EcoHitch from Torklift is one of the first available hitches for the 2019 Forester. This cost $385 with wiring harness. I have used Curt hitches in the past and these typically bolt to the frame. They cost less, but do not look as nice finished.
This hitch is designed to replace the rear bumper cross member. It will slide into two frame channels and bolt into place where the cross member was attached, plus two additional heavy duty bolts anchor the 8" inserts into the frame channels.
This hitch is very heavy and I am happy to have this beefy hitch replace the cross member for crash protection.
There is already a very good post from TurnKey about the installation instructions. The kit has a pretty good set of instructions too. So, I am not going to replace that already good discussion. Instead, I am going to focus on the details of my work in conjunction with some photos. You can see that thread from TurnKey here:
https://www.subaruforester.org/vbul...stall-ecohitch-2-inch-diy-790981/#post7487407
As I have done in the past, each number will correspond to a photo to describe that picture and what was happening on this point of the install.
1. (Pic-5) Here is the hitch with instructions and hardware.
2. (Pic-7) Rear bumper before the hitch install.
3. (Pic-9) I removed the fasteners and started pulling back the plastic bumper cover. This came off very easily and clean. No fasteners were broken.
4. (Pic-11) On the Sport I have the RAB feature. There is one wire harness to disconnect before moving the plastic bumper skin off to the side. All the RAB sensors and such are tucked nicely into the bumper skin and do not interfere with any cutting or the hitch itself.
5. (Pic-13) The cross member is in place here. This is for crash protection and technically I would call this the rear bumper. The plastic skin just covers this area to make the car look nice. This is the business end.
6. (Pic-15) The cross member is out. What you see now is the channels into the frame section. Each side has 2 bolts and two nuts. The hitch assembly has two 8" inserts that slides into the channels. The bolts and nuts secure the hitch where the cross member was located and a large bolt will fit into the second hole on each channel.
7. (Pic-19) Here is a look inside the frame channel. I found this step in the instructions to be a little confusing. There are actually 3 holes in the bottom of the channel and three holes on the side of the channel. So, in my eager state I had all the grommet covers off as I was trying to figure out where to fish the bolt through. The instructions covered this, but the photo was not very easy to see and understand on this step. The bolt need to be fished into the second bottom hole from the rear of the car.
8. (Pic-21) The hitch is place and torqued. I checked the hole placement for the bolt that needs to be fished through and alignment was spot on. So, I torqued the other bolts and nuts.
9. (Pic-25) The hole in the hitch is much smaller than the channel. So, fishing the wire into the second channel hole from under the car and through the small opening in the hitch was hard. So, I used a long blade screwdriver to snatch the fish wire and pulled it through the hitch hole.
10. (Pic-26) THIS STEP IS VERY IMPORTANT. There are two sides to the star washer. A grippy side and a smooth side. Make sure the grippy side is facing the frame so it can grab the metal. I did insert a long 19mm wrench into the channel, to hold the bolt, but it was not the best method. It is hard to get the bolt torqued to spec because when you tighten the nut from under the car, the bolt inside the channel will want to spin. So, good luck! This step took me a little while to get right. If I removed the muffler completely, this would have been a lot easier.
11. (Pic-23) The bolt is in place.
12. (Pic-29) To make room for the bolt and hardware on the passenger side, the heat shield needs to be trimmed. Just cut out the M in the shield and it is perfect. I filed down the rough edges. The metal is thin aluminum and easy to trim.
13. (Pic-30) Bolt is torqued and heat shield is back in place with the M section cut out so the hardware fits.
14. (Pic-32) Just follow the instructions for marking up the bumper cutout section. As Turnkey stated, the tolerance is perfect. The fit is tight and just what you need. I made no adjustments to the instructions at all. The only point to make is that when you install the plastic bumper cover you need to make sure the cut out section is up high when you slide the bumper in. Otherwise the plastic likes to go in front of the chain holes instead of the correct position. I had to fiddle with this a few times. So, tolerance is perfect when you are lined up correctly. Having a helper here will pay off.
15. (Pic-33) The cut is done.
16. (Pic-36) Hitch is in place and the bumper cover is back on and snapped into position.
17. (Pic-38) Here is an undershot. The hitch sits 12" off the floor. The muffler is at 13.5 inches up and the rear differential is 10" off the floor. I have an order in for a rear diff skid plate, so more install photos coming.