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How To: Full Tow Hitch Install

Dmac55555

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This weekend I installed Kia's telluride tow hitch on my S. Attached are the instructions they provided. I wouldn't call myself a grease monkey, the extent of my expertise stops generally after oil changes and tire rotations and other minor activities, but this was still fairly easy. It took me about 2 hours taking my time.

I wasn't looking to tow anything of consequence so I didn't get any of the connecting wire parts. I only plan on putting a bike rack on there.

Basically you take the spare off.
Remove the current bumper cover.
Take a couple of the exhaust hangers off.
Put the tow hitch in position
Put the bolts in
Put in the new bumper cover part (another part required to purchase)
Put spare in.
Good to go.

I purchased from a local kia dealer. The parts guy there was great. I called months ago and he told me he would hold the parts for me and call me as soon as he got them in. He did indeed. Paid a little more than some of the stores online, but he called me right away - last wednesday, picked it up on thursday, and installed on Friday. Shoutout to Chris in parts at Kia of Sussex.

I know a couple people having been asking for the full instructions and wondering if it was worth a quoted $900 or so. I would say if you are a little handsy and want to take your time, I would go for it and cut that cost down in half.
 

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Looks fantastic! I’m getting mine installed at the dealership along with cross bar. I asked to throw them in and they actually followed through. Parts guy asked if I just need hitch for bike rack and I told him that I need electrical hook up :cool:
 
This weekend I installed Kia's telluride tow hitch on my S. Attached are the instructions they provided. I wouldn't call myself a grease monkey, the extent of my expertise stops generally after oil changes and tire rotations and other minor activities, but this was still fairly easy. It took me about 2 hours taking my time.

I wasn't looking to tow anything of consequence so I didn't get any of the connecting wire parts. I only plan on putting a bike rack on there.

Basically you take the spare off.
Remove the current bumper cover.
Take a couple of the exhaust hangers off.
Put the tow hitch in position
Put the bolts in
Put in the new bumper cover part (another part required to purchase)
Put spare in.
Good to go.

I purchased from a local kia dealer. The parts guy there was great. I called months ago and he told me he would hold the parts for me and call me as soon as he got them in. He did indeed. Paid a little more than some of the stores online, but he called me right away - last wednesday, picked it up on thursday, and installed on Friday. Shoutout to Chris in parts at Kia of Sussex.

I know a couple people having been asking for the full instructions and wondering if it was worth a quoted $900 or so. I would say if you are a little handsy and want to take your time, I would go for it and cut that cost down in half.
What did just the parts cost you?
 
The tow hitch was $370 and the bumper cover was $54. I’ve seen the tow hitch online around $300 if you search via part number.
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This weekend I installed Kia's telluride tow hitch on my S. Attached are the instructions they provided. I wouldn't call myself a grease monkey, the extent of my expertise stops generally after oil changes and tire rotations and other minor activities, but this was still fairly easy. It took me about 2 hours taking my time.

I wasn't looking to tow anything of consequence so I didn't get any of the connecting wire parts. I only plan on putting a bike rack on there.

Basically you take the spare off.
Remove the current bumper cover.
Take a couple of the exhaust hangers off.
Put the tow hitch in position
Put the bolts in
Put in the new bumper cover part (another part required to purchase)
Put spare in.
Good to go.

I purchased from a local kia dealer. The parts guy there was great. I called months ago and he told me he would hold the parts for me and call me as soon as he got them in. He did indeed. Paid a little more than some of the stores online, but he called me right away - last wednesday, picked it up on thursday, and installed on Friday. Shoutout to Chris in parts at Kia of Sussex.

I know a couple people having been asking for the full instructions and wondering if it was worth a quoted $900 or so. I would say if you are a little handsy and want to take your time, I would go for it and cut that cost down in half.
Did you use the thread cleaner?
 
I will need to install a hitch as there no safe place in the rear for a tow truck to hook onto to bring the vehicle onto the flat deck.
 
That should work. A nice big tow bar for the tow truck to grab ahold of in lieu of zero tow hooks that somehow were totally overlooked.
 
That should work. A nice big tow bar for the tow truck to grab ahold of in lieu of zero tow hooks that somehow were totally overlooked.
Wrap a chain around the front bumper...forget the front sensors ho needs them away🙂piece of 🍰
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Great work. Looks very “factory” in the location. My van hitch hangs low as do several others I’ve observed.
I’ve done 5 hitches in the last 15 years or so. I have gone with Curt or other off Amazon. I ordered my KT with a tow package although I don’t tow. I use a bike rack and luggage carrier in the hitch. I like the Nivomat self level shocks included. My van sags when we take big road trips and fully loaded.

