To see if this custom-fit item will work for you please tell us what vehicle you'll use it with.
Thank you! Your comment has been submitted successfully. You should be able to view your question/comment here within a few days.
Error submitting comment. Please try again momentarily.
Fully welded vehicle trailer hitch is strong and durable. Draw-Tite's Tested Tough guarantee ensures that this hitch exceeds industry standards. The combination of an e-coat base and a powder coat finish provides excellent rust protection.
Features:
Specs:
Draw-Tite's Tested Tough program provides testing standards far superior to those outlined by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), the go-to source for engineering professionals.
Each Draw-Tite trailer hitch receiver undergoes extensive fatigue testing and static testing with the ball mount that is either supplied or recommended for use with that particular hitch, thus ensuring results that are applicable to real life use. Fatigue testing is also conducted on hitches rated for use with weight-distribution systems.
In addition, Draw-Tite performs static testing on a simulated automobile, as opposed to the rigid fixture used for SAE testing, resulting in a more true-to-life scenario.
At etrailer.com we're committed to the products we sell, and to our customers. Our experienced and knowledgeable staff are available via both phone and email to address your questions and concerns for the lifetime of your hitch. The technicians at etrailer perform hitch installations on a daily basis, making them a valuable resource for do-it-yourselfers. The one-on-one, personal service you'll receive comes straight from an expert in the towing and automotive field. We've installed it, we've wired it and we've towed with it, so whatever your question, we can answer it.
California residents: click here
Average Customer Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (55 Customer Reviews)
Fully welded vehicle trailer hitch is strong and durable. Draw-Tite's Tested Tough guarantee ensures that this hitch exceeds industry standards. The combination of an e-coat base and a powder coat finish provides excellent rust protection.Great hitch! It fit perfectly even with a minor adjustment I made. The directions wanted to attach 2 bolts to the frame and then 4 bolts to the bumper bracket. I ended up sliding the hitch back a few inches and was able to attach 4 bolts directly to the frame. Just needed to drill 2 holes in the frame instead of 4 in the bumper bracket. Since the frame is twice the thickness of the bracket this attachment method seem better.
I’ve not applied it yet but because of our excellent history I have no issues presently…thx.
Great Product, Quick Delivery. Box was damaged in shipping, but, hitch is fine. One note: It would be great if someone made a video for older Nissan Trucks. There is no video on the installation for 1998 - 2004 Frontier Trucks. I had some questions on the installation, and your office was already closed. I did contact a friend of mine that installed the unit on his 2004, so we compared his to what we were doing on mine, and we finally got it bolted down. Thanks for the great service. Now, we are off to look at campers.
It’s a little difficult to drill the holes to bolt to the frame. I jacked the truck up as high as I could and was able to get a better angle to drill. Other than that it was an easy job to install this hitch. Took me about 45 minutes for the whole installation.
Installed this hitch on my ‘01 Nissan Frontier crew cab XE. It was a direct fit. Took about 30 minutes to install with help from a friend.
This review is for the Draw-Tite Max-Frame Trailer Hitch Receiver - Custom Fit - Class III - 2" Item # 75186 installed on a 2004 Nissan Frontier King Cab with the long (75") bed.
This is a very high quality product. Very well made with a thick powder coat. In fact, it is much more heavy duty than I will ever need or that my compact, 4-cyl. pickup would ever be able to use. It makes me wonder why there isn't a lighter duty product available for small trucks.
Anyway, that's not why I deducted one star. It is because the hitch was not a direct bolt-on product and this fact was not prominently displayed on the etrailer web site. In list of features on the information page for this product, there is a bullet point that reads "Easy, bolt-on installation - no welding required." It is true that no welding is required, but you do have to drill a 1/2-inch hole in the bumper bracket on each side. This gives you one of only two mounting points on each side and is necessary. When I read "Easy, bolt-on installation," I didn't expect to have to drill holes before I could bolt it on.
