You have dreams of going to the campsite in a caravan, you have a big garden and when you take care of it, a trailer will help you to empty the green waste, you are a craftsman and you want to transport your equipment, in all these situations, a hitch will be the essential element to be able to realize your projects. You are probably wondering how to mount a trailer hitch on your car? Our editors have written this article to make it easier for you to mount a trailer hitch. First we will look at the steps of how to mount a trailer hitch on a car, then the electrical part with the connection of the harness.
How to mount hitch on my car: Installation of the hitch trailer on the chassis
So we start with the first part of the assembly of a trailer hitch, i.e. the assembly part. This part will be divided into stages, with first the preparation, then the assembly and finally the few checks to be carried out.
How to put a trailer hitch on a car: Preparation of the assembly
Before you begin to install a towing hitch on your car, you will need to perform a few steps to prepare the vehicle for the installation of the hitch. Each vehicle is designed to receive a towing system, and so is your vehicle, however you will need access to it. To do this, you will need to remove the rear bumper, usually there are a few nuts in the trunk, in the rear wheel arches and under the bumper, remember to keep all the screws. In addition to the bumper to put tow hitch on a car, you must also remove the rear lights, because they can bother you, and especially you will connect the power supply of the towbar to them.
How to mount a trailer hitch on my car: Mounting the parts
The installation of the hitch is not complicated in itself, just follow the mounting instructions supplied with your hitch kit. In general, you will just need to fix the main hitch bar to the cradle of your car, usually this step is done by fixing only 4 bolts on the sides of the main hitch bar. After this step, check that all your bolts are tightened properly and only then will you have successfully completed the first step of How to mount a hitch on your car.
How to install a hitch on my car: Install the electrical harness
Finally, the more complex part starts now. Electricity is usually not the favorite task of mechanics or budding handymen. You’ll still have to go through it because otherwise your trailer or caravan won’t have electricity and your lights, plate lights, or electrical components won’t work.
How to mount a hitch on my car: Universal electrical harness
First possibility of the second part of our article how to mount a hitch on your car, the mounting of a universal wiring harness. These kits are indeed much easier to position than classic harnesses. However, remember to choose your harness according to what you want to tow with your car hitch. If it is a caravan, you will need a 13-pin plug to transmit current inside it and if you only want to tow a trailer, a 7-pin plug will suffice.
For these harnesses, all you have to do is to collect the current from the connections of your rear lights, connect the ground to the body of your car and then connect the plug to the hitch. To finish, remember to check that all your lights/indicators are working after these connections.
How to mount a hitch on my car: Classic wiring harness
If you don’t have a universal system, we strongly advise you to contact a garage for the electrical connection part. Indeed, if you don’t have any knowledge in electricity, you risk missing a connection and losing time on this step which can be long. There you are, you now know how to mount a hitch on your car, we hope you will have found all the information you were looking for, if you have other questions or problems about your car, do not hesitate to consult our catalogue of articles about it.