etrailer | Installing the EcoHitch Hidden Trailer Hitch Receiver on a 2016 Mazda 3

Click for more info and reviews of this EcoHitch Trailer Hitch: https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Hitc... Check out some similar Trailer Hitch options: https://www.etrailer.com/fitguide.htm Search for other popular Mazda 3 parts and accessories: https://www.etrailer.com/vehicle/2016... https://www.etrailer.com Don’t forget to subscribe!    / etrailertv   Full transcript: https://www.etrailer.com/tv-install-e... Hey everyone, it's Trevor with Etrailer. Today we are doing an overview and an installation of the EcoHitch two-inch receiver on our 2016 Mazda 3. Now, if you own a Mazda 3 and you're looking at hitch receivers, I'm thinking you're probably looking to put a bike rack on the back of your vehicle or maybe even a cargo carrier to extend the room you have in the vehicle for a long road trip. And based off of our neighbor's kayak carriers on the roof today, I'm assuming he's gonna be doing the same thing. Our EcoHitch is gonna be also very versatile, and you'll be able to do more than just put some bike racks and cargo carriers on there. It can also do some light duty towing, so if you got a jet ski or maybe a small landscaping trailer, you're definitely gonna be able to use it behind this vehicle. Now, if you like the environment as well, the EcoHitch is made out of all recycled materials, and the main alloys can consist of aluminum, steel and stainless steel. It's also gonna have a nice durable black powder coat on top of it. Now our hitch, like I said, is gonna be able to fit a wide variety of accessories, and the standard size of the pin is gonna be a 5/8 hitch pin. And you can pick one up here at Etrailer if you don't have one, and a lot of our accessories also do come with them. Plus you can get 'em in a locking style too if you plan on leaving your bike rock on long term. Now, if you are someone that has a light trailer and you're looking to make sure that it will work with safety chains, you'll be having any other S hooks fit very nice, and our clevis hook fits exceptionally well as well. Now for some measurements, from the ground to the top of our receiver tube, we are a little under 13 inches. And from the center of our hitch pin hole to the outside of our receiver tube, we're looking at about 2 1/2 inches there. Now, I did mention some light duty towing so we can get into those specs on the hitch itself. So for the tongue weight, we're looking at 300 pounds of capacity. And then for the gross trailer weight, we're looking at 2,000 pounds there. So you can tow a small trailer, but I always recommend to just double check with your vehicle's owner manual to make sure that your vehicle can actually support the specs that the hitch is rated for. Now, an alternative to our two inch receiver is gonna be a 1 1/4 inch receiver. The only issue with those is that they become a little bit less common nowadays, and a lot of accessories aren't being made for 1 1/4 specifically anymore, but it is still an option that will work well for your Mazda 3. And the installation process on those is a little bit easier than the one we have today. And speaking of that install, for the two inch receiver, what we had to do was take apart the rear fascia, which included taking out the taillights and the inside of our fender liner to get that off. It is a little bit more involved, so you will wanna make sure you have enough time set aside to complete this job. But if this is something that is making you a little bit nervous, you can always check out our dealer locator tools to help you find a shop near you. They'll be able to get your car in and back out on the road for you. Well, with all that being said, we can go ahead get this up in the air and jump into our installation. Before we begin our installation, what we're gonna do is go ahead and go around the seams of our fascia and get it all marked up with the painter's tape so we can prevent any scratching while we're taking off the panels. Now, to take off our fascia, we're gonna have to start with removing the taillights. And keep in mind, when we're doing this, it's gonna be both sides we are doing this on. And to start, we'll reach back here and grab this cover and pull that off. And behind here, we're gonna have three nuts on three different studs that are connected to our taillight. We'll have to remove those as well as the connectors. And on the back of the connector, there's gonna be a little tab that you press down on and it comes right out. So now I'm gonna take a 10 millimeter socket and a stubby ratchet, and I'm gonna remove each one of those nuts. Now with our nuts removed, we can go ahead and remove the taillight. And all you're gonna have to do is grab it and pull straight out. And now we'll go ahead and repeat that on the other sid