CURT 13068 Class 3 Trailer Hitch, 2-Inch Receiver, Fits Select Honda Odyssey, GLOSS BLACK POWDER COAT

Hitch purchased for a 2007 Honda Odyssey - was about $40 less costly than the Hidden Hitch and DrawTite counterparts. Fit and finish was excellent and it appears to be a well made and engineered product. Also Curt provided some of the best instructions I've seen on a product like this. Thorough, in well written English and with color photos to boot.As other reviewers have pointed out this Curt hitch only has 5 bolt points (4 into factory weld nuts and one more on the drivers side thru a frame hole) compared to the factory/Hidden Hitch/DrawTite hitches which use all 6 of the factory chassis weld nuts. Since this hitch does not use the two forward most weld nuts Honda builds into the chassis, it has much shorter mounting ears than the factory/Hidden Hitch/DrawTite versions making it a lot easier to maneuver into place, plus I found there was no need to unhook the tail pipe.As I am only ever going to use this as a mount for a bike rack I have absolutely no concerns with the 5 bolt points vs. 6, however if you are going to do a lot of heavy towing - even though this hitch is rated the same as the Hidden Hitch/DrawTite - you might want to consider opting for one of those versions which have the 6 bolt mount and spread the load out a bit more.In regards to the install it went extremely smoothly and I did not require any assistance.As many other reviewers have mentioned - get yourself a tap and clean out the weld nut threads first - do not skip this step!!!My 2007 Odyssey needed a 12mm-1.25 pitch tap for the weld nut thread clean out. I thought I was going to strike out finding one locally (no luck at Home Depot/Lowe's/Auto Palace) but found one at PEP Boys for under $5 and it even came with a drill bit (which of course you don't need for cleaning out existing threads). It was a Kawasaki brand model 840493.Again, do not skip this step! After lubing the threads and tap with some WD-40 or equivalent, it is easy enough to do - just be careful not to cross thread. I used a T-handle for the tap and found I had sufficient clearance, although on the passenger side the tailpipe needs to be pushed out of the way - I used a piece of rope to to tension the rubber mount and hold it out of the way while I ran the tap.On one of the weld nuts I neglected to drive the tap far enough and must have left some rust in there - this became obvious when I went to install the mounting bolt. It started easily but soon bogged down, and having seen my share of galled and broken bolts I could feel I was starting to risk a problem - out came the bolt and I re-ran the tap making sure to drive all the way through the weld nut well past the tapered area of the tap. After that all the bolts could be threaded into place by hand. So yet again I urge you to not skip this step! If you do you risk breaking the weld nuts and/or the bolts and causing yourself a great deal of hassle. Clean out those threads and make yourself a happy hitch installer.To mount the hitch there is no need to jack up the Odyssey. After cleaning out the weld nut threads, I started by hooking the passenger side flange up over the tailpipe. Then I rolled over to the driver side, lifted it into position, held up the hitch crossbar tube with my leg while I hand threaded in the two bolts finger tight. Returned to the passenger side and threaded in those two bolts finger tight.On the driver side, Curt provides one more bolt, nut, spacer and a special fish wire - just follow their excellent instructions and you will have no trouble with this.Finally, I torqued to specification - 72 ft-lbs on the weld nut bolts and 50 ft-lbs on the 5th bolt. Wow that was easy, all told I think it took 30 minutes or so.In summary, a very nice hitch with great instructions that's easy to install and IMO is perfect for light towing and especially ideal for bike or other racks.

