Today on this 2011 Toyota Rav-4 were going to install part number 36490 from Draw-Tite. This is what the hitch looks like once installed on the vehicle. Next, well give you some measurements that will help you out in selecting some accessories such as a bicycle rack or a cargo carrier. From the top of the receiver opening down to the ground will be about 13 inches. From the center of the hitch pin hole to the farther most edge of the spare tire cover is going to be about 6-1/2 inches. Now well go ahead and show you how the hitch is installed.
The first thing were going to do is go ahead and show the mounting locations on the vehicle. The hitch is going to use two weld nuts on each side of the frame. Looking at the passengers side well point out the two threaded holes. Now well go ahead to the drivers side and look and youll see that theres a tie down bracket in the way so well have to remove the tie down bracket. One of the holes will be reused for the hitch the other will be a threaded hole for the vehicle that will be used.
Lets go ahead and remove the bracket on the drivers side. Then well scrape away the plastic cover for the threaded holes going upfront. Now well go to the passengers side and remove the coverings as well. Well take a moment to clean out the threads. Well use some spray lubricant and then use a tube brush to help clean up the threads.
The tube brush is part number 814092. Now to make things a little easier, you can actually cut the end of the handle and install in a drill, it will make quick work with the threads. Now well go and show you how the hardware installs with the hitch. Youll see the bolt and conical toothed washer. Make sure that the teeth and the washer always goes towards the hitch.
Well see how it fits before we install it on the vehicle. With an extra set of hands lets go ahead and install the hitch. Well put the hitch up to your attachment holes and thread in the hardware. When installing the hardware you can push the exhaust out of the way to get a little bit easier access to it. With all the hardware loosely installed then we can go ahead and tighten down the bolts. Then well torque the bolts down as specified in the instructions. With that were already finished with the install of our hitch. That will finish it for part number 36490 from Draw-Tite on our 2011 Toyota Rav-4.