On another forum I learned that the tow package does not include an aux trans cooler and only has a 4 pin hookup. Very sub optimal for those who need to tow. Does an added trans cooler void the warranty? Kia Corp didn’t know. Safe to say if the issue comes up, the trans warranty will be void because it was modified.
 
I installed the factory hitch yesterday and wanted to add a few comments to this thread in case others go for it as well. Apologize for the lack of photos, but once you start the install these descriptions will make sense. Sorry for the long post, but I'm just trying to be helpful here

I agree with the original post: it's a straightforward install that took me a couple hours doing it in sort of a leisurely way while I was doing other stuff in the garage.

Tools:
-I found that to handle a few of the tough to access bolts above the exhaust that I ended up using a few different socket attachments (extensions, universal joints, different socket/ratchet combos), so if you've just got some tiny socket set it's going to be tough. All of those types of attachments for socket sets will save you so much pain on so many projects...if you're wrenching on anything substantial you should invest in that stuff for sure.

-Because there's a safety issue here, I made sure and used a torque wrench to torque the bolts down to the factory specs in the instructions. Some of these bolts get torqued pretty tight, so I wouldn't recommend doing this unless you have a long torque wrench....just cranking them down with a standard ratchet isn't going to cut it IMO. I'm just using it for bikes, but the next owner might be towing a boat down the highway in front of somebody's family...

-Contrary to what the instructions say, you don't need to jack the car up. Granted I'm a normal sized guy, so your experience may vary if you're on the big side. I was able to put the hitch on my chest and slide back under the car on a piece of cardboard to push it up into place for those first couple bolts. It's not hard to do that step, because once you get the hitch up above the muffler, the muffler holds that side up while you put a bolt in the other side. However, I did end up using my huge floor jack to take the weight of the hitch while I was having to move it around to line up bolt holes in later steps....but you could just use a helper for that if you don't have a rolling jack.

-You don't need a clip removal tool for those plastic bumper push clips like the instructions say, all you need is a small screwdriver to stick in and rotate slightly to get those push clips out. If you break one, they are at every auto parts store so don't worry about it.

-You don't need an exhaust hanger tool like the instructions say, all you need is a series of screwdrivers, some muscle, and patience to pry those #$$##@ rubber hangers off. You'll need to take off the rubber hanger by the back bumper as well as the one near the rear differential so the exhaust drops low enough for bolt access.

-I did the wiring kit as well, and for that and the somewhat fussy plastic trim removal/install, I found using my camping headlamp worked well to see what I was doing.

Install:
-Lowering the spare tire: it seems intuitive that to lower the tire you would turn the socket counter clockwise....it's the opposite though. "Tighten it" to lower it. Odd.

-Removing the plastic bumper trim is a little fussy. You have to sort of carefully manhandle the corners off, then I found using a long thin flat blade screwdriver to 'release' the row of clips along the rear-most edge one at a time worked best.

-I didn't need to use a thread cleaner at all, but you might...each car will be different.

-See note about exhaust hangers above...even with the two rubber hangers off, it's only going to drop a little bit

-You don't need to bend the bumper alignment post very much at all. I actually used the rubber coated handle of big vise grips to sort of pry it away from the framerail maybe 1/4-1/2" and that was enough. Don't use metal on metal to pry it, you don't want to put deep scratches in the paint and have a rust issue down the road.

-The wiring kit: This part was odd. You carefully cut the wire loom zip tie thing (the zip tie thing, NOT the wire!) which is attached to one of the studs, then unscrew that plastic loom holder you just cut off of that post. The kit included a nut to put back onto that post to hold the wiring box on, but it straight up is the wrong sized bolt. I ended up trimming a little bit of the square corners of the previously-cut plastic loom holder off, then jamming that back on the stud to hold the wiring box on, worked great and with the included double sided tape I don't think it's going anywhere. Frustrating step. Will make sense when you see it, or maybe you'll get lucky and the the right nut. Also, the drawings that show how the plug attaches to the hitch assembly right near the hitch receiver are not intuitive or 100% correct...you'll need to play around a bit and figure it out. I makes sense once you start assembling it, but take those drawings with a grain of salt.

-The main hitch attachment bolts: The drivers side is a piece of cake. The passenger side is a PITA due to the exhaust. Have patience and you'll get it. Lots of squeezing hands and ratchets into tight spots on this one. Honestly it would be way easier to just drop the rear exhaust section, but if you did that you probably want to replace the exhaust gasket there and I just didn't want to deal with it.

