2006 Sienna trailer hitch - Which one to buy?

Jim,

I have a 2004 Sienna and installed my own hitch which I purchased here:

The hitch I selected was called The Hidden Hitch. I think they are under another name now. It has the specifications you need. It is tubular construction and easy to install, I did the installation without help other than a floor jack to hold up one end while I installed the bolts on the other end. The tailpipe did not have to be dropped.

As for the wiring, I purchased that also at hitches.com and I think the kit was around $30. I also installed that myself. I did have to remove the left tail light lens to connect the harness into the Sienna wiring, but it was all plug and play and I did it without having to remove any interior paneling. I used an electricans tape to pull wires down to the floor and routed them under the carpet in the rear seat well out through a plastic plug in the floor. No holes needed to be drilled anywhere. The harness I have is four wire as I use it with a utility trailer and do not need trailer brakes. In your situation you might need a harness which is more complicated so my wiring installation my not quite apply.

I think I paid $111 for the Hidden Hitch plus shipping. The whole installation was hundreds less than the dealer would have charged me.

The downside of hitch installation is the fact that it is close to the ground and once in a while it will drag when going down a sharp incline such as a driveway. The other thing is the receiver will rattle. I purchased a device to keep it tight all the time and they are available at etrailer also you will have to look around. BTW, lots of neat stuff on this website so take some time to look around.

Another source for information is The SiennaClub. Do a google or come back and I'll get you the address.

Good luck and if you have any other questions please feel free.

I don't have a Sienna, but you'll get the best ground clearance (no driveway scraping) by having a custom hitch made by a local shop - it'll cost you about $50 more than the kits, but it's well worth it. I have never had any dragging problems because they get them tucked right up tight under the bumper. The "Fits All" kits have to leave plenty of room so they can fit all.

In So Cal I can recommend Eckhart Hitch & Welding

without any reservations at all, they pull off minor miracles for me every time our family has needed them to for the last 40-plus years. They have pre-cut end plates and receiver tubes, and it only takes a few minutes to cut the cross tubes to the right length, put the pieces in a jig and weld it all up. A coat of paint, weld it to the chassis, and touch up the paint, Done. And it is not coming apart again, they wrote the rules on "Bomb-proof".

For other areas, do some calling around, there are shops that specialize in this.

Go with just a single 7-pin or 9-pin RV style if you may tow something that takes electric brakes in the future - otherwise, a

6-pin round commercial. You can get plug-in adapters for 4-pin flat if you need one.

Trick question, I'm an Electrician... But check if you need a wiring converter on your car, if it has a lamp failure sensor you need a special one that supplies the trailer lights from a separate battery power feed. Not cheap - but if you blow out the lamp failure sensor brain box you'll learn what 'not cheap' /really/ means.

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There are lots of hitches on the market nowadays that are NOT "fits all" products. Quite often, they're the actual OEM hitch under than hitch manufacturer's brand, as few vehicle manufacturers bother to make their own hitch.

The last (4) hitches I've purchased from Hidden Hitch, for a '96 Nissan King Cab, '01 Subaru Outback, '02 Subaru Legacy GT, and a '99 Jeep Wrangler couldn't have been done better as "custom". Every one was built specifically for the vehicle, and included specific installation details and hardware. None cost more than $125, and were so well designed and documented installation was never more than

30-40 minutes. I live in the land of $75-100/hr shop labor, so I think I'm way ahead.

What Jeff said. The dealer price is ridiculous. I have a class 2 on my Sienna (a 1998 so I do not remember what brand it is, but I had it put on afterwards). I have a connector with both the 7 and 4 pin connections as I pull a popup that uses the 7 and a utility trailer that uses a 4. If you have both you never need to worry about adapting.

That said, I think that I should have done with the class 3. It is not much more expensive, and the range of attachments it vastly superior. By this I mean that there are many more attachments available that fit the Class 3 receptacle versus the 1.25 Class 2 receptacle, things like luggage platforms and bike carriers. Tomes

Thanks everyone for your responses, especially dbu,. The lead you gave me to the Sienna Club with their towing subgroup helped give me a lot of confidence. Looks like soon I'll be towing with the rest of you!