For less than $130 delivered I bought from Amazon Prime the Curt 13068 Class 3 Trailer Hitch for my 2013 Honda Odyssey EX-L. My decision was based on the 450+ Amazon customer reviews yielding 4.5 stars. The package arrived 8 days after ordering in a huge heavy duty box containing the undamaged, unscratched trailer hitch, all of the required hardware and a couple of pages of installation directions. I watched about a half dozen installation videos on YouTube and was convinced that I could easily install instead of paying our mechanic $225+ for installation.I was able to install without jacking up the van using about as half dozen typical tools: 19mm socket. 11/16” socket, ratchet, extension a couple of flat blade screw drivers, a can of WD 40, a borrowed torque wrench and a 12mm x 1.25 thread tap (Vermont American 21146 12MM-1.25 High Carbon Steel Metric Spark Plug Tap purchased for $8.38 from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000K1LZVM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)I laid out a 8 bricks behind each back tire (1 layer, 2 bricks lengths wide and 4 bricks deep) and backed the van up on them and set the parking brake This safely provided an extra 2” of lift on our level and flat concrete driveway. After ensuring that the van was rock solid I began working underneath. The installation took me about 45 minutes but I just took my time. My thought is that the project is about 1.5 - 2.0 beards on the "Revzilla Motorcycle Parts" Beard of Difficulty Scale (1 beard = easy, 3 beards = maximum difficulty). Simple installation as follows:1) REMOVED THE DRIVER’S SIDE PLASTIC PANEL. I removed all the pop-fasteners as suggested. Since the panel was to be discarded I merely broke the panel off of the rear 10mm screw and Philips head screw behind the mud flap ( which saved about 10 to 15 minutes.)2) REMOVED 2 EXHAUST HANGERS: Sprayed the 2 exhaust hangers with WD 40 and then easily pried off the 2 exhaust hangers.2) CLEANED THE WELD NUT THREADS: Using the 12mm x 1.25 tap I begin cleaning out the 4 weld nuts holes. It was difficult to get the tap started so I used one of the bolts to clear out the first few threads and then used the tap. Unfortunately I thought the square end of the tap would fit in one of my 12 point sockets but none worked so I had to use an adjustable wrench which would only make about 1/3 revolution before readjusting. This took about 15 to 20 minutes. Even the threads beneath the old plastic panel needed cleaning.3) FISH THE CARRIAGE BOLT & FLANGE THROUGH THE DRIVER’S SIDE FRAME RAIL: This worked like a charm. Threaded the fish wire to the bolt, added the rectangular flange, double-crimped the fish wire to keep the bolt and flange close together, fished the surplus wire through the larger hole through frame rail and out the target hole, pushed the flange into the larger hole, then the bolt with the attached fish wire, pulled the entire assembly through and out the target hole; left the fish wire attached to the in-place bolt for further use. This literally took about 2 minutes.4) LIFTED THE HITCH INTO POSITION FOR BOLT INSTALLATION: Using my motorcycle floor jack I lifted the hitch into position, first sliding the passenger side of the hitch above the exhaust pipe and then after pulling the still-attached fish wire through the target hinge flange hole completed lifting the other side with the jack until I was about 1/2” from the weld nut holes. Starting with the exhaust pipe side I loosely attached 2 bolts and washers into the 2 corresponding weld nuts, attached the nut to the carriage bolt and then loosely installed the 2 remaining bolts and washers into the 2 corresponding weld nuts. After visually checking to ensure that everything was lined up properly I tightened all and torqued as suggested.The hitch looks like it was custom welded to fit my van. It bends around the exhaust pipe and gas tank and wastes no space between the top of the hitch and the bottom of the bumper. EVERYTHING lined up perfectly and easily installed as suggested. Curt really nailed this product! I would have paid twice as much for this level of quality and installation ease.A few observations:A) If you don’t have a can of WD 40 laying around, get one. This DEFINITELY made the job easier.B) Definitely temporarily unhook the 2 exhaust hangers. This makes the entire installation a breeze; it takes about 30 seconds to reattach both hangers.C) I wish that I would have bought the small, cylindrical brush to clean the weld nut holes. There was a lot of debris that impeded the tap and required removing and cleaning the tap.D) I wish that I would have popped off the plastic panel a few days before installation and soaked with WD 40 and wire brushed the weld nut threads a few times before my installation dayE) Definitely watch some hitch installation YouTube videos for your vehicle. No need to reinvent the wheel here.A few installation photos attachedTomorrow I'll be installing the Trailer Light kit (about $40 on Amazon)