On to mounting the hitch back up. The factory bolts and captive nuts were obviously in the way of the tire, and the two center bolt heads would still interfere even if the bolts were reversed. A visit to my local hardware store turned up these 4.5”x 5/8” grade 8 carriage bolts, nuts and lock washers (factory are metric and are around a ½” bolt, but the factory hole will accommodate a 5/8” bolt with no drilling):
They have a nice rounded head and the square shank wedges quite nicely in the round hole of the hitch. These are for the inner two bolts, the outers can retain the factory bolts, just flip them around and reuse the two captive nuts you kept but reverse them or drill out the holes a bit so the extruded side sits in the hole. In retrospect, the outer bolts have enough clearance to use them in the stock location, so if you prefer, you don’t have to remove the two outer captive nuts.
Now, just fit the hitch back up in its place and feed the bolts in from the front to back. Tighten all your bolts (I do not have torque specs for these) and ensure the carriage bolts sink in fully flush to the hitch.
Install your connector plug and adjust the harness to your liking so that it’s out of the way of anything including the spare tire. Install the spare:
- The spare will need to be guided in at an angle, front side up first, to clear the pan hard bar.
- Raise it up and snug it into place and you’re done.
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