Trailer Hitch Installation - 2002 Acura RSX

How to Install a Trailer Hitch on a 2002 Acura RSX

Today we are going to be installing hitch part number 24719 from Draw-Tite on a 2002 Acura RSX. The first thing we are going to need to do is to go inside the trunk and remove the spare tire from the spare tire well. We will be drilling two holes into the spare tire well to help hold the hitch up into place. In doing so, there some models that have an aftermarket subwoofer here. If your application does have this, you will need to actually disconnect the wiring harness here on the side by depressing the tab the on the forward side. And then from there you can just remove the center portion and then lift the subwoofer out of position and then remove the spare tire.

OK, we are underneath the vehicle now. And you can see here we have got a tow loop, and we are going to use this as our rearmost attaching point for the trailer hitch. Once we have actually attached the hitch to the tow hook, we are going to have a tab that lays directly across the forward side of the trunk well. We are going to drill two holes there and put our hardware from inside of the trunk well down and attach to the hitch itself. We are going to take the hitch and hold it up into position. Little bit of a gap here in between the tab and the tow hook. To slide the hex bolt in, we want to place three of the 1/4-inch blocks with the round hole on them - we are going to slide those in between the tab and the tow hook. And that is going to help to center up our receiver tube. And on the other side we are going to place the 1/4-inch block with the square hole and then attach it with a lock washer and nut. And with that loosely installed, you can see the arms here on the forward side of the hitch sit perfectly in the indentations in the bottom of the trunk well. And what we want to do is go ahead and take a good look at the receiver tube, make sure it is centered on the vehicle, and then we will go ahead and mark out our holes that need to be drilled and then drill them through the trunk well.

We are inside the spare tire well now, and you can see the two holes that we drilled. We want to go ahead and take the carriage bolt and block, and we are going to those through those holes to make our forwardmost attachment points. Before I do that, you can see I have got a little bit of interference here with this molding here. So what I am going to do is I am just going to go ahead and take a screwdriver and get that out of the way, because we want to make sure that the block there makes a solid contact with the bottom of the spare tire well. I am also going to take some black rubber sealant and put a bead of it around the hole itself before ing the hardware. What that is going to do is it is just going to provide a seal for us so that no exhaust fumes will come in through the spare tire well. OK, now we can go back underneath the vehicle and put our hitch up into place. Maneuver the hitch arms around the carriage bolts. We are going to attach those with the flat washer, lock washer and nut. OK, then I am going to go through and hand tighten all of our fasteners down, and then I will go back and torque them down to their specified torque ratings. And then we just want to make sure that we put all of the components back into the spare tire well, and then our installation will be complete. This will conclude the installation of hitch part number 24719 on a 2002 Acura RSX.