CURT 13146 Class 3 Trailer Hitch for Acura MDX and Honda Pilot

This is a well-made and heavy duty hitch. A few observations and tips to share.Hitch can be installed by one person. I used two 5 gallon buckets and a few 6 inch pieces of 2x8s to support the hitch.Most important tip - dry fit the bolts in all six holes, use a wire brush and air to clean the holes, use a light oil for lubrication, even retap lightly if necessary, but please first fit the bolts and make sure they can be started by hand and will bottom out. This will make their final install much easier.Once you have positioned the hitch, start the bolt that is closest to the front of the vehicle. Then repeat for the second and then for the bolt closest to the rear. This is bit hard to do when working alone and lying on the ground, but be patient and it will work even though you might need a few attempts at starting the bolts.You will need to lower the spare tire a bit to fully seat the final two bolts on the hitch.Unfortunately, a full size tire (about 29.5 inches in height for P245/50/R20 on Pilot Sport) will not fit in the space where the donut spare is installed. We need atleast 3 more inches clearance...c'mon "Honda-Of-America"??? So I plan to use a hitch-installed spare-tire carrier on a split hitch-extender whenever I tow a small utility trailer. Or will just place the full-size spare in a enclosed trailer if that's what I am towing. Either way it's an added inconvenience for me. Often my Retriever is lounging in the trunk area whenever I tow so placing the tire in the trunk is not always an available option. Anyway, my apologies as I have digressed/ranted/etc.Tightening the bolts to 139 Ft-Lb is not easy to do lying down. I had to use a 24 inch breaker bar to tighten the bolts first.You will have to lower the spare wheel again to tighten the one bolt that is above the exhaust pipe.Amazon did a good job on delivery, just a very small paint chip in one area. The packaging from Curt is not the best for an individual home delivery. The hitch is heavy and will likely tear through the package during handling. After reading reviews at other online retailers, I chose to get this from Amazon over others simply because (in my area) I felt their drivers would handle it more carefully than the two other prominent carriers.If you can find grade J12.9 M22 shoulder bolts use them, they will be higher rated.I plan to spray paint the bolt heads when I am done to protect them from rust.If you really enjoy DIY, or want to save some $$$ over an OEM hitch and installation, this is a fun project that can be done in 30 to 90 minutes, and it will be easier to do if you get a second person to give you a hand. Best wishes for your install and safe towing.

Really well designed and made. Followed the instructions for my 2021 Honda Pilot and it fit perfectly. No trim had to be removed at all like other places on the Web said. Used ramps to raise the back end up five or six inches and opened the cardboard box to have something to lay on other than cold cement made it much easier. My son-in-law came over and moved the exhaust pipe out of the was and finished getting the bolts in and torqued properly. Really a life saver. Still, for seventy years old I came close. Twenty years ago I could have done it by myself. Really very happy with the outcome.

Well-made product, perfect fit for my '14 MDX. Easy install - did it by myself in 20 min with a pair of jack stands (it is heavy, so if you don't have jack stands, might need an extra pair of hands to support the plate during installation). Make sure you tighten the bolts to specs (138 ft*lb is a lot of torque - I originally put it in using a regular wrench, and thought I had it pretty tight, but when later checked with a borrowed torque wrench, found I was well under the 138 :)) Good design, all the holes aligned perfectly with the ones in the vehicle. The packaging could be better, but mine came in a decent shape - no bends or scratches that some other reviewers reported. Once installed, looks and functions great!

UPS brought this yesterday about 4:00 PM. It was in transit 3 days. I installed it on my 2018 Honda Pilot Touring by myself in about 2-1/2 hours. I left the car on the ground, dropped the spare tire, and propped the hitch up on two 5 gallon Home Depot orange plastic buckets under the car (someone borrowed my jack stands and didn't return them). There is a ton of room under the back end of these vehicles once the spare tire is removed.I put the center bolt (22mm socket required) in the drivers side first (Don't tighten it all the way. Just enough to hold the hitch safely up). Then I went to the other side and put the center bolt in. Now the hitch was hanging on the vehicle safely and starting all the other bolts was simple.The only hiccup I had was trying to lay on my back and tighten the bolts to 140 ft. pounds. I'm a big guy but tightening bolts to 140 lbs while laying flat on your back is no easy feat. So I ended up putting a 2-1/2 foot piece of 1-1/2 inch rigid conduit over the handle of my torque wrench for leverage and the hiccup went away quickly!I also bought a Draw-Tite T Connector Wiring Kit #118679 (Purchased here on Amazon). It also arrived yesterday via USPS. It is made for the 2016 - Current Honda Pilot and installed in less than 30 minutes and the only tools I used to do that were a screwdriver and an 8mm 1/4" drive socket with a 4" extension and a 1/4" drive ratchet. Watch the Youtube videos and it's a piece of cake.All-in-all, the hitch and wiring harness saved me about $700 over a dealer installed hitch and looks great. I highly recommend it and the 118679 wiring harness for 2016 - Current Honda Pilot owners. Now all I need to do is hook the boat up and head to the lake!

