A great big thanks to all that have contributed to this thread!! It is much appreciated and helped tremendously with my Ecohitch installation this morning.
I received my hitch yesterday and got to work early this morning. It took about 3 hours with some help from a friend. The included instructions were insufficient and it would have taken a lot longer if I did not find this thread. The good news is that the hitch fit the studs perfectly without any stud bending needed so Ecohitch has fixed the issue that affected early adopters.
The hitch still looks pretty low to me especially compared to my previous SUV's and there is no way I would want to go with anything lower. I am very glad I passed on the factory hitch and other aftermarket options. This hitch is well worth the effort and, in my opinion, the only way to go. When our other Sienna arrives in a couple of weeks I expect to be able to install this hitch in less than 2 hours. The factory wiring harness is a tad on the short side but will work.
For those folks that do not have a spare tire the wiring harness installation from the inside can be a pain in the keister. I depended on a YouTube video for that one and it took about 45 minutes to get it installed. After completing that task I discovered an access panel that becomes exposed once the bumper cover is removed.
I received my hitch yesterday and got to work early this morning. It took about 3 hours with some help from a friend. The included instructions were insufficient and it would have taken a lot longer if I did not find this thread. The good news is that the hitch fit the studs perfectly without any stud bending needed so Ecohitch has fixed the issue that affected early adopters.
The hitch still looks pretty low to me especially compared to my previous SUV's and there is no way I would want to go with anything lower. I am very glad I passed on the factory hitch and other aftermarket options. This hitch is well worth the effort and, in my opinion, the only way to go. When our other Sienna arrives in a couple of weeks I expect to be able to install this hitch in less than 2 hours. The factory wiring harness is a tad on the short side but will work.
For those folks that do not have a spare tire the wiring harness installation from the inside can be a pain in the keister. I depended on a YouTube video for that one and it took about 45 minutes to get it installed. After completing that task I discovered an access panel that becomes exposed once the bumper cover is removed.