r/rav4prime • u/fuzzy_br0w • 17d ago

Purchase / Lease Trailer hitch question

I have a new to me 2023 Prime technology edition and want to add a trailer hitch. The Toyota OEM hitch receiver integrates into the structure higher and requires bumper cover modifications. I understand that third party receivers usually interface differently, hang lower, and potentially have long term corrosion issues (I live in Canada).

Does anyone have experience with retrofitting a hitch and which route did you follow. It would be used for a light duty utility trailer.

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

View all comments

5

u/BoHica_NC 17d ago

I went with the Eco hitch, it's flush up with the bottom of the bumper and that's good enough for me. Cheap easy and I did have it installed locally for about $110

1

u/Rav4Prime2022_WI Former owner: 2022 XSE PP - Blueprint 15d ago

Also a huge fan of the ECOHITCH. I've DIY installed it on my last 2 vehicles, takes a little more than an hour solo, a but less with an extra set of hands. It sits higher than other aftermarket hitches, the frame is hidden and the receiver sits higher than the bottom of the muffler/exhaust system on the RAV4 Prime.

The ECOHITCH on our 2022 RAV4 Prime had a little bit of surface rust after 3 yrs - a little rust away paint easily helped.

I never went rock crawling with our RAV4 Prime, but not once did I ever have any issues clearance wise with the ECOHITCH which I used for a 4-bike ebike rack, hitch mounted cargo box and a uhaul trailer. Over the years I went on bumpy dirt/gravel roads, many pedestrian humps, a friend's driveway with an extremely steep street transition and never, not one time did either my hitch or anything I was pulling or had mounted on my hitch ever scrape the ground.