etrailer | DIY Install: Curt Trailer Hitch Receiver on your 2017 Subaru Outback Wagon

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Today on our 2017 Subaru Outback Wagon we are going to take a look at and also show you how to install the Curt Custom Fit Class 3 trailer hitch receiver. This offers the 2 inch by 2 inch opening. It's part number is C13206. Now here is what our hitch is going to look like installed. It's going to have a nice look to it. Kind of rounded, coming around to our side plates.

We follow that into the middle. That's where our receiver tube opening is going to be. Now this is 2 inch by 2 inch. It's a class 3 hitch, so tons of accessories out there available by Grex 00:00:30, ball mounts, hitch cargo carriers. Should be able to work with them all, as long as those are rated for class 3. Safety chain connection points come around here at the bottom.

You can see our oval shaped hole. Should be plenty of room there for whatever style of chain you are going to be connecting. Then for securing your items we've got our 5/8 diameter pinhole. Now we want to use class 3 rated accessories, and it looks like whether you're going to use a pinning clip, maybe a locking hitch pin, or even anti rattle device, should have plenty of room there to make that happen. I also like to reinforcement collar around the end here. It's got that flushed look.

It sits about even with the edge of the bumper, so we're not going to have to worry about bumping into it. Now the hitch itself is going to offer a 600 pound tongue weight rating, so that's the maximum downward force we can put here at the receiver tube opening. It gives us a 4,000 pound gross trailer weight rating. That's the total weight of our trailer, and anything that we might load up on it. Now we need to look at the owner's manual of the outback.

We need to see what its tow rating is. We can go off of whichever of those numbers is the lowest. Now the hitch is not rated for use with weight distribution. With that being said, Curt will recommend the use of the stabilization strap when we're healing non wheel loads, so cargo carriers, bike racks, things like that. Now a couple of measurements that will be helpful when selecting your ball mount, bike rack, or hitch cargo carrier will be from the ground to the inside top edge of the receiver tube opening. We've got about 15 and 1/4 inches. Then from the center of our hitch pin hole to the outer most edge of our bumper is going to be around 2 and 1/4. The first thing we need to do is get our exhaust lowered down and out of the way. This is a single outlet exhaust. We're just going to have 3 hangers. We've got 1 that is located right here at the rear corner. It's on the inside of the car. Then right catty corner there is going to be 1 right up here. Then if we'll follow the pipe forward a little bit there is 1 right in front of this rear differential. Now before we start pulling those, what I like to do is just put a strap underneath the exhaust here. That's going to offer some support. As we remove those hangers this will support it, and then we can gently lower it down as much as we want. Now the next thing we are going to do is start pulling those hangers down. I like to use some spray lubricant on them. This is just going to help them slide off a little bit easier. Then a large screwdriver or pry bar is really what you're going to need. We're just going to slide those off. Do that for our other 2 locations. If you have a dual exhaust you're just going to repeat the same process, but it will be over on the passenger side. A little slack there. Then we can kind of move that exhaust over a little bit. It's going to give us the room we need to work. Now we've got 4 bolts. We've got 1, 2, 3, and 4 that we're going to need to remove. All right. We can set these aside for re-installation later. Now we're going to pull the plugs out of the bottom of the frame rail. That's going to expose 1 of the holes here that we're going to enlarge. Then the 1 here in the rear is going to be 1 of our attachment points once we get our bolt fish wired down through. The first thing we need to do is enlarge this hole located here in the front. That's what we're going to use to slide all of our hardware. We're going to create that to be our access hole. Now you can use a grinder and kind of round it out on each side. What I like to use is a step bit. This is going to allow us just to kind of slowly enlarge the hole as we go. It will keep it kind of more uniform looking. Once we've got these enlarged so our bolt passes freely in and out there. That's what we're looking for. I like to use a little rust proof spray paint here, and just coat that, and let it dry. That way we're not going to have to worry about any corrosion or anything li