New Hitch

[Tony P]

2008 XL7
OK I just ordered the new hitch
I had a devil of a time finding the plug in the Jack Well.
Just in case , every one should know that mine was way up above the jack and clipped into the body . Once I found it , things were a bit easier.
It should arrive Wednesday and I'll tackle the job Thursday.
Any Tips..?????
Or is there anything you want me to check along the way?
Cheers
Tony

[Goaterguy]

There is a bunch of good info on the hitch here:

http://www.suzuki-forums.com/2g-2007...tow-hitch.html

[WorldOfJohnboy]

Originally Posted by Tony P

2008 XL7
OK I just ordered the new hitch
I had a devil of a time finding the plug in the Jack Well.
Just in case , every one should know that mine was way up above the jack and clipped into the body . Once I found it , things were a bit easier.
It should arrive Wednesday and I'll tackle the job Thursday.
Any Tips..?????
Or is there anything you want me to check along the way?
Cheers
Tony

I ordered a hitch (Curt Class 3) and Wiring for my 2008 XL7 Lux from eBay. Thankfully the Wiring included the required 2 relays and 3 10amp fuses for the fuse box. I, like you, found the hitch port above the jack, basically behind the tail light on the passenger side.

As far as the hitch goes, there are 6 bolts with washers. Two of them are located on the underside of the center of the bumper and are easily attached with a socket wrench. Though instructions didn't say to, I removed the rear bumper for easier access to the 4 side bolts by the exhausts. To do so, you have to remove two caps in the tailgate area (by each tail light) and then two screws under the caps. Then go to the rear wheel wells and remove two more bolts and 4 plastic clips. Bumper will pop right off after that.

Another suggestion would be to keep all of the bolts a little loose before you fully tighten any of them... I made the mistake of tightening 4 of the bolts (2 center, 2 driver's side) before I noticed that one of the holes on the passenger side wasn't lined up correctly. For the 2 center and 2 lower bolts on the sides, you can get a socket wrench fairly easily, if even with some sort of extension. The top 2 bolts on the sides are a bit more difficult to get to only because it's difficult to get leverage to tighten them, but if you have a long handled socket wrench, you should be perfectly OK.

The whole process took me just under an hour.

One question I did have on the install:
Does anyone have any idea on how to run the trailer light cable down and out of the interior and affix it to the hitch? I couldn't find a spot to run the cable out without drilling.

[Goaterguy]

I used the exhaust port by the bumper. No problems so far.

[WorldOfJohnboy]

Originally Posted by Goaterguy

I used the exhaust port by the bumper. No problems so far.

Can you describe that port more, and/or take a picture?

[Goaterguy]

In the jack compartment, right where you plugged in the cable, look down in that hole at bumper height, you will see the cabin air exhaust flap.

Lift the flap, pass the cable, tie wrap it out of sight, done.

[WorldOfJohnboy]

Originally Posted by Goaterguy

In the jack compartment, right where you plugged in the cable, look down in that hole at bumper height, you will see the cabin air exhaust flap.

Lift the flap, pass the cable, tie wrap it out of sight, done.

Nice, didn't even see that there! I did have to cut one of the plastic vertical supports off to get the 4-port adaptor through it, but it worked like a charm!

Thanks.

Here's a picture of the flap... take the jack out, look down at the bottom of the "well" and there it is:

[dave42ny]

Just make sure that you have everything secured - nice and tight. It's possible that water can get in that area while driving when it's raining or driving thru puddles.

[Goaterguy]

Originally Posted by dave42ny

Just make sure that you have everything secured - nice and tight. It's possible that water can get in that area while driving when it's raining or driving thru puddles.

Our XL7 sits outside an it has gone through torrential rains. I check for wet floors every week with no problems so far. Now that I think about it, I installed mud flaps the day after I bought it. Maybe this helps.

[Tony P]

Hi again, 2008 xl7
I just finished putting the hitch on and testing.
Yippee.
I must say that when I ordered the hitch from etrailer.com and they said it should take about half an hour to install the hitch I estimated about 2 hours.
I was wrong , they were right.. It did take me half an hour.
The hitch arrived yesterday and I resisted trying to install it then. Mainly because it was stinking hot here in Florida.
Last night I sprayed a bit of wd40 into the threaded holes in the vehicle frame and cleaned them out a bit . I ran the bolts in and out a couple of times just to see if there was going to be any problems . Add 10 minutes for that into my half hour but I bet it saved me 10 times that.
This morning was a bit of a juggling act .
Laying on my back under the car with the hitch pushed up roughly in position,Thanks to Worldofjohnboy I loosely turned the two middle bolts. This would stop the hitch from falling back onto me and then the juggling was over. Then
the rest of the bolts (4) went in pretty smoothly , again probably cause of last nights prep. I did just loosely tighten each bolt to make sure everything was lining up and then finished tightening each bolt the last few turns. Although it was a bit tight getting my hands in between the muffler and the hitch. It all still went pretty easy.
30 minutes. Wow