I'm installing an OEM hitch... Help?

Here are all the parts that came with my new OEM hitch. Anyone happen to know what the item(s) circled in yellow are used for? They are not referenced in the installation instructions.

My guess is they are the nuts for the furthest bolts, with a long tang so you can fish them in and out of the frame rail.

You should try to find OEM brackets if you don't already have some, they are much stronger than single nuts

That kit shows one way to install hitch.

The other way is to use "nut strips". With nut strips you don't need the mechanics wire, carriage bolts, or the block plates. Your XJ should have one on the right side and may have one on the passenger side depending on model year and whether or not it came with a gas tank side plate. 4wd.com sells these from Crown and many other places should sell them too. Cost is about $35 for both. You do need to remove the bumper to install them.

Yeah, I would opt for an aftermarket nut strip like this. Much better than all of that stack up.

Yes, if willing, buy JCR aftermarket nut strips.

To get back to your question, when fishing the carriage bolts through, one of the biggest pains is that when you lift the hitch into place, you invariably push some of the bolts back inside the frame rail. Looking at the pic, it appears to me that those pieces are adapters so that you can set the hitch in place (temporarily) with one bolt per side and THEN fish the carriage bolts through. The last step would be to remove those tabs and replace them with carriage bolts. Or, you could simply leave them in place if you wish.

HTH
Todd

Nut-stripes

For sure... It seems the best route are the nut-strips. Ordered! Thanks all for the help!