Class 3 Hitch, 2" Receiver, Select Subaru Outback (Exposed Main Body, Drilling) #13206

I had my tools and weekend warrior mentality ready to do battle with the underside of my Subaru. I popped off the rubber muffler support with soapy water and pry bar. Then I realized that even if I remove the other rubber supports and drop the exhaust to the garage floor, it would be in my way for the rest of the job. The vehicle needs to be in the air to make the install smooth and pain free.
I know when to cut bait and call the mechanic. He will charge me $138.00 to install and I will happily pay him! Spared my wife and dog a lot of cuss words too. All good.
By the way, good luck trying to reattach the rubber muffler support.

This is a great hitch. And the installation instructions are easy to understand. I did not have all the exact tools so it took longer, but that's on me. Opening the holes on the frame to get the bolts in was the biggest challenge and this a Subaru limitation. The one thing that I will note is that the cut for the heat shield took off too much. Suggest laying it over hitch once installed to cut only what is needed.

Just put mine on- 2017 Subaru. It is a super design and fits perfectly. The YouTube video is spot on. The pass through wire really works great. Advice- get a quality step drill up to 1 1/8. I got a cheap one and it was horrible. Got a better one and it drilled the oversized hole in 15 sec. great product!!

You can find the install guide on youtube. If you watch it a few times all the way through, you won't need the paper instructions at your side. The projected time for install was 90 minutes for a novice. I'm a novice and it took me 45 minutes since I didn't even have to lift the entire rear of my Outback up. Just one side and put a jack stand underneath for safety. dropped the exhaust to the floor after popping off the rubber hangers. No need to strap it up. Just avoid wrestling it around much. Drilling the holes with a step-bit was the only real challenge (limited movement) but it still went easily. I had all the tools and materials ready to go when I punched the stopwatch and had another adult to help lift the hitch into place and bolt it up. I almost paid my shop to do it for $300+ dollars. Glad I grabbed my sac and did it myself. Also installed the Curt wiring harness in under 10 minutes too. Ready to start towing my stuff.

All in all, it is a good unit. On my 2017 Outback, the fit of the risers was very tight, to the point where it was pushing in the sides of the spare tire compartment. This made it difficult to get the spare tire back in. The mounting bracket to the frame box was also offset to only cover slightly more than half of the frame box. CURT needs to re-design the bracket for a better fit on the newer vehicles.
The overall function of the unit is still solid. Installation took about 1 1/2 hours.

I just installed this hitch on my 2015 Subaru Outback along with the Curt wiring kit and the Curt brackets to mount the plug wiring to the hitch. Everything worked out great and the hitch looks rock solid. I opened up a hole in the truck area instead of under the car to install the hitch fasteners which I thought was easier. I made a video showing the approach I used along with some comments on installing the wiring and plug brackets here: https://youtu.be/Q7yNpIVvMsI The video is a little long, but I hope it's helpful to others.

Fits like a glove! A tight glove - for a second I wasn't sure if the bolts were going to line up - but its just a snug fit around the gas tank, thats all.

The instructions were excellent and easy to follow. The only things I'd clarify is that:
*the hole has to be enlarged more than what the instructions show! I ended up making it the shape of an eyeball, rather than a perfect circle - just to minimize the amount of material I had to remove. The bolt head can "roll into" the eyeball hole just fine
*because the holes had to be enlarged so much, the factory rubber plug will NOT fit back into the hole. So instead I spray paint primed both holes really well to prevent rusting. I may even look at a hardware store for a large rubber grommet or something to plug the hole to keep road crap/water out.
*the muffler heat shield had to be trimmed less than what the instructions showed. By cutting away only whats necessary - the enlarged hole (that I painted) is now covered by the heat shield (yea - better rust protection AND it covers it!)
*Rather than slip off all three rubber muffler holders and "support muffler during assembly" - I just removed the two bolts that connect the exhaust pipe to the muffler, removed the two rubber muffler holders and left the third holder/exhaust pipe in place and it was completely out of the way. There is NO gasket or anything between the muffler & pipe - just metal-on-metal seal. Super easy to remove and replace. A little WD40 on the posts will slid those rubber holders off like childs play. Just wipe it off before you put them back on so they won't accidentally slip off.

The fishwire is HOT and makes the entire assembly possible! I just had to use additional 14ga copper wire attached to the fishwire because you need about 12" additional inches for the factory holes nearest the bumper. Otherwise, the bolt washer and bolt will automatically "flip" inside the car frame and orientate themselves automatically as you pull it thru - I chuckled after doing the first one because it was TOO EASY! Thank you!!

All in all - it took me 2hrs. Grinding the holes larger take the most time and I went slow (I just picked up the new car YESTERDAY - so I was a little gun-shy grinding/drilling into a new car). Everything assembled and went together as expected.

It looks great! Hangs about 0.5" below the bumper and is recessed about 1" or so from the edge of the bumper - so nothing protrudes beyond the footprint of the car. Its a great looking gloss black. When you pick up the hitch - you'll see how beefy and strong it is! This will last longer than the car!