If you read down to the very bottom of the web page, there is a single "tech tip" that says that drilling is required. However, I didn't know to look there and once I read the features list, I thought I had the info I needed and wasn't looking for that information. The bullet point about easy bolt-on installation should read: "Easy bolt-on installation AFTER you drill two of the required holes."
Eventually, I drilled the holes and the hitch was mounted properly and it works very well, but it was an irritating surprise when I read I had to drill through the bumper brackets. I even wasted time trying to find a different mounting method that would use any of the several existing holes in the frame rails. I actually got it partially mounted this way and ended up having to pull it back off. Don't bother with this as the frame holes don't line up with the holes on the hitch.
As a side note, the instructions indicate that this hitch does bolt directly to the frame rails on the short bed version of the 2004 Frontier.
I find it strange that this hitch has only two mounting points on each side, and one of them is on the bumper bracket, which is a lighter gauge steel than the frame rail. Etrailer lists two custom hitches for this vehicle. The other one is the Curt Trailer Hitch Receiver - Custom Fit - Class III - 2" Item # 13842. According to the installation instruction for the Curt, it bolts directly to the vehicle without any drilling and it has five attachment points on each side, three of which attach to the frame and two to the bumper bracket. This explains why the Curt has a 6000 lb towing capacity while the Draw-Tite has a 5000 lb capacity. This doesn't matter for my purposes since 5000 lb is more than I'll ever need.
Two comments about the instructions:
1. The first step reads "Remove the bolt from the bottom of the frame on both sides of the vehicle." I could not find any such bolts on my vehicle and became confused. I don't know if these bolts were removed previously or if they were never there, but it slowed me down looking for them. Others might find the same thing so I thought it was worth mentioning.
2. The diagram is drawn in very faint lines and was difficult for me to read. I noticed afterward that the Curt instructions have a much better and more readable diagram.
In the end, the hitch is installed and will serve my needs perfectly and I'm sure it will outlast the vehicle. However, if I had it do over I would choose the Curt hitch. It has a better design in all respects and would have been worth the extra $33 purchase price to me just for the convenience of direct bolt-on installation. The extra strength of the Curt mounting system is just a bonus.
In the future I will read the installation instructions for any competing products on etrailer. It's a great seller with an information-rich shopping environment. Had I taken the time to compare the installation instructions for the Draw-Tite and the Curt, I would have learned the advantages of the Curt before making the purchasing decision based on price alone.
etrailer went above and beyond typical customer service! Communication was amazing and the product was shipped quickly. The hitch installed perfectly and easily.
It works great. It has made several trips to the lawn mower repair shop, with the riding lawn mower on the trailer, as well as a trip or two to the trade dump!
The hitch people in both Asheville, NC & Greenville, SC had told me a hitch was not available for that Nissan pickup, and if they were able to find one it would probably cost $250 to $400! You were less than that, including shipping. And for a 'Draw Tite hitch, no less. You're my heroes!
Product came in a damaged box, but the hitch was not damaged.
Welds look good but none of the stickers for etrailer, draw-tite, and weight labels were applied straight!
The hitch test fit to the frame well enough.
I do want to make some reinforcements to go inside the frame and brace to the side of the framerails as hitches are intended to be. Don't like how the hitch mounts to very end of the frame horns where the frame is thin C channel (the box section begins 8" forward of where the hitch bolts up!)
The brace brackets that affix to the bumper brackets are very thin and I plan on making beefier versions of that, too.
I understand that the truck itself (4cyl 2wd) was not designed to tow heavy loads but i believe a hitch install should be way overbuilt. This mounting seems barely adequate for the rated load...the bumper brackets are more securely fastened to my frame and the bumper is only rated for 200lb tongue weight, half that of this hitch! Seen too many rangers and like with aftermarket hitches that were tapped in the rear and now the hitch is pointing at the ground.
The hitch itself looks to be very well built, just not keen on the provided reinforcements.
The harness connector kit is very nice except for the warning to mount it "inside the vehicle"...not very easy to do with a pickup!!
