etrailer | How to Install the EcoHitch Hidden Trailer Hitch Receiver on a 2020 Jeep Renegade

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Hey everybody, how's it going Today, we're gonna be going over and showing you how to install the EcoHitch hidden trailer hitch receiver here on our 2020 Jeep Renegade. So, here's what our trailer hitch receiver looks like installed on the vehicle here. Now, hence the name, it has a hidden design, meaning the cross tube is actually gonna be tucked away behind the rear bumper here, so the only thing we are able to see is the receiver tube opening. And then what we can see here has a nice black-powder-coated finish, which is gonna help it blend in with the underside of the vehicle well. It's also gonna help protect it from rust and corrosion over time. So, adding a trailer hitch here to your Renegade is gonna be an excellent option because it's gonna make your vehicle that much more versatile.

Now, we can obviously use the trailer hitch for towing, but if we needed some free up some space inside the vehicle for the family on those long road trips or if we wanted to hit the trails, we can easily attach either a hitch-mounted cargo carrier or a hitch-mounted bike rack. So, in regards to towing here, our trailer hitch is gonna provide us with a 3,500-pound gross trailer weight rating. That's the amount we can pull outward on the receiver tube. It also has a 525-pound tongue weight rating. That's gonna be the downward force here on the receiver tube.

Now, keep in mind, these are capacities that are for the hitch only, which is actually tested separately of the vehicle. Therefore, it's a good idea to check the vehicle's owner's manual to verify the vehicle's towing capacity. And then abide by the lower of the two rated components, whether that's the hitch or the vehicle. So, thankfully, we have the larger two-inch by two-inch receiver tube opening. And what this is gonna allow us to do is we're gonna have a much greater variety of those hitch-mounted cargo carriers and hitch-mountain bike racks to choose from, allowing us to haul more gear and carry more bikes.

Be sure to check out our selection here at etrailer. So, if we take a look at the side of the receiver tube, we can see, we have our standard 5/8-inch diameter hitch pin hole. Keep in mind, the hitch pin and clip is actually gonna be sold separately. Most of your ball mounts, bike racks, and cargo carriers, however, will come with their own. On the bottom of the receiver tube, we have our safety chain loops.

Those are gonna work great with both the smaller S-type, as well as the larger clevis-style hooks. So, now we've got a couple of measurements for you guys here. The first one is the distance from the ground to the top inside edge of the receiver tube. That's gonna be about 13 1/4 inches. That measurement is gonna be useful when you're selecting your ball mount. That way, you can make sure that you get the correct rise and drop to tow your trailer level. And then finally, we have the distance from the center of the hitch pin hole to the outside edge of the bumper. That's gonna be about 3 1/2 inches. And that measurement there will be useful when you're selecting your folding accessories, such as a bike rack or a cargo carrier. That way, you can make sure, that while they're in the stowed position, that they don't contact the vehicle. So, in regards to installation, this one really isn't that bad. Yes, we do have to remove the rear bumper, but it's actually only a few extra steps and we can actually walk you through this entire process part by part. Now, I will say, there is one tool that you may not have that you'll need for this job. The most of them are relatively common, and that's a torque wrench. We do have cost-effective options at etrailer that you can pick up with your hitch. Or in a lot of cases, you can rent these from most local auto parts stores free of charge. The first step of our installation is to open the hatch here. We actually need to remove our taillights. So, inside the hatch, there's gonna be this little door we have to open. And then there'll be a thumb screw that we can loosen to actually remove the taillight and pull it out, away from the vehicle. So, here's that little door we talked about. There's a little tab there. We just simply press that and pivot it out of the way. Now, it's kinda hard to see but if we reach back in here, we should be able to feel for a thumb screw there. Sometimes, they're kinda hard to get started, but we'll just loosen that up to remove it. Make sure we have a hand on our taillight as well, so it doesn't pop out. And there's what that thumb screw looks like. Now, with our screw removed, we can pull out on the taillight assembly here. There's a conn