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

Video Transcript for Trailer Hitch Installation - 2000 Subaru Outback Wagon - Curt

Today in our 2000 Subaru Outback Wagon, we will be installing the current hitch, part number C12270. Here's what our hitch looks like installed on our vehicle. Now we will go ahead and give you a couple of measurements in helping you to choose some accessories for your hitch; such as ball mount, a bicycle rack, or cargo carrier. From the center of the hitch pin whole to outer most edge of the bumper, is approximately 5-3/4". From the top of the opening in the receiver to the ground, is approximately 14-3/4". Now let's go ahead and install our hitch. Now we're going to need to go ahead and lower this carbon canister down here on the passenger side.

To do this there are three nuts that will need to be removed to get the main body of the carbon canister out of the way; two at the rear of the vehicle and one in the center, on the front of the canister. With this lowered out of the way, we will need to remove two more bolts that hold the bracket to the frame of the vehicle. Now with the carbon canister lowered down out of the way, we will need to go ahead and lower the rear most exhaust hanger, so we can slide the exhaust over to give us a little extra room. To do this we use some spray lubricant, and in this case we went ahead and used a large pry bar. Or a large flat head screwdriver will work as well. Now with the rubber exhaust hanger removed, we'll go ahead and point out the locations that we will be mounting our hitch. We will be using both of the tow hooks, one on each side.

As well as we will need to remove to two rubber plugs where our carriage bolt and spacer block will be reversed fishwired up into them. Now for the two forward locations, one on each side, we use carriage bolt, a spacer block, and a flange nut. For the two rear locations, you will have a hex bolt, a spacer block that goes on either side of the tow hook, followed by a flange nut, as shown here. Now we will go ahead and reverse fishwire our hardware into position. To do this, youll slide the spacer block onto the fishwire, and then thread the carriage bolt onto that. You will push the carriage bolt up into the hole, followed by the spacer block, and then pull back down.

We will go ahead and repeat this process for both sides. Now we're ready to go ahead and get an extra set of hands to help us raise the hitch up into place. On the driver's side, you need to make sure that the hitch goes to the outside of the tow hook, while for the passenger side, you'll make sure the hitch goes on the inside of the tow hook. With the hitch raised up into place, we go ahead and place the hex flange nut on the two forward locations. Now that the hitch has been supported, we can go ahead and put the rear hardware for each location. The two small spacer blocks on either side of the tow hook, and the hex flange nut. Now for the driver's side, again take the hex bolt, go from the inside of the vehicle towards the outside, and on this side we will go through the hitch first, then the spacer block, then the tow hook, then another spacer block, and then the hex flange nut.

Now that we have all the hardware in place, we can go ahead and tighten it down, and then torque it to the manufacturer's specification. Once that's done, we can go ahead and put our carbon canister back up into place by putting the two bolts that hold the bracket up first, followed by the three nuts that hold actual canister in place. And finally we can go ahead put our exhaust hanger that we removed earlier back up as well. And with that, that will conclude the installation of the current hitch, part number C12270 on our 2000 Subaru Outback Wagon. .