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Torklift Ecohitch finished product

99K views 211 replies 87 participants last post by  MasterAviator 
#1 ·
There are several different threads discussing OEM and aftermarket receiver hitches, so rather than try to address each one, I thought I'd start a new thread on the Torklift Ecohitch. It is currently the only hidden hitch on the market that I am aware of.
It was not an easy install compared to the other products available, but IMHO it was worth the cost and the effort, which has left me pretty exhausted right now. (I also took out the third row seats and added mudflaps, but they were really easy., Oh ya, and refinished my well worn 30 year old utility trailer over the past week.) Anyway, I know a few folks are interested in what the Ecohitch looks like installed ....so here's a few finished pics.


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Automotive parking light Vehicle Automotive tail & brake light Automotive lighting Hood


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#9 ·
It took much longer than it should have since I'm basically slow but also had to go backwards a few times due to incomplete instructions. And also the usual hesitancy and occasional neighbor stopping by to "help."
A metal tab had to be cut off (a tin snip worked) for the cross bar to tighten down on the driver side.
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The driver side under pan needed to be notched (again, the tin snips worked well as I kept whittling it down until it fit.) Anyone is welcome to crawl under the car to see the marginally pretty job I did.

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This is the piece I removed.
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Perfection takes time and patience...I was running out of the important one.

To answer your question, I could probably do it again in about 2-3 hours (or half the time,) having learned the hard way (my usual way 😎 🔨😁)
 
#8 ·
Well done!

It looks like the kick sensor itself is pretty small, but the 'antenna' is huge and covers a large area of the rear of the van as-is. If it's now considered a 'throwaway' item, I might have been temped to try a little bit of re-engineering to see if I couldn't shorten it (fold over on itself) and relocate it to one side only below the hitch beam.
 
#10 ·
I might have been temped to try a little bit of re-engineering to see if I couldn't shorten it (fold over on itself) and relocate it to one side only below the hitch beam
My thoughts exactly. Whether the wires get shortened or extended, relocating it seems like a really great way to avoid loss of functionality.

Thanks PetTaxi for the extremely helpful pics, and congrats on completing the install!
 
#13 · (Edited)
Sorry to have confused the issue. I took out the back seats because it was on my to do list and the tools were out. It is not necessary for removing the bumper cover. I also installed my wiring harness and mud flaps...long day.

There is a lot involved in installing this hitch. It is not a job for everyone. The OEM and Curt hitches only need six bolts, you only need a torque wrench and extension. The Ecohitch instructions leave some to be desired but are not too bad. In the above thread I've pointed out some of the omissions I discovered, one other thing they said was to cut out the bumper cover an inch deeper than necessary, but it looks fine and gives a place to stow the 4-prong wiring plug when not in use. I can live with it.
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If you are handy and have the tools and an assistant, and can wing it if needed, I've proven it can be done. But then, in my younger crazier years, I took apart and put back together a 1949 Buick Roadmaster. Now that was hard! (and that has some serious bumpers!)
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The bumper cover itself actually came off pretty easily, easier than the '17 Outback I had done. Once you found all the snap connectors and screws, it pulled out from the rear quarter panels without much strain. It went back on easily also. Many thanks to my Managing Editor and assistant. 😎 (y)
 
#20 ·
one other thing they said was to cut out the bumper cover an inch deeper than necessary, but it looks fine and gives a place to stow the 4-prong wiring plug when not in use.

View attachment 50104
If you don't want to leave your 4-way plug dangling, there's a $4 surface mount hard rubber Hopkins bracket that could probably be used to attach it to the underside of your bumper cover. I looked at a bunch of mounting brackets and it's the best I found. Here's a link to a post showing it on my 2014 Sienna: 2009 Sienna Question
 
#16 · (Edited)
#17 · (Edited)
[/QUOTE]

It is strange the sensor is 10" wide - because it seems we have to kick within a 3" window to get it to open :)



The kick sensor is actually 30" long, and the wires are definitely part of the sensor. I don't know how or why...it plugs into the wiring harness at the white rectangle part.

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#19 ·
It looks capacitive, based on the long twin antenna wires. There are also radar and ultrasonic systems in use by other mfgrs.

You cannot change the length of the wires (it's a tuned circuit), but folding it over may still produce acceptable results.
 
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#22 ·
Thanks for taking the first step and sharing your install photos and information. My hitch just arrived yesterday and looks to be a fairly straight forward bolt on project.
If anyone is looking for an OEM factory hitch, I have mine for sale. It is much easier to install without removing the bumper.
 
