Beginner’s Guide to Installing the etrailer Trailer Hitch Receiver on a 2023 Volkswagen Tiguan

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Hello neighbors, it's Brad here at etrailer. And today, we're taking a look and installing the etrailer trailer hitch receiver on a 2023 Volkswagen Tiguan. Now this is what your hitch is gonna look like when it's installed. And the great part about this is it's a hidden cross tube, meaning the only thing that's gonna be hanging down and visible is gonna be the receiver tube opening. Now, this is a two inch by two inch receiver tube opening, which is gonna be in a great option. It's kind of the universal size that you see on a lot of hitches, so that means you're gonna have plenty of bike racks, cargo carriers, and ball mounts to choose from.
Now, when putting those in place, you will need a pin and clip, and it's gonna be a 5/8 pin and clip, which is not included with the hitch. A lot of times when you pick up accessories, they'll have one included, but if you already have the accessories and need to get those in place, we have plenty of options available here at etrailer including locking ones, which is really nice if you plan on leaving your accessories loaded up on your hitch, you can lock that in place and know that no one's gonna walk away with it. Now, if you plan on towing a trailer, you do have rolled style safety chain loops here. Nice and open to put a standard S hook or even a larger clevis style with ease. Now speaking of towing, if you plan on pulling a trailer you want to check the vehicle's owner's manual to see what it's capable of towing and compare that with what the hitch is rated at.
And this one is rated fairly decent at 3,500 pounds which is gonna be the weight of the trailer plus the accessories loaded onto it. Now you also have a tongue weight rating of 525 pounds which is gonna be that downward pressure that's put on the receiver tube opening. And that's really gonna be your suspended accessories like your cargo carriers or bike racks. And with that weight capacity you could easily put a four bike bike rack loaded up and it shouldn't over weigh that 525 pound limit. Now again, if you do plan on towing compare the number of the vehicle and the hitch and take the lower of those two so you stay safe.
Now measuring from the center of our hitch pin to the furthest point of the rear fascia looks like we're coming right in at about five inches. And that's gonna be important when choosing accessories because some of them, when they stow like your cargo carriers or bike racks, they'll tilt up and you wanna make sure you're not making any contact with your rear fascia while folding them up. But this one, it protruded enough to where you should be okay. Now we'll also check our ground clearance here and this one comes in right at about one foot. Now that's gonna be important not only for just loading accessories, but also choosing if you need a rise or a drop for a ball mount.
Now keep in mind with your suspended accessories they are gonna be extending past the vehicle. So as you go up an incline they're gonna want to tilt towards the ground. So keep that in mind when loaded up anytime you go up an incline or on any rocky or rough terrain. Now if you're wondering if your hands-free lift gate is gonna work with the hitch, the answer is yes. Now as far as installation goes, this one isn't too terribly bad. You're simply fish wiring up four bolts into the frame rail to mount the hitch up. You do need to lower the exhaust to gain access to be able to get the hitch in place. Now from the factory, Volkswagen puts undercoating on there and that does create a little bit of tolerance issues. So I highly recommend scraping the frame rail to clear that off before trying to raise the hitch up in place. And also something that we ran into is a little bit of clearance issues here. It was initially kind of pushing up on the bottom part of the rear fascia, but just a little bit of trimming went a long way to kind of gain that clearance that we needed. Now I'm gonna walk you through step by step and you can follow along just to make sure that we get your hitch installed in your Tiguan. Now to begin our installation we're gonna be removing the plastic shroud that's in between the muffler and then attaches to the rear fascia. And this is gonna allow us to have that space for the hitch to live so we will not be putting this back up. So once we remove it, you can set that aside. And to get this off pretty easy you have some T

[@gabrielcastonguay2029]

Do you put the black liner back in place between the bumper and the exhaust after the installation or you just put it away?

[@etrailer]

We didn't. As mentioned at the 3:25 minute mark, that panel which is used on R models will be removed and not reinstalled, as it will interfere with getting the hitch in place. www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Hitch/etrailer/e43ZR.html