etrailer | Install: Curt Trailer Hitch Receiver on a 2013 Nissan Leaf

Click for more info and reviews of this CURT Trailer Hitch:
www.etrailer.c...
www.etrailer.com
Don’t forget to subscribe!
/ etrailertv
Full transcript: www.etrailer.c...
Today on our 2013 Nissan Leaf, we're going to be installing the Curt Trailer Hitch Receiver, part number C11396. Now here's what our hitch looks like installed on our vehicle. Now we'll go ahead and give you a couple of measurements in helping you choose some accessories for your hitch such a bicycle rack or a cargo carrier. From the center of the hitch pin hole to the outer most edge of the bumper is approximately 5 inches. From the top of the opening in the receiver to the ground is approximately 12 1/4 inches. Now let's go ahead and install our hitch. We're going to begin here by removing the under body panel from the vehicle.
There's multiple fasteners that will need to be removed as well as three types. There's screws, there's push fasteners as well as a couple of nuts. A quick tech tip, to remove the push fasteners, take a small flat head screwdriver, slide it underneath the center portion of the push fastener and gently rock it so that it pops out. You'll then slide underneath the bottom part of the push fastener removing it from the panel. Next we're going to need to remove the tow hook from over here on the passenger's side. To do that we'll need to remove a total of four bolts, two on the bottom as well as two on the side.
Now over here on the passenger's side, we're going to be reusing two of the 12mm bolts that we took out with the removal of the tow hook. We'll be reusing this weld nut here and this weld nut here. Now over here on the driver's side, we'll be using this hole here as well as having to drill a hole in this general location right here. Now to get the exact location we'll have to put the hitch up into position and mark it before we can drill the hole. Now with our hitch held up in place, we'll go ahead and mark our location where we going to need to drill our hole. Once our hole has been marked, we can go ahead and lower the hitch back down and then we'll need to drill our hole. Next let's go ahead and point out the hardware that we're going to be using over here on the driver's side.
We'll be using a 7/16 carriage bolt and a square hole spacer block. Now in order to get these two items into the frame, we're going to need to enlarge this hole right here. Now to enlarge the hole, we can either use a file and file the metal back or in our case, we're going to be using a round file bit that you attach to a drill to speed things up a little bit. Now that we have our access hole opened up, go ahead and take our fish wire or bolt leader, we'll go through the rear hole, the hole that we drilled earlier by taking the coil end of the bolt leader and going through first and then coming out our access hole. We'll then take our square hole spacer block, thread it on followed by the 7/16 carriage bolt. Push our square hole spacer block up into the frame followed by our carriage bolt.
We'll then pull the carriage bolt down through the mounting location and then remove the bolt leader. Now for the forward mounting location, it's the hole that we just enlarged, we'll be using the reverse pull method to install the hardware. We'll go ahead and take our spacer block feed it onto the bolt leader then thread our carriage bolt onto the end of the bolt leader. We'll then put our bolt up into the frame followed by the square hole spacer block. We'll then pull it back down into position like that. Now that we have both of our carriage bolts and spacer blocks installed, the remaining hardware that we'll be using to attach our hitch over here on the driver's side is a 7/16 flange nut. It'll go on just like that with the hitch sandwiched in between. This will be the same for both of the bolts. Next we'll go ahead and raise our hitch up into position. We'll go ahead and use two of the 12mm bolts that we removed earlier to attach our hitch over here on the passenger's side. Then we'll install our flange nuts over on the driver's side. Now we can go ahead and tighten down the hardware and then torque it to the manufacturer's specification. Next we're going to need to mark out and then cut out a section of the under body panel so that it clears the hitch. We'll be removing this section right here of the under body panel. There's several options that you can use to cut that section out, you can use a razor knife, a pair of tin snips or a rotary tool. Now that we have our under body panel trimmed out, we'll go ahead and reinstall it using the hardware that we removed. That'll do it for our installation of the Curt Trailer Hitch Receiver, part number C11396, on our 2013 Nissan Leaf. .

[@sle2721]

Great video, I just finished my install, everything was OK, Thanks

[@etrailer]

That's great, we're glad to hear that! www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Hitch/CURT/c11396.html

[@johankroes19]

How About the electronics for the trailer lights?

[@CoachJody]

You might want to say "when you enlarge the access hole, don't make it too big because it will be reused as an attachment point..."

[@etrailer]

Thanks! You want to enlarge it just to the point where you can get the hardware into the frame, but no larger. We'll make that more clear. www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Hitch/CURT/c11396.html

[@SeattleRingHunter]

So much for the factory installed tow hook. I suppose your left with using the safety chain stay eyelet on the new receiver however is it reinforced enough for use as a tow anchor point?

[@etrailer]

Jeff Morgan Ultimately it would be up to the tow truck driver to determine the best way, but most times you would hook to the main cross-member of the hitch. You do not want to use the safety chain loops. They would not be strong enough to pull the car safely onto a trailer or out of a ditch.

[@danwat1234]

Why this design vs Torklift central, where there is no drilling? Better design?

[@NavySturmGewehr]

Is there a class 2 hitch available for the Leaf? The size of utility trailer I'm looking at is a total combined weight of 3000lbs.

[@cptr]

Way too much work