Curt Class III Trailer Hitch Installation - 2021 Nissan Rogue

Products Featured in this Video

Curt Trailer Hitch Receiver - Custom Fit - Class III - 2"

50 reviews

Code: C24HR

Retail: $359.08

Price:  $213.65

• Trailer Hitch
• Custom Fit Hitch
• Class III
• 525 lbs TW
• 3500 lbs GTW

• 2 Inch Hitch
• Concealed Cross Tube
• CURT

This fully welded trailer hitch receiver bolts onto your vehicle's frame with no welding required. Powder coated steel is sturdy and corrosion resistant.

Do you have a question about part C24HR?more information >     

How to Install the Curt Class III Trailer Hitch on a 2021 Nissan Rogue

Hey everybody, Ryan here at etrailer. Today on our 2021 Nissan Rogue, we're gonna be showing you how to install the CURT class three trailer hitch receiver. But before we do that, why don't we check it out and make sure that this is the right hitch for you. So first impression of the hitch on the back of the road, I think it looks pretty good. For the most part, it's gonna be completely hidden. Really you're just gonna be able to see the receiver tube opening.

Kinda notice the receiver tube opening does come out a little ways. It sticks out a little bit. But you don't have to really looking at it. Just the shape of the bumper, I think it almost has to be like that. If this was sitting further back, it would be really difficult to use.

You wouldn't really have a whole lot of clearance, especially for any of those folding type accessories, like a bike rack or something similar. But with that said, putting a hitch on your Nissan is really going to open up your opportunities and what you can use your SUV for. Having a hitch back here is gonna allow you to pull a trailer down the road or use those accessories like we talked about, whether you plan on towing around some bikes or maybe even using a cargo carrier. There is one thing I do wanna address and a lot of people ask about it, and that's if the hitch is going to hinder your hands-free lift gate assist. And the answer is no.

Now, unfortunately our model here today is not come equipped with that feature. But I do know from past experience, still it's gonna work the same. All you're gonna have to do is kick your foot to either side of the hitch and it'll open up like it should. With this being a class three hitch, it's gonna have that 2-inch by 2-inch receiver tube opening. And that is a very common size, a ton of different accessories will work with it.

The end there, we're gonna have a reinforced collar for a little bit of extra support. And it's going to use that standard 5/8 pin and clip. It does not come included with one. If you need one, not a big deal. You can grab it here at etrailer. We're gonna have a loop style safety chain openings, and they're really thick. So you know you can rely on them in the event of an unlikely disconnect. And the openings are gonna be relatively large and allow you to use just about any size hook that you might have. As far as the hitch's weight capacities go, it's gonna have a 525-pound maximum gross tongue weight rating. That's gonna be the amount of weight that's pushing down on the hitch. So a pretty high number, actually. And you should be able to use just about any size bike rack or cargo carrier that you'd want to, for example. As far as the hitch's maximum gross trailer weight rating goes, that's gonna be 3,500 pounds. And that's gonna be the amount of weight that is pulling on the hitch. So that is the weight of your trailer plus anything that you might have on it. I do always like to recommend, it's never a bad idea just to grab your Nissan's owner's manual. That way you can make sure your Rogue can pull that much weight safely. And with that said, if you are pulling a trailer, you're gonna want the lights to work on it. That way, people know what's going on and you'll be safe and legal. And if that's something you plan on doing, you can always grab some trailer wiring to accomplish that. Now let's just go ahead and grab a couple of measurements. And these are gonna help us figure out, which hitch mounted accessories will work best and the ones that we can use. If you go from the ground to the top inside edge of the receiver tube opening, that's gonna be about 11-1/4 inch. So if you plan on pulling a trailer, chances are pretty good. You're gonna need to get a ball mount that has a rise in its shank. If you go from the center of the hitch pin hole to the edge of our rear bumper, that's gonna be about 6-1/2 inches. And you can use that measurement to figure out that if any folding accessories you might have, can be stored in that upright position without hitting the back of your Rogue. So compared to some of the other hitches available, they're all pretty much going to, about look the same. Really the big difference is the finish of the hitch. This one's gonna have a gloss black finish. I'm a fan of it, but you got a couple of choices there. And you can choose whatever kinda floats your boat, whatever you think looks the best. But at the end of the day, really can't go wrong with it. It's gonna allow you to get out there and have a little bit of fun. With that said, as far as the installation goes, really not bad at all. This is actually my first time putting a hitch on this new body style of Rogue and extremely simple. I mean, you essentially hold the hitch up and bolt it right in. So really nothing to it. No problem getting it done on the ground, if you don't have a Jack or anything like that. It'll be a little bit, a little tight, but it is definitely manageable. But with that said, why don't we go ahead, pull it into the garage and put it on together now. To begin our installation, we're gonna be working here underneath the back of our Rouge. And the first thing that we're gonna do is identify our attachment points. And so if you look on the side of her frame rail, that's where they're gonna be. So we're gonna have a total of two attachment points. One here and one here, and these are gonna be threaded weld nuts. And I wanna mention from this point on, anything we do to one side of the vehicle, we're also gonna do to the other side because it will be set up the exact same way. But what you wanna do is you can spray some penetrating oil in those weld nuts. And then just take a brush like this and work it in and out, just to clean out any junk that might be in there. And once you have that done, what I suggest doing is taking your hardware. And all the hardware is gonna be the same. We're gonna have a bolt and a conical tooth washer. When we put the hitch up, you wanna make sure that the teeth on the washer are gonna face towards the hitch. But what I like do is just take a bolt and just kinda put it in the weld nut, make sure it threads in nice and easy. That way, if there is any issues, we're not trying to hold the hitch up above our head and everything else. It doesn't go in easy. You simply just gonna have to keep cleaning the threads out until it goes right in. Now with an extra set of hands. We can take our hitch and raise it in a position. On the driver's side, you are gonna have to kinda sneak the side plate around the exhaust. And we can hold it up, line up the holes in our hitch with our attachment points and get our hardware started hand tight. Once all of our hardware is in place and hand tight, you can come back with the socket and snug it all down. This point, we can come in with a torque wrench and tighten down the hardware to the amount specified in the instructions. If you don't have a torque wrench, you can always grab one here at etrailer. Or a lot of times, you can go to your local auto parts stores and they'll have one there available to rent. And that'll finish up our look at and our installation of the CURT class three trailer hitch receiver on our 2021 Nissan Rogue..