Recommended Trailer Hitch Receiver And Wiring For Towing 1700lb Trailer With 2016 Kia Sportage  

Question:

Expert Reply:

To tow your 1702lb 16' trailer with your 2016 Kia Sportage I recommend the Curt Trailer Hitch Receiver - Custom Fit - Class III - 2" # C13120 as it has a 525lb tongue weight rating, and 3500lbs trailer weight rating. It is possible that these rating exceed the towing capacity of your Sportage, so I recommend checking the owner's manual of your vehicle to find its towing capacity and use the lower rating between the hitch and vehicle.

Kia does mention that to tow a trailer over 1000lbs with your Sportage the trailer will need to have trailer brakes. If your trailer does not currently have brakes you will need to add them. To recommend the correct brakes for your trailer I will need to know which inner and outer bearings your current hubs use.

The easiest way to do this is by removing one of the hubs and looking for the bearing number stamped on the face of each bearing as shown in the included picture of the # L44649.

Moving on to adding a 7-way connector to your vehicle to use trailer brakes, you will first need to a 4-way connector using # 118526.

With a 4-way connector installed there are two different 7-way connector options being the # ETBC7 with a traditional trailer brake controller like the Tekonsha Prodigy P3 # 90195, or the # ETBC7L with the Curt Echo Wireless # C51180.

I recommend the # ETBC7L and # C51180 due to the controller plugging directly into the 7-way connector meaning you will not need to run any wires inside of the passenger compartment of your Sportage, and you will not need to drill any holes to mount the controller.

Lastly you will need a ball mount, hitch ball, and hitch pin and clip which can all be found in the etrailer Ball Mount Kit # 989900.

I included videos for each of the products mentioned for you to take a look at.

expert reply by: Samuel C

0

Bearing Number Stamped In Face Of Bearing
(click to enlarge)