etrailer | How to Install the Draw-Tite Max-Frame Trailer Hitch Receiver on a 2013 Land Rover Evoque

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Today on our 2013 Land Rover Evoke, we'll be having a look at and installing the Draw-Tite Max-Frame class III trailer hitch receiver, part number 75227. All right, here's what our hitch looks like installed. As you can see, it's completely hidden underneath our fascia. The only part that sticks out is the class III 2" receiver itself and then our rolled steel safety chain loops that are welded to the bottom of the receiver. On the side of our receiver here we'll find two pin holes. The larger one closest to the front of the vehicle is our 5/8" diameter hitch pin hole to secure whatever hitch-mounted accessory we may have. The smaller one here to the rear is a J-pin stabilization device hole.

A J-pin stabilization device is something that will help take some of that annoying shake, play, and rattle out of what's inserted in the receiver. We have several of those options available for you on our website if you'd like to purchase one. This hitch has a 675 pound max tongue weight rating, which is the vertical load limit pushing down on the hitch, and a 4,500 pound max gross trailer weight rating. You'll want to consult with the owner's manual of your Land Rover Evoke and not exceed the capabilities of the vehicle or the hitch itself. This hitch is not rated for use with weight distribution systems, so just keep that in mind if you are planning on towing a trailer that has a weight distribution setup on it. What I liked about this hitch compared to other hitches on the market is that there is no real modification of the vehicle required. It goes into the existing holes already in place for the vehicle; there's no drilling required, just some minor trimming of our fascia and our heat shield in order to fit in place. Now for a few measurements to better assist you in choosing any hitch-mounted accessory you may need, such as a ball mount, bike rack, or a cargo carrier, you're looking at about 12-1/4" from the ground to the top of the 2" receiver opening, and about 5" from the center of the 5/8" diameter hitch pin hole to the rear-most part of the back bumper.

Now that we've gone over some features, we'll show you how to get it installed. The first thing we need to do is put a support strap in place to help hold the weight of our exhaust since we have to lower it. Just go around our lower control arms here. All right, we'll have it nice and tight to start with. We can adjust it as necessary later on. Now, we have three rubber exhaust hangers to remove in order for our exhaust to come down.

We have two on our passenger's side and one on the driver's side. To make them slide off easier, we'll use some spray lubricant, and now we use a pry bar to help pry off our exhaust hangers. Now we'll loosen our strap up a bit here in order for our exhaust to come down. Now, right behind our fascia we have a rear heat shield. There are four T-30 screws that hold it in place, two on each corner and then four 10 mm nuts at the top. We'll go ahead and remove these.

Now we can grab the heat shield and pull it on out. Now, this large access hole on the rear of our driver's side frame rail, we'll be doing what's called a reverse fish wire technique to get our hardware in place. We'll take our fish wire, our spacer plate, and then our carriage bolt, and we'll thread the carriage bolt onto the pull wire or fish wire. Stick the bolt inside. Stick the plate inside. We'll pull the bolt on down. We can leave the wire attached for right now. Okay, now we need to trim off the ends of our heat shield here on both sides. I made a mark according to the instructions with a paint marker so you can see where we're trimming. Use a pair of tin snips. You'll want to wear gloves when doing this because the metal will be sharp. Now, additionally, there's a spot right here in the middle. We're going to trim this out a little bit here too. This is where our hitch will rest into. Okay. Now we can trim our fascia too. All right, we went ahead and marked off on our fascia where we need to trim off for our hitch to fit into. We'll be using a rotary tool to do this. You can use a utility knife as long as you have a sharp blade, but I prefer using a rotary tool. You can find the measurements in order to trim this out in the instructions. All right, with the fascia trimmed, we find that there's a black piece that our heat shield attached to. We'll go ahead and trim that out behind it too. All right, now with our heat shield and fascia trimmed, we can reinstall our heat shield. Now on our driver's side frame rail, here's where our carriage bolt came down. Not this hole, but this hole is where we'll insert our large bolt that will