Trialsin26 Posted April 20, 2004 Share Posted April 20, 2004 Question? My dad is giving me the tow package off his 2001 Pathy when I visit him at the end of the month. How hard is it to install and remove the tow hitch and wiring? Is there anything I should know? It looks like 6 bolts and there is already a connection for the wiring. Let me know. Thanks Oh, I almost forgot. The Nissan Dealer want's to charge me almost $300 to remove and install this tow package. They said it would be 5 hours work at about $60 an hour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trialsin26 Posted April 20, 2004 Author Share Posted April 20, 2004 never mind I found instructions at TOW thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88pathoffroad Posted April 20, 2004 Share Posted April 20, 2004 Man, if they spend 5 hours taking off and putting on a tow hitch(even with wiring), they're REAL slow movers. Heh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trialsin26 Posted April 21, 2004 Author Share Posted April 21, 2004 :contract: I think they are going by that really big book that tells you how long the work will take, not how long it really takes. I'm just going to do it myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88pathoffroad Posted April 21, 2004 Share Posted April 21, 2004 Good call, good call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squam1 Posted April 21, 2004 Share Posted April 21, 2004 When I was a sales guy at a Nissan dealer, I got my hitch for me LE for free (some dude leasing a loaded up LE didn't want the hitch on it so my mgr gave it to me for free and made that guy pay for the removal...). I got the wiring harness as well! It doesn't take 5 hours, but the techs need to remove some sort of evap canister and some other stuff to get at the wiring... the hitch install takes a little while too, even with two guys. Fortunately, all it cost me for hitch, wiring and installation was $50 and a 12 pack! That and the deal I got on my 02 pathy almost made up for the 9 months of hell I spent at that dealership Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runnerman Posted April 22, 2004 Share Posted April 22, 2004 I just put a hitch on last night for my wifes 03 pathy and it took about 2 hours but it was just myself and my boy. This didn't include the wiring only thing you have to take off is the tow hooks both sides. Oh and there's 8 bolts and 2 spacers the dealer wanted $200.00 and sum to put this on. Do the drivers side first when putting the bolts loosley on first as it is the hardest of the 2. All in all it went pretty good. Have fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trialsin26 Posted April 23, 2004 Author Share Posted April 23, 2004 Well, thanks to all. I have some good instructions and help from this list. Wish me luck, and Runnerman I get to have twice the fun. I get to take it off my Dad's 2001 pathy and then put it on mine. Thanks Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runnerman Posted April 23, 2004 Share Posted April 23, 2004 I don't think that is the same factory hitch that I installed, directions and pic is different. I did not follow those directions as I only took off the tow hooks. That hitch show in the pics looks like it is not one peice, to me anyways. I also didn't take off any rubber mounts either. Well good Luck have fun and let a kid help take it off & put it on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Dank Posted April 26, 2004 Share Posted April 26, 2004 Now maybe someone can enlighten me. In the 99.5+ the EVAP canister is obviously located in the rear as those directions said. It says that it may have to be removed. Is this the same for my 98? I thought it was a simple 3 bolts on each side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big_johnson Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 I'm guessing your 98 is identical to my 97, so here goes. The cannister is held on by a few bolts (dont remember the exact number), but its not really a problem. I just removed the bolts and let it hang out of the way. Then slid the hitch on (probably the hardest part), put those bolts in, tightened them up, and hooked up the evap cannister again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaafallon Posted April 28, 2004 Share Posted April 28, 2004 On my 2003 SE I put a "Draw-Tite" hitch on, including light hookup, in about two hours. The instructions that came with it were pretty good but didn't mention the EVAP canister. I decided to remove the bolts also. It helped. It seems that there was something else (driver's side) that I broke. Can't remember what it was but I used a plastic tie to fix it. Another thing that really helped was my mmotorcycle jack. I put the hitch on the jack, rolled it into place and slowly positioned it so I didn't have to try and lift it with one hand while putting bolts in with the other. A helper would easily be worth the price of a six-pack. As I remember, the lights were kind of hard and I had to look for quite awhile to find a spot where I could get the wiring outside the body. Since you're taking it off another vehicle, you'll have an idea of how to do it. Good luck. jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trialsin26 Posted May 21, 2004 Author Share Posted May 21, 2004 I'm back from my Dad's with my tow hitch. I have been back a couple of weeks now and have used the hitch package about three times moving to a new apartment with no problems. The removal and installation went pretty easy. It took me about a total of 5 hours to remove and install the hitch including the wiring harness, granted I was not in a hurry and really wanted to take my time. All that it required was removing the 3 bolts that held the condenser in place, removing the two rubber hooks that held the muffler in place so I had extra room, and removing the bolts for the hitch. Luckily my dad's car had the factory wiring harness so I used that for my light hook ups. The total cost was $15.00 for some wiring parts and wrench which I needed. Also had to borrow a tork wrench from my a local parts store to get the correct tork on everything. All in all I saved about $285.oo doing it myself compared to what the dealer quoted me. Thanks to all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dupersc Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 Did you use Nissan harness to hook up the lights? I have a Nissan harness wiring kit (I think) and the plugs look like they need to be plug into the rear lights plugs and run down to the hitch. There's a open plug (wiring) on the right of the spare tire that look like a pre-wired one but none of the plug from the harness fit it. Do you really have to remove the plastic rear panel, tap into both sides of the rearlights' plugs and run the wire down to the hitch? :confused: How did you connect to the prewired harness? .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trialsin26 Posted May 21, 2004 Author Share Posted May 21, 2004 I did have to remove the inner panels, and it was a factory wiring harness. I had to disconnect the rear tail light wire/plug, install the hitch light plug, and then connect that back to the cars wiring. I then pulled the wires throught the drain holes under the car to the hitch. There is nothing under the car that you can attach the wiring harness to. So the answer to your question is yes. The panel do come over pretty easy and snap right back. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skibum Posted May 29, 2004 Share Posted May 29, 2004 I can't believe a dealer would want to charge you that much cash considering you already have the hitch and the wiring. I purchased a similar trailer hitch new and had them install it and wire it and it cost in total $300Cdn. One of those specialty dealers.. Hitch City. it was rated for 4500lbs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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