Hitch Install

I spent a good portion of 5 or 6 hours installing a hitch on my Cherokee this weekend. Wow. Who would have though installing a hitch on a 9 year old Cherokee would have been so difficult!?! :laugh:

I read a lot of write ups on here to help me, and they were great. I am starting this thread to highlight some issues I had on top of the great information I found here, and I thought it'd be good to consolidate some of the issues I had that I found in different threads.

First off, don't even attempt this without pulling the rear bumper. At least on 97+ Cherokees. (Others may be different) It's much easier to pull the bumper by pulling the trim piece and weather stripping beneath the hatch and then unbolting the bumper brackets from the frame. I honestly could not figure out any other way to do it.

On '97+ Cherokees, the exhaust hanger is on the passenger side and there's an existing nut strip there, but on these vehicles (especially salt zone Cherokees such as mine) they will be rusted beyond belief. You have to pull the rear exhaust hanger bolt, and it will be a pain. The good news is that the front bolt can stay. With the bumper removed you've got good access to the back of that bolt and can spray it with PB Blaster or your choice of product. I also used a combination of an impact wrench, breaker bar and big freakin' pipe. Be careful here and take your time, because if you bust that nut off the strip it's going to be more difficult to reuse the nut strip, and you're going to then have to remove that front bolt to pull the strip out to repair. I spent probably an hour total on that bolt, but getting it backed out without busting it was worth the effort.

The only way to reuse the nut strip at this point is to run a tap through each and every nut. (1/2" NC 13 TPI) Even if they've never been used. This refreshes them and gets them back to new condition, and the bolts will now spin in and out easily. I had read a thread in which someone suggested using anti-sieze, but I'm not sure that's a good idea for a hitch that will be pulling upwards of 5,000 pounds. If anything, you should probably be using thread lock, but that's my opinion. I'm not sure about you, but I doubt I'll ever have a reason to pull this hitch.

For wiring I used a commonly found plug and play setup, and it was the easiest wiring job I've ever had to do and made for a very clean installation. I'd suggest it as there are seperate wires for turn signals and brake lights. This device consolidated all that into one clean plug.

The hitch looks great, and will make my Cherokee that more versitile. My next install will be a tranny cooler. Wish me luck!

On removing the rear bumper- I pulled the endcaps first, then was able to access the bolts inside the bumper from either end- I used my 3/8" ratchet and socket, and a ratcheting box-end wrench. An air ratchet can really simplify that part of things, although not necessary. I didn't have to mess with the hatch or anything else this way, and with the bumper removed, an impact had everything else apart in seconds.

Spraying existing hardware with PB Blaster or such ahead of time is always a good idea, as is retapping/chasing the threads on the stock nutstrip, as not all the holes are used if you don't have a skid or hitch already installed.

I purchased the driver's side nutstrip at the dealership, and used the metric (I believe they're metric- there were two distinctly different sets) hardware included with my hitch- I chose a Curt, which came with the 1/2" NC bolts, flat washers, fishwire and nuts, and also included hardware matching the threads on the factory pieces, as well as directions regarding what hardware would be needed for a given setup.

Good points though- I wish I'd done a bit more research before I installed mine, as the lack of a tap large enough to chase the existing nutstrip threads caused me some aggravation and a black eye, skillfully accomplished while trying to tighten up one of the bolts.

Just to try to help future installers as I was helped.

02-04-2009
winterbeater
Forum User
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Royal Oak, Michigan
Posts: 2,070


Re: trouble installing hitch
Quote:
Originally Posted by RCP Phx
Also the nutstrips are Metric!

You are (of course) correct. The factory parts list calls out M12 x 1.5. Makes it tough to get those 1/2" bolts in. GOOD CALL! Hopefully the nutstrips aren't F.U. yet.

:idea:

That bolt is impossible to get out. I have been working on it for the last two hours and it wont budge. Spayed it with liquid wrench, used my elec. impact wrench, big breaker bar and nothing seems to be working. Maybe a shop can loosen it for me...?

Heat with torch? I wouldn't trust a shop to break off anything that I can break off myself.

You can get new nut strips for like $15 a side. It's well worth it if you are going to be adding a gas tank skid or a receiver.

Did mine a month or so ago and it was no big deal. An hour total work time. As mentioned I found it easiest to remove the bumper facilitating access to everything. I didn't even worry about chasing threads and such, I just went and installed two new nutstrips.

If you have the bumper off I am not sure I would even care if the bolt broke. As long as the nut weld doesn't break. You have access to the inside and can easily remove the nutstrip with the broken bolt and then work on it outside the rail or just junk it and install a new one.

Definitely soak everything for a couple of days/weeks with PB or something before attempting to remove the nuts.

Thanks for the tips.