OEM Hitch

The hitch that came with the FJ, when I bought it, was somehow slanted to the right. I looked everywhere to see if there was any damage but nothing was visible.  I found one weld that was further back on the left side which made the slant.

                         Hitch rack leaning to the right.

This was a Reese hitch that was held on by six lag bolts. I took off the tow hook on the driver's side and tried to take off the third screw. This was one that was passed through the frame. It was very rusted and I had to get the PB blaster.  I left the hitch on for a couple of days with only the two rusted bolts and periodically sprayed them. This did the trick and I was able to take those off with the wrench. Then it was just a matter of putting on the Toyota hitch. Instructions on how to install it on is in my previous post when I had the silver FJ.  The only difference is that the valance I ordered was a TT part that was already painted black.

The results:

             

The Reese hitch went to recycling.

I also installed the wiring for the hitch which only took about 10 mins since I had already performed this installation once before. The hard part is going to be taking out the Reese wiring. It is very involved and the cables run to the right and left rear lights with another cable going all the way to the battery. For now this wiring is just tucked underneath.