etrailer | EcoHitch Hidden Trailer Hitch Receiver Installation - 2021 Toyota RAV4

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Full transcript: https://www.etrailer.com/tv-install-e...
Hey, everybody. Ryan here at etrailer. Today on our 2021 Toyota RAV4, we're gonna be showing you how to install the EcoHitch trailer hitch receiver. But before we do that, why don't we check it out and make sure that this is something that's gonna work for you. Right off the bat, one of the big questions a lot of people are wondering is if the hands-free lift gate assist is still going to work once you put the hitch on. And I've been playing with it a little bit, and I have got it to work.

It's gonna take you a little bit of practice, so, you know, you're gonna have to kind of find that sweet spot when you kick your foot under there. So it seems like in my case, to the right, maybe about 10 inches to the right of the hitch, it seems to work kinda best. It kinda just picks my foot up the best there. But you know, it is going to work. And like I said, you might have to kinda play with it a little bit just to get everything to function.

And once you kinda find that, I feel like muscle memory will be able to open it up every single time. When it comes to putting a hitch on the RAV4, honestly, probably the first thing I would think of is how's it going to look. 'Cause once I saw these new ones come out, I thought to myself, that's a pretty good-looking car. You know, the RAV4 has come a long way in terms of styling, at least in my opinion. And they're really sporty looking and, you know, they look good to me.

And so, you know, I wouldn't want a hitch that would hang way down and take up a bunch of space and be super noticeable. And that's not the case at all with the EcoHitch here. For the most part, it's gonna be completely hidden. So really, the only thing you're gonna be able to see is the receiver tube opening here, and that's gonna really help give it a factory-type appearance. The hitch is gonna have a two-inch-by-two-inch receiver tube opening, so a really common size and a lot of different accessories will work with it.

At the end there, there's a reinforced collar for a little bit of extra support. And the hitch is going to utilize that 5/8 pin and clip. It doesn't come with one, but if you don't have one, not a huge deal. You can grab it right here at etrailer. And the safety chain openings are gonna be a plate style and they're relatively decent in size. And it'll give us more than enough room to use just about any sized hook that we might have. The hitch is gonna give us some really high weight capacities. As far as the maximum gross tongue weight rating goes, that's gonna be 750 pounds. And that's gonna be the amount of weight that's pushing down on the hitch. So a pretty high number, and you should be able to use just about any sized bike rack or cargo carrier that you'd want to, for example. As far as the maximum gross trailer weight rating goes, that's gonna be 5,000 pounds. And that's gonna be the amount of weight that is pulling on the hitch. So that's the weight of the trailer plus anything that you might put on it. I do always like to suggest that it's never a bad idea just to grab your Toyota's owner's manual. That way, you can make sure your RAV4 can pull that much weight safely. With all that said, if you're gonna be pulling a trailer, you are gonna want the lights to work. You know, that way people around you know what's going on and you'll be safe and legal. And to accomplish that, you can always grab some trailer wiring. It does seem like a lot of people like to use folding-type accessories on the back of their RAV4s. And so having that clearance is gonna be important. And just from taking a quick look at the hitch, the end of the receiver tube sits just behind our bumper a little bit. So we really shouldn't run into any issues there. But just to be on the safe side, we can take a measurement and you can use this to figure out exactly if you can fold that upright without it hitting your bumper. So from the center of the hitch pin hole to the edge of our bumper, that's gonna be only about four inches. So like I said, you'll probably be in pretty good shape. And while we're at it, we'll go ahead and measure from the ground to the top inside edge of the receiver tube opening, and that's gonna be at about 14 inches. So if you plan on pulling a trailer, chances are pretty good you're gonna need to get a ball mount that has a slight rise in the shank. So at the end of the day, a pretty nice hitch. You really can't go wrong with it. You know, not only is it gonna look good, but it's gonna get the job done as well. And now, we know that and indeed it's going to work with the hands-free lift gate assist, at least in our case it does. Now, as far as the install