tucsondon36
New Member
I thought I'd share my installation experience with anyone else thinking of adding this hitch. With the discussions of this hitch versus the accessory hitch; I was sort of dreading this installation with lifting the bed and all, but I thought this approach would be nicer looking. First, when I ordered the hitch the Dodge dealer told me it wasn't the hitch for my truck and since it was special order I would be stuck with it if it was wrong. I trusted this forum more than the dealer so I went ahead with the order. The installation was not that bad, it took about 4 hours doing the work by myself. 6 bolts hold the bed on, you only need to remove the 4 rear bolts and loosen the 2 front bolts. Place a jack at the crossmember at the rear of the bed and tip it up enough to slide the "non hitch" bar from the bed rails, but careful enough to not tip too far that the bed hits the rear of the cab. The new hitch bar needed a little "pursuasion" so everything would line up. After test fitting the bumper about 10 times I finally got it all to align perfectly then discovered the bumper cover had a hump by the license plate. After taking measurements I realized the center circular fitting was thicker than the stock fitting on the "non hitch" bar. I used a grinding wheel and removed about 1/4" from the top of the fitting and the bumper went on perfectly.
View attachment 49721
View attachment 49721