-TIP: when it came to torquing down the 7/16 bolts above the muffler, I found a solution that worked to give me access for the long torque wrench. Take a tie down, loop it around the exhaust tips and then attach the strap ends to the main hitch area. Then pull the strap tight....this will pull and hold the muffler over to the drivers side just enough so you now have room to get a full 180 degree-ish spread on each turn of the torque wrench...assuming you have a long enough socket. You'll understand when you get there.

That's about all, the rest is pretty easy. Not a difficult install if you have tools and some time. Good luck, and enjoy that money you saved by doing it yourself.
-J
 
Just another option, I was able to install the driver side bolts without taking the spare tire out at all. I put my hand through the spokes and I’m a big guy. It was a tight fit but saves a lot of time.
 
Did the factory hitch install today.
- My car has a donut spare. Very easy to take off, but would prefer a full size spare.
- The toughest part was the rubber exhaust hangers. Didn’t have the tool, and the forward hanger was a bitch.
- Every hole and clip was lined up perfectly.
- Lost some skin on my knuckles torquing the bolts, especially on the passenger side.
- Took about 2 hrs. Nice little project 😎
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Did the factory hitch install today.
- My car has a donut spare. Very easy to take off, but would prefer a full size spare.
- The toughest part was the rubber exhaust hangers. Didn’t have the tool, and the forward hanger was a bitch.
- Every hole and clip was lined up perfectly.
- Lost some skin on my knuckles torquing the bolts, especially on the passenger side.
- Took about 2 hrs. Nice little project 😎
The factory hitch looks Mitch better than the after market ones. While I Would normally install this myself ... I had it added when we picked up the vehicle
 
This weekend I installed Kia's telluride tow hitch on my S. Attached are the instructions they provided. I wouldn't call myself a grease monkey, the extent of my expertise stops generally after oil changes and tire rotations and other minor activities, but this was still fairly easy. It took me about 2 hours taking my time.

I'm assuming you need to turn off the auto hatch opening keyfob proximity sensor when you have the bike rack in, or does anyone know if there is a hatch obstruction sensor that would prevent auto opening?
 
I'm assuming you need to turn off the auto hatch opening keyfob proximity sensor when you have the bike rack in, or does anyone know if there is a hatch obstruction sensor that would prevent auto opening?

No, and that's why I leave it off. I haven't found the smart lift gate to be wisely implemented - in fact more dangerous (potentially damaging vehicle) in indoor situations and parking garages. If the vehicle is always parked outside, then perhaps it could be useful.

It can even activate when just on side of vehicle near rear - not just when directly behind it.
 
No, and that's why I leave it off. I haven't found the smart lift gate to be wisely implemented - in fact more dangerous (potentially damaging vehicle) in indoor situations and parking garages. If the vehicle is always parked outside, then perhaps it could be useful.

It can even activate when just on side of vehicle near rear - not just when directly behind it.

Ok thanks, good to know
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Ok thanks, good to know

It's easy to deactivate the "smart" function, and then you just have to press a button above the license plate and the hatch easily opens using the power lifts. It just isn't so "smart"... or maybe I'm not smart enough for it.

That being said, I got lucky the other day - I opened the rear hatch in a garage and then walked around to get child out - and the rear wiper (thankfully) made contact with a pipe on the ceiling that I didn't see - and rear gate closed automatically. So, there is some kind of resistance sensor, but I'm sure it would have been damaged if the actual tailgate had hit the pipe rather than the wiper.

Someone else wrote a story about their smart lift gate going off in the garage and opening into the garage door - damaging the tailgate. I nearly had that same thing happen too - only have three beeps to cancel. It only works if car is locked... but vehicle can auto lock sometimes.
 
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Someone else wrote a story about their smart lift gate going off in the garage and opening into the garage door - damaging the garage. I nearly had that same thing happen too - only have three beeps to cancel. It only works if car is locked... but vehicle can auto lock sometimes.

Perhaps we'll get a sensor for the sensor in 2022 ;)
 
Does anyone how far the rear bumper sticks out past the hitch? I just got a bike rack that folds up and I'm hoping it'll clear the bumper when I (hopefully) get my Telluride this month. Thanks :)
 
If you do the wiring, please do share. I had the tow hitch installed by dealer at time of purchase for about $700 (included labor), since I didn't have tow package. I passed on the wiring though, but probably a good idea to do at some point.
 




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