Trailer Hitch Installation - 2005 Ford Escape - Draw-Tite

Products Featured in this Video

Draw-Tite Trailer Hitch Receiver - Custom Fit - Class II - 1-1/4"

130 reviews

Code: 36501

Retail: $404.99

Price:  $187.37

• Trailer Hitch
• Custom Fit Hitch
• Class II
• 300 lbs TW
• 3500 lbs GTW

• 1-1/4 Inch Hitch
• Visible Cross Tube
• Draw-Tite

This fully welded, corrosion-resistant vehicle trailer hitch receiver is perfect for your light-duty towing needs. Draw-Tite's Tested Tough guarantee ensures that this hitch exceeds industry standards. Drawbar sold separately.

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How to Install a Trailer Hitch on a 2005 Ford Escape

Today on our 2005 Ford Escape we'll be installing a Draw-Tite hitch part number 36501. To begin our install, we'll first go ahead and point out our attachment points. We'll have a total of four attachment points, two on each side. These attachment points will be secured with the hardware provided with our install kit and utilizing the pre-drilled holes in the manufacturer's frame. Securing each attachment point will be a half inch carriage bolt and bolt that will get that through the frame out the attachment point thought the hitch where we'll secure with a inaudible 00:00:31 washer and nut. The teeth of the washer will face the hitch.

To get our hardware in position here on the driver's side, we'll need to to open up the oval slotted hole here at the bottom of the frame large enough that we can insert our block and carriage bolt into the frame. To do that we are going to use a round file bit on a drill to simply open up the hole. To get our hardware in place, utilize the half inch pole wire or bolt leader provided with the install kit. We'll take the pole wire, fit it through the attachment point and out the access hole that we just made large enough to get our hardware in the frame then we'll slide the block on to the pole wire and thread on the carriage bolt. We'll feed the block into the frame first and then the carriage bolt separately. Once I get the full wire into the frame, I'll pull the carriage bolt and block out locking the block onto the carriage bolt and then just slide them back into the frame far enough that we an get our hitch in place. Now go ahead and repeat the same process for our rear attachment point here on the driver's side going through the attachment point and out the access hole.

If the vehicle we're not equipped with this style of inaudible 00:02:10 here at the end of the frame, we would not need to enlarge the hole as we could use the end of the frame as our access like we'll do on the passenger's side. Now, with the hardware in place here on the driver's side, I'll move over to the passenger's side. Here we'll go through the attachment point and out the end of the frame. We'll slide on our block and thread on the carriage bolt then separately feed the block and bolt into the frame and pull them into position. Note, in some cases where the tolerances are tight, we'll have to feed the carriage bolt in backwards where we feed the head of the bolt first into the frame. With all our hardware in place, we are ready to install the hitch.

It's a good idea to get an extra set of hands to help you hold the hitch while you install the fastener. As we bring the hitch up to the frame, we'll feed the pole wires through the attachment points of the hitch. Once we have the hitch up in place, we've got our hardware pulled to the hitch, we'll go ahead remove the bolt leader and install the inaudible 00:03:41 teeth washer, again the teeth of the washer are going to face the hitch and secure it with a half inch nut. Install each fastener finger tight until we have them all in place. Now with all the fasteners hand tight, we can go ahead and run them down. Next we'll go ahead and torque the specifications as indicated in the instructions.

Once we have our hitch secured and torqued specifications, we're ready to hit the road. That does it for the install of the Draw-Tite hitch part number 36501 on our 2005 Ford Escape. .