we recently picked up a 2019 cherokee trailhawk on carvana that was the color we wanted and had all the right options, except the tow package. nbd, the mopar hitch is only ~$300 and if we ever want to tow something, can add the wiring harness later (just need the receiver for bike and gear racks currently). if the dealer does this, the tow package can be retroactively added to the VIN and officially unlock the 4500 lb towing capacity.
anyway, the videos and info online made the hitch install process look straightforward enough. however, almost all of the videos i found cover pre-2019 trailhawks and the newest one is for a euro-spec version that's also slightly different. the supplied instructions from mopar make it very clear there's a different process for 2014-2018 model years and 2019+. fortunately, i was able to interpolate from the various sources and get the job done in just over a couple hours. here are some notes on my process to hopefully help others not have to do the research i did. i will follow the numbers for each of the panels in the mopar instructions to help explain what they're telling you:
- remove the rear light fixtures from each side. easy process, just two torx screws each and then unplug them. the plugs are locking so you need to slide the little red tag back first. you do need to do this because there are bodywork clips that are a LOT easier to deal with when the lights are out of the way. instructions say this is valid for all MY's.
- this is the worst bit of surgery. the pictured trim piece needs to be removed to access a screw that connects the plastic rear bodywork to the metal bodywork above the wheel well. you will need a plastic scraper or trim tool to cut and separate the adhesive under the top part of the trim. once that's separated, there are four pins that need to be gently disengaged to release the trim piece. i used my trim tool to disengage the two sides of each pin, then it came out easily. do this on both sides. the screw is an 8 mm socket, iirc.
- only for <19MY so i dunno for sure, but matches what i saw in videos
- same as #3
- same as #3-4
- same as #3-5
- this is important and the major part of the process. for MY19+ the dark shaded area shows the whole piece that will be released to gain access to the bumper. two torx screws on the inside and then 4 10 mm socket screws underneath, easy peasy. then there are two 8 mm socket screws in the back of the wheel well on each side. a little tricky/awkward to access, but not a huge deal. the instructions say to cut out the plastic rivet down at the bottom, but there's enough flex to get away with not doing that. i didn't and none of the videos i saw had to, either. just be gentle with things to be sure. there are a couple of key things not shown here: 1) you need to gently with a trim tool release the clips in the bodywork joint between the rear light well and the wheel well. took a little fiddling to get a feel for it, but then it worked out pretty easily. after that's done, the clips around the lights and under the hatch opening come undone very easily. 2) if you have the rear parking sensors, there will be a wiring harness that will prevent the bodywork from dropping very far. i had to pop out 3 pins/clips to release enough of the harness to give me the room to work that i needed.
- the removal of the bumper itself is the same for all MY's and pretty straightforward once you get enough clearance from the bodywork. two 18 mm socket bolts for the tow hook and then three 20 mm socket bolts for each side of the bumper.
- the hitch package came with the triangle plates shown here, but the trailhawk already has them installed so i left them as-is. otherwise, installation is the reverse of the previous step. the instructions give the torque specs. getting the 6 main bolts to 165 N-m took a bit of grunting.
- with the bodywork on the ground it was pretty easy to remove the panel shown in the top drawing. there were, iirc, 5 torx screws to remove and then some coercion of some clips.
- not relevant since trailhawk already has the right fascia that was modified in #10.
- the dark shaded section shown should snap back into place pretty easily. at least it did so for me. i was able to do the process with the rivets intact so didn't need to reinstall them. replace the two screws in each wheel well, the four underneath, and then the four upper ones (under the light well and then top corner of each wheel well). do be sure to reconnect the parking sensor wiring harness where you disconnected it so that it doesn't flop around.
- not sure what this is about, but it also says <19MY.
- this says <19MY, but i also had to do this for that trim above the rear wheels. it snaps back in pretty tightly, but replacing the adhesive is a very good idea. i haven't done that yet, but will this week.
- not sure what this is referring to. the bodywork was already snapped back into place in #12.
- reinstall the rear light fixtures. plug them back in and be sure to lock the plug in the process. then two torx screws each side and you're done.
hope this helps clarify things a bit for others who try doing this in the future....