#23 ·
Thanks for taking the first step and sharing your install photos and information. My hitch just arrived yesterday and looks to be a fairly straight forward bolt on project.
If anyone is looking for an OEM factory hitch, I have mine for sale. It is much easier to install without removing the bumper.
Is your Sienna an XSE like mine, or a different trim? If different it would be nice to know if you hit the same snags that I did. The XSE has a different bumper cover than the others.
 
#26 ·
PM me if you have any questions, we can Whatsapp or Duo if needed.
Definitely post your progress!
Do you have a link to the torklift trailer hitch?
Is this the same one that you installed? Thanks for your post, it has cleared up a lot of the questions I had about this trailer hitch.
 
#30 ·
Does anybody know if we are supposed to have the tow package in order to tow? I noticed all the 21 siennas have the same engine but the language in the manual if very contradicting. One page it says it’s not recommended to tow at all, on another page it says we can tow up to 3500lbs. Also, if you are towing, how does it feel when you tow? Does it feel like it struggles to tow?
 
#70 ·
I have been lurking for a while, finally posting now for the first time. I have been following this thread since deciding and ordering my Sienna, and in particular since ordering the EcoHitch a couple months ago (a month to deliver it, and another month to finally find an open day to install it).

This is a great thread and helped immensely. Huge thanks to PetTaxi, seo035, the_phew and bmcnally82 for their great hints and write ups. Especially today when I got stuck and came back to look for recent updates and saw seo035's tip about using some small diameter pipe to "adjust" the OEM studs to get them to align with the hitch holes. Thank goodness I found his hint. Whew! I was in a panic when the hitch holes didn't line up with the OEM studs and I wasn't sure what I was going to do.

The rest of my install went relatively smoothly. One thing I did after reading a number of comments, was to loosely attach the side wings before lifting the main hitch onto the studs. That eliminated the issues, especially with the forward bolts, all I had to do was work my way around tightening things a little at a time to snug everything into place.

Then I hit my snag, and when I searched I found this unanswered post...



I bought the PK960-08B05 Toyota wiring harness (there have also been references to a now discontinued PK960-08B03), which comes up as the correct towing wire harness for the 2021 (base and platinum), but when I went to find the connection in the spare tire well, the connectors are completely different.

I don't know if I received the wrong part, or there is some other issue. Maybe I'm not looking in the right place to connect it? Hence quoting the earlier unanswered post. I only find one unused connector in the spare tire well.

Attached is a pic of the available connector in my spare tire well, sort of folded upwards, a close up pic of that connector, and a pic of the connector on the harness I received. The harness has flat blade-type pins, completely different from the connector in the spare tire well. Did earlier Sienna models use a flat blade-type connector?

Any hints appreciated!

And thanks again to everyone for all the info that made the majority of the install easy and straightforward.

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#40 ·
Thanks for posting these photos with the bumper off. It shows the routing of the taillights and rear turn signals coming down toward the bumper. Do you think there would be enough space in there somewhere to install a load resistor for the turn signals if I were to replace these with LEDs?
 
#42 ·
Super easy. Like I said, I did it by myself in a little less than 4 hours and I have never done anything like this before without my dad's help. I know nothing about cars and simply followed the instructions. I will say that I broke some snap pull pin things off of the fender wells but I just went to OReillys and bought a couple for like $5.
 
#43 ·
I had a Curt hitch on order from etrailer for a couple of months now. Just got an email from etrailer saying that due to production issues at Curt that I could expect to receive the hitch mid July. After seeing the Ecohitch I cancelled my order from etrailer and ordered this one from Forklift. My goal is to somehow keep the kick sensor so I'm going to try to figure out how to remount it so that it'll work. Have access to a 3d printer so I can't help but wonder if I can print a new mount for the sensor.
 
#44 ·
I took my sensor out when I installed my Torklift. Another person here had a shop do his and they moved it over to the driver's side and it still works. When I'm bored someday I am going to take the bumper cover off and reinstall the kick sensor off to the side.
I'll probably just glue it in the new location.
 
#45 ·
This install has been a huge pain in the butt! Had to bang and reposition the studs to get the three bolts to line up with the holes in the Torklift to the bumper. Finally have it cranked down. My question is, how did you all get the side wings to bolt into the undercarriage? Mine look like there are plugs there that would be very difficult to get out! Is it necessary to have them supported also laterally like that?
 
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