Curt Trailer Hitch Receiver with Standard Drawbar - Custom Fit - Class I - 1-1/4"

Video Transcript for Curt Trailer Hitch Receiver Installation - 2011 Chevrolet Volt

Speaker 1: Today on our 2001 Chevrolet Volt we're going to be taking a look at and showing you how to install the Curt Class I custom fit trailer hitch receiver, part number C11221.So here's what our hitch looks like when it's fully installed. It is going to sit up behind the bumper and all we're going to see is the receiver tube sticking out. This is a class I hitch so it's going to give you that 1-1/4 by 1-1/4 receiver tube opening and it has an reinforced collar not only giving it added strength but also a nice clean finished look.Our hitch is going to use a 1/2 pin and clip. They are included which is always nice. Now as far as the safety chain loops go, it's going to be a rolled steel stock style, welded in the bottom of the receiver tube and as you can see, we're not going to have any trouble getting most size hooks on or off. Our hitch is going to feature a 100 pound tongue weight along with a 1,000 pound gross trailer weight rating.

Now I do want to mention you always want to double check with the owner's manual to make sure your Volt can handle that amount of weight and the manufacturer Curt does recommend the use of a stabilization strap for any non-trailer loads or any loads that aren't supported by tires such as a bike rack or cargo carrier. Now if need one of those straps, you can pick one up at our website using part number 18050.Like to give you a few measurements that'll help you when deciding for accessories for your new hitch. Such as a bike rack or cargo carrier. From the center of the hitch pin hole to the outermost edge of the bumper it's going to be about 6 inches. Now from the ground to the inside top edge of the receiver tube opening, that's going to be about 8-1/2 inches.

Now that we've gone over some of the features let's show you how we get it installed.To begin our installation we're going to need to come to our rear hatch, we're going to need to remove the floor coverings inside. So we can grab the handle back here, lift up and lift up again and it's going to be attached with some hook and loop fasteners to the back of the seat so just go ahead and pull those off as well. We can go ahead and set this aside for now.On each corner of the floor covering here we're going to have a couple of fasteners holding it in place. I'm going to be using a 10 millimeter socket to remove them. Now that we have these two removed we'll go and remove the other ones as well.

And we're going to go ahead and pull this panel up as well and set it aside.Now just towards the driver's side of our battery on the bottom of our trunk pan here we're going to see that there's a plug. We're going to need to remove this plug. We're going to be using a flathead screwdriver to do it. Just going to reach underneath and start prying up on it until it comes up. Now the plug may be a little bit difficult to remove.

