Sorry for the pun, couldn't help it. First off I want to give a sincere thanks to those who've gone before me, both here on toyotanation.com and on e-trailer.com. The posts, reviews and videos both scared and encouraged me.
Like many, mine arrived with the hitch busted through the box. I had to touch up the paint in a few spots prior to installing.
Fortunately, the hitch didn't appear to be bent. I laid out a canvas dropcloth to help prevent scraping paint off the hitch.
Curt's instructions were very clear, they even show how to cut the plastic panels. My 4 cyl SE like all 4 cyls. don't come with any so I saved 30 minutes of labor. Etrailer.com's videos really helped.
I don't have a pic of the following as I was busy acting as a lift for the hitch but I held it up by laying on my back with another dropcloth as padding on my legs and belly and the hitch on top of me. I started on the passenger side basically bench pressing the hitch and the putting in one of the bolts as far as possible. I held the hitch level on the drivers side with my right thigh. Once a couple side bolts were in, I slid out and used this rig to support the hitch until I could get a couple bolts in on the drivers side. The springy quality of the 5 gallon bucket was good as it provided adjustable fit. On the drivers side, I had to use a 15 inch 2 x 4 on edge between the spare and the hitch to get the holes to line up. They were only off a 1/4 inch, thank goodness.
Here it is in place. It tucks up tight to the bumper trim.
On to wiring. I'd read on one fellow's etrailer.com review about him running the wiring through a rubber grommet vs having to pull it out for each use. Here it is before sealing my "X" cut with silicone sealer. If you want to do it this way, make a small "X" in the grommet and work the wire through backwards as the car connector is small enough to pass through easily. You can remove the grommet for the cut and then push it back in.
Coming out under the chassis prior to silicone.
Stealthy routing.
Voila! The 4-Way Flat is held with a black zip tie to the left of it.
To install the hitch, the instructions say 30 minutes for a pro, 90 minutes for a DIY'r. I did it in 50 minutes, so I'm beaming. The wiring took me close to an hour (many on etrailer.com claimed 15-20 minutes) but that was because I wanted it to be super sano and had to figure out the best routing.
Some tips: I already mentioned a drop cloth to protect the hitch's paint, a 3 inch driver extension is plenty long--the suggested 6 inch by Curt is too unwieldy, a 3/8 ratchet isn't enough leverage to remove the factory tow hook bolts--use a 1/2 inch driver with a 3/8 adapter as it has a longer handle. I hope this helps a bit if you are installing one soon.
Linear Mode