Really appreciate the addition of the draw tite antirattle sleeve and flip lid debris cover, it really dresses the install up!
I installed the hitch. I was hoping it would have been an inch or two higher, so that it would be closer to the bumper. The install was mostly easy and didn't affect my truck much. The wire kit was good, but the green wire could have been a few inches longer. I installed both as close to my original truck as I could. I guess for a 26 year old truck, I shouldn't assume perfect. It looks strong and I am mostly happy. OCD takes a star off.
good product once I got it to fit. hole in hitch where it mounts to frame was several inches to close for a step bumper. had to drill another whole in frame to mount hitch. even after doing that, still had to grind off a small amount of the bumper. i believe the whole problem was my truck has a step bumper. had it had a regular bumper everything would have fit perfectly. only took about six hours to complete the task
I installed this hitch on my 2002 Nisan Frontier. Its a very solid hitch that will serve me well to haul my boat around. It fit in place and installed as instructed except the brackets supplied needed to be ground down a bit which I didnt mind doing.
The hitch is awesome.
Installation was as easy as it could have been for the hitch. The only problem I had was my bumper bracket being bent. The fault of whoever owned the truck before me.
Awesome product!! So worth the money.
Much easier installation than I was expecting. Spent more time looking for misplaced tools than actually working
No problem with installation on a 92 Nissan kingcab 4x4 pickup.
The only issue was with instructions. The hole in the frame for the 1/2" bolt was about 2" in diameter. I was looking for a 1/2" hole and called c/s for help. The c/s rep read the instructions which stated the "large hole" in the frame. This finally made sense to me and the installation went smoothly. The instructions could be improved by stating the 2" hole instead of the large hole. Easy install, happy with product.
The ordered Nissan parts instructions said to line up the holes thru the part into the holes in the truck. Only two holes in the truck not 8. The the instruction said to mount the 'L' shaped angle metal bracket to the other additonal 8 holes, ( the truck had no such holes and the bracket was too large for the truck mount so could't even drill). So, 16 holes mentioned....only 2 in reality and worthless brackets. Now try drilling a 1/2 inch bit while on the driveway thru 3/8 metal (6 times). A 1 hour job that is taking 8 hours.
Received product at door step as requested. Took out of box. Measured frame of hitch and hole drilled out to fit into frame of nissan truck. Matches up, very well. Thank you, guys . I will use you in the future:).
I recently purchased draw tite hitch from etrailer.com and was very pleased with the transaction. speedy shipping and fit perfect. It was also very well built and I'm very pleased. Will surely use etrailer again for my towing needs. Thanks alot!!
The trailer hitch fits like a glove. No problem installing. Received hitch in only 3 days.....
Received my hitch (#75186) today, just 4 days after ordering even with weekend involved, installed it this afternoon didn't even have to drill :)fits like a glove. Sorry no pictures, not that computer savvy. Anyway ETRAILER HAULS AND ROCKS!!!!! very pleased with product and service, and thanks again to Lexus ext.388 for her excellent help....
Got it to work but does not fit over my frame like intended
Jenny N.
10/13/2022
You mentioned that it did not fit over the frame as it is intended. I wanted to ask you what you mean by that?
Ordered arrived in a orderly and timely fashion. Product was name brand, sturdy and fit like a glove. With courteous and professional customer service, I will definitely recommend etrailer.com to family and friends. Great job!
Solid product, ruggedly built. Install time was less than an hour, only because on my model vehicle (Nissan Frontier) you have to drill 2 holes in the frame. If I didn't have to drill it would have been 20 minutes. Piece of cake to install otherwise.
This was a great process from start to finish. Easy to order and even easy to install by myself. Took about an hour start to finish. I am a customer for life
Do you have a question about this Trailer Hitch?
Info for this part was:
At etrailer.com we provide the best information available about the products we sell. We take the quality of our information seriously so that you can get the right part the first time. Let us know if anything is missing or if you have any questions.
Jay G.
5/28/2020
This hitch works perfectly well a year later.