I having a feeling that it's glued in there but if we just working our way around we should be able to pop it out. Once I have the plug removed we're going to want to find the center of our circle or as close as possible. And we're going to need to make a mark 4-1/2 inches forward or towards the front of our vehicle from that hole. So I'm going to go ahead and mark 4-1/2 inches right here and for now we're just going to leave that mark there and we're going to move to the underside of the vehicle.Now under our vehicle we're going to have a large trim panel piece that we're going to have to remove. Now if you come to the very forward section or towards the front of the car, we're going to have three hex head bolts that we're going to have to remove. We'll be using a 7 millimeter socket for removal. In total we're going to have 11 more fasteners that we're going to have to take out coming all the way from the front here, going along the side and there's going to be one on the bottom of the wheel well as well as three on the inner section. I'm going to be using a T15 Torx bit to remove those fasteners.Now before we remove our panel we're going to have one more plastic pushpin clip that's going to be right behind our passenger rear tire. So I'm going to take a flathead screwdriver and we're going to want to pop out the center section of the clip and that'll release the tension and then we can get behind the back part of the main part of the clip and it should come out. We can go ahead and pull this panel down and we can set it aside.We can go ahead and come back to the inside of our trunk pan where we made that mark. Now I'm going to take a small drill bit and I'm going to drill a hole straight through. I'm going to come back with a step drill bit, I'm going to drill that hole out to at least a 1/2 an inch so that my hardware can drop down. Starting with the largest hole in the back, I'm going to take a little bit of silicone and if you don't have any you can pick some up on our website. But I'm going to take a small bit of silicone and I'm going to go around the opening and just put a small bead around it.Now I'm going to take the larger of the two spacer blocks with the round holes in them and I'm going to put this in place and I'm going to try to get it as close to center of that hole as I can. Now for the back hole we're going to do the same thing and put a small amount of silicone going around the hole itself and then we can grab our other spacer block, it's going to be a little bit smaller but it's going to have the round hole and we're going to drop it right on top of that.Now we're going to have a couple large plates with some squares with square holes in them and what I'm going to do is I'm going to line it up over the round hole then I'm going to take one of my 1/2 inch carriage bolts, I'm going to drop it all the way down making sure that it engages that square. And we're going to do the same thing for the back one as well.Now on passenger side our hitch is going to be attaching using some M10 bolts and existing weld nuts in the frame. Now unfortunately ours does not have any weld nuts in the frame. Now it's not because of the year and it's not because of the model, on this particular vehicle the manufacturer just didn't put the weld nuts in the frame on every one. So let's show you how we're going to get our hardware in place but we're going to have to pick up a couple extra things.We're going to need to pick up a couple bolt leaders, we're going to need two of those. Now we're also going to need two 1/2 inch by 13 by 1-3/4 carriage bolts, also we're going to need two spacer blocks, two conical tooth 1/2 inch washers and then finally we're going to need two 1/2 inch hex nuts.On the holes that we're going to putting hardware is going to be this larger hole here and that's going to be for our forward mounting location and then this very rearward hole is going to be for our rear mounting location. Now we're going to need to get our hardware into the frame rail and as you can see it's not going to fit with the way it is right now. I'm going to take filing bit and I'm going to drill out and file this hole just big enough so that I can get my hardware in place.Now that we filed our hole out you can see that our hardware fits in there but not too oversized to where it's going to fall out. What we're going to do now is we're going to take our bolt leads and starting in the very back hole we're going to put a small bend in my bolt lead here then I'm going to take the coiled end and push it up into the frame and I'm going to start feeding it down. And your goal is going to be coming out the large access hole right here. Once we have the coiled end out we're going to take our spacer block and we're going to slide it over the coiled and then take our 1/2 inch carriage bolts and thread them in place. Go ahead and slip the spacer blocks back into the frame rail and we can push our bolt in there and we're going to pull our fish wire down until the bolt drops through.For our next piece hardware we're going to be doing it a little bit differently. We're going to take our spacer block and our bolt lead and we're going to slide our spacer block over the bolt lead then we're going to take our carriage bolt and we're going to thread it in place and this time we're going to slide the bolt up into the frame pushing it out of the way and then we're going to slide the spacer block into the frame and let the bolt drop back down like that.Now with an extra set of hands we're going to put our hitch in place and we're going to make sure we take our bolt leads and we drop them down through the corresponding holes in our hitch. Then we can raise it up. Now I'm going to go ahead and pull my pull wires off of my bolts. Then I'm going to take my conical tooth washer and you're going to want to make sure that the teeth are facing up towards the hitch. I'm going to slide it over my bolts and secure down with a 1/2 inch nut. I'm only going to get one nut on each side just enough to hold the hitch in place and we can get the rest of our hardware in place.Here on the driver's side it's going to be a slightly bit different combination of hardware. Instead of using a conical tooth washer and a 1/2 inch nut we're going to be using a 1/2 inch flanged nut. Just go ahead and thread it on and secure it to the hitch.Now if your vehicle does have the existing well nuts in the frame we're still going to be using the same locations but the hardware's going to be a little bit different. We're going to have some M10 bolts and some 3/8 conical tooth washers and again it's going to be facing the hitch but instead of the bolts coming down we're just going to thread these into the frame.Now I'm going to be using a 3/4 socket to tighten up my 1/2 inch hardware in we're going to torque them down to the specified amount in the instructions. And we're going to go ahead and repeat that for all the remaining 1/2 inch hardware. Now in our application since we had to use 1/2 inch bolts I'm still going to be using a 3/4 inch socket to tighten down the passenger side. But if you installed the M10 bolts into the weld nuts in the frame, you're going to be using a 17 millimeter socket.Our underbody panel is going to need to be trimmed in order for it to be put back in place to clear the hitch. Now the measurements are found in our instructions but I drew a rough outline of where we're going to be cutting and this is going to be on the very edge. And then on the backside where it has the two tabs or the ears, we're going to need to cut out this section right here to make room for the side plate on our hitch. I'm going to be using a rotary tool to cut it, you can either use pair of tin snips or rotary tool or whatever you have available 'cause this material's not that thick and it shouldn't be that hard to cut.Now that our panel's trimmed you can go ahead and put it back into place. Finally we're going to start replacing all our hardware. I'm going to go put our interior panel back in place and replace the hardware holding it down as well. Finally we can put our floor covering back in place making sure everything latches and goes in the right spot.And that'll finish up our look at the Curt Class I custom fit trailer hitch receiver, part number C11221 on our 2011 Chevrolet Volt.