etrailer | 2012 Mazda 3 Draw-Tite Sportframe Trailer Hitch Receiver: Complete Installation

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Today on our 2012 Mazda 3 we're going to be taking a look at installing the Draw-Tite sport-frame class 1 trailer hitch receiver. Part number 24843. Here's what this hitch is going to look like once it's installed on the vehicle. What I like most about this hitch, is how well hidden it is, and really doesn't add much to the look of your vehicle. It's going to feature the inch and a quarter by inch and a quarter receiver tube opening. Features a half inch hitch pinhole, which is going to be good for securing all off your class 1 accessories. It's got the rolled steel safety chain loops underneath here, which would make it nice and easy to connect safety chain from just about any angle.

It features a two hundred pound max tongue weight rating, which is going to be the downward force on the inside of the receiver tube here. And a two thousand pound gross trailer weight rating, which is going to be the total weight of you trailer or anything you may have on it. You will want to be sure to check the owners manual to see if your vehicle is rated for that type of weight. Now let's give you a few measurements to help assist you with your selection on hitch mounted accessories such as bike racks or cargo carriers. The distance from the center of the hitch pinhole to the outer most part of the rear bumper is five inches. And the distance from the top inside edge of the receiver tube opening to the ground is ten inches. It's a nice, easy bolt-on installation.

There's no drilling or welding required. Here are the tools that you're going to need for this installation: You're going to need a ratchet or impact driver if you have one, an 11/16 socket, a 9/16 wrench, an extension and a torch wrench. Now, let's show you how to install this hitch. First thing we'll need to do to begin our installation is identify our mounting locations. There's two holes that we're going to be using. We're going to have a carriage bolt that comes down through this round hole here.

Then we'll have a bolt that goes through this hole here, down by the tow hook. That's going to be the same on both sides. Whatever we do to one side, during this installation, we'll do the same thing to the other side. We'll take our fish wire, feed the coil end up through our mounting hole there, and out that larger hole, for our access hole. We'll take a square holed spacer block, and 7/16 carriage bolt, we'll throw that into our coil down in the fish wire. We're going to pull those in, and down into position.

I'm going to leave that fish wire on there. Now, it's a good idea to grab a second set of hands. Put the hitch up into place. We need to put our fish wire down through that top mounting hole, then we put it up in the location. Once we've got it all the way up, here on the outside of our tow hook bracket, we'll take a 3/8 bolt with flat washer, and put it through the hole to hold our hitch up in place. On our 3/8 bolt, we'll put a conical tooth washer with teeth facing in towards the hitch, followed by a 3/8 hex nut. Then we can remove our fish wire from our carriage bolt. We can take a flat washer, split lock washer, and a 7/16 hex nut, and put those on to our carriage bolt. Now we can begin tightening our hardware, starting with the carriage bolts up top. We'll use an 11/16 socket for that. Now for our 3/8 bolt we'll need a 9/16 wrench, and we'll use that same 11/16 socket. Then we'll go back and torch all of our fasteners to the specification required in the instructions. That's going to complete our look at an installation of the Draw-Tite sport-frame class 1 trailer hitch receiver, part number 24843, on our 2012 Mazda 3.