to get the cutout in the hitch to match the hole in the frame. And once you have it centered the way you want it, then go ahead and snug down the first two bolts. And once you have the hitch mounted up into place, what is going to happen now is that the hitch is going to be used as a template to drill out the two remaining holes in the frame.
We will go ahead and mark the holes using a pilot bit, a 1/4-inch bit, and then we will follow up with a 1/2-inch bit. OK, now we will follow it up with our 1/2-inch bit. Now we can go ahead and start fish wiring our hardware back in - the same process as before. We will run our bolt leader in, out to this side access hole, install the lock, thread in our bolt, and pull it on through. Now sometimes it might be a little bit easier if you have a problem running the bolt through, just maybe take the hitch down and run the holes up to 9/16, just one size over. That will give you a little bit of extra room to pull the bolt through, too. All right, now we will go over to the drivers side and do the same thing again.
We have got all our hardware installed. Let us go ahead and tighten down the nuts. Once you have the bolts all snugged down, then you can go ahead and torque the bolts down, as specified in the instructions. With that, that finishes our install of part number 13085 from Curt.
Info for this part was:
Written by:
Lindsey S
Edited By:
Leah B
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James L.
7/30/2014
What size of bolts would you use to mount a class 3 Reese 1 1/4 hitch to a 2000 Ford Windstar?