etrailer | Setting up the Draw-Tite Trailer Hitch Receiver on your 2018 Subaru Outback Wagon

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Full transcript: https://www.etrailer.com/tv-install-d...
Hey, everybody. Ryan here at etrailer. Today, on our 2018 Subaru Outback Wagon, we're gonna be showing you how to install the Draw-Tite 1-1/4" trailer hitch receiver. But before we do that, why don't we check it out and make sure this is gonna work for you. When it comes to Subarus in general, really having additional accessories on it makes sense. You know, they look right at home.

And that holds true for a trailer hitch as well. And so, having a hitch back here is going to open up your opportunities on what you can do with your Subaru. Now this particular one is the smaller version. So, it has the 1-1/4" by 1-1/4" opening And honestly, I usually recommend these if you really only plan on using an accessory, maybe like a bike rack, for example, especially if you already have one that you like. And I say that because there's just not as many accessories that'll work with this.

They're not as heavy-duty and so on. So, if you're still kind of up in the air or playing on doing a lot of different things with it, a 2" hitch may be better for you. They make them to where they're almost identical to this. And I mean, there's a ton of them out there available that we carry and they're all gonna work good. But I say that because it lets you do a few more things.

And even if you did wanna use an 1-1/4" accessory, you could always get a reducer to allow you to do that. But, it's really just gonna depend on what you're looking for, or if you know you have that one bike rack that you like and that's really all you're gonna do with it, this is an excellent option. With this being a class 2 hitch, we'll have the 1-1/4" by 1-1/4" opening. There's a reinforced calor for a little bit of extra support. I'm really not too crazy about the look of it.

I think the CURT one looks a little bit better but, you know, that's just my opinion. It's going to use a 1/2" size pin and clip. Keep in mind though, pin and clip does not come with it. If you need one, you can always grab it here at etrailer. And it is going to have loop style safety chain openings and these are actually pretty big. And they'll allow you to use just about any size hook that you might have. As far as the hitches weight capacities go, it's going to have a 300 pound maximum gross tongue weight rating. And that's going to be the amount of weight pushing down on the hitch. So, you should be able to use those 1 to 3 bike racks, just to give you an example. As far as the hitches maximum gross trailer weight rating goes, that's gonna be 3,500 pounds. That's gonna be the amount of weight pulling on the hitch. So, that'll weight up your trailer plus anything that you might have on it. Now I do always like to suggest it's never a bad idea just to grab your Subaru's owners manual. That way you can make sure your Outback can pull that much weight safely. So now we can grab a couple of measurements and these are gonna help us figure out what type of accessories will work best. So if we go from the ground to the top inside edge of the receiver tube opening, that's gonna be about 14 and half inches. So if you do plan on pulling a trailer around, chances are pretty good you can get a ball mount that has a slight rise on the shank. If you go from the center of the hitch pin hole to the edge of our rear bumper, that's gonna be right at about 4 inches. And you can use that measurement to help figure out that if any folding type of accessories you might have can be stored in that upright position without hitting the back of your Subaru. I also wanna mention that this hitch is designed to work with all the models of Subaru Outbacks. So, whether you have a base model or a loaded one, single exhaust, dual exhaust, it's gonna bolt up and work fine. So, you're definitely covered there. Other than that at the end of the day, like I said before if you're someone that's really only planning on using that one smaller accessory or only doing a couple of things, definitely gonna work for you. As far as the installation goes, it really wasn't too bad. There was a little bit of drilling involved, but you know other than that, everything's pretty straightforward. So, really shouldn't give you too many issues. If you'd like to see how that's done though, feel free to hang around. We'll go ahead and put the hitch on together now. To begin our installation we're gonna be underneath the back of our Subaru and we need to let the exhausts come down a little bit, to give us some extra space to work. Before we do that though, I like to take a strap and just run it from side to side. That way we can kind of control how fast and how far we let t