Perfect fit on our 2019 Honda pilot touring. Feels well made. I was able to install it by myself but I don’t recommend it definitely be easier if you have a extra hand

The hitch is good. They always come a little beat up though, so if you expect a $200 or so hitch to not be beat up, don't get one delivered. Unfortunately I haven't found anyone yet who will deliver them without scratching them up.Happy with the hitch overall. The receiver tube hangs below the bumper, unlike the factory version, but this means you don't have to buy and change the bumper pieces. For the savings and easier installation, this is fine with me.

Vehicle installed on: Honda Pilot 2017Very nice product. As other people have posted, the box is usually deformed due to the odd shape of the item and also weight. it is about 50lbs or so. However, the product itself inside of the box is pretty well packaged with covering at joints to prevent it from cracking or chipped.It comes with 6 bolts and washer that fits perfectly onto the stock frame of the honda pilot. At least for the 2017 model I know it fits perfectly. I would just watch a few youtube videos on how to install it. the tricky part depends on how many people are doing it.I installed this myself under 1 hour without any major issues. Only thing is that you require 22mm metric hex socket, which you may have to purchase as a loose piece, wrench extenders, and a torque wrench up to 140ft/lb.I used a few stone blocks which was hanging around to give elevation as close as possible to the frame. Then i used the car jack to lift up one side at a time in order to install the bolts by hand to hold it onto place. Maybe not the smartest idea, but didn't have an extra pair of hands. If there are two people who can lift up 25lbs each, then I'm certain you can do it in under 20mins.overall, great looking product, easy installation. I am only lugging around a bike rack and bikes which shouldn't be more than 100lbs. So I doubt I will have any issues. In terms of driving, i did not notice any change with steering.

Fits perfect no other comment on that. Heavy one man install hack, use spare tire cable to winch up. I used a tight bungee to hook it to receiver. Used cable as balance point to get bolts started. Also use 1/2" plumbers fitting brush for bolt hole cleaning. Did install alone 1.5 hrs and had a bolt on number protector to remove first.

This hitch is made of heavy duty steel and the finish appears to be good quality. It was a perfect fit for a 2016 Honda Pilot, curving around the spare tire and remaining mostly hidden behind the bumper. The holes in the hitch aligned perfectly with the factory bolt holes on the frame of the vehicle. Installation hardware (6 bolts and 6 washers) is included.Before you start the install, make sure to clean up the bolt holes on the vehicle so you don't find yourself holding the hitch trying to thread bolts into holes that they won't go into. For cleaning, you can first try a wire brush like for copper pipes but I had to use a thread chaser (size: M14x1.5).Once the vehicle is prepped, it is quite easy to install - it doesn't take long to thread and torque 6 bolts. As others have mentioned, it takes a fairly strong individual to torque the bolts to spec while lying under the vehicle, so it wouldn't hurt to enlist a 2nd person to help if you're in doubt. If you like cheap added security and aren't expecting to remove the hitch soon, consider putting some thread locker on the bolts.Overall, I would highly recommend this product.

Good product, fits well without any issues. Looks very good too.Save yourself a headache, buy M14-1.5 taps to clean the threads. This part took the longest, but prepping and cleaning threads made the install very easy. Buy the tap!!!! It’s a must unless you want jammed or broken bolts.My pilot, 2021, has the kick sensor. Have to see if I can relocate it - i can live without it.Suggestion, see if you can relocate it before installing the hitch if you care to use it.

Perfect fit

I was a bit worried that it may block trunk sensor to work with the foot but it works perfectly. Low profile too! I had one on my 2015 Odyssey for 8 years too and no complains. East to install yourself but need extra pair of hands. Thanks

Arrived quickly and was easy to install. Two notes - the bolts (6 in total) fit perfectly except for the rear-most two. The manufacturer has pre-drilled holes for the bolts and the back two (one per side) are very shallow. The bolts provided are too long for the pre-drilled holes. I was only able tighten as much as possible. The other two on each side were fine. Not sure I'd be comfortable with this if I intended to tow anything. I'm using a small bike rack only.Second issue, the bolts are larger than standard, my two socket sets don't the big enough size. Perhaps I don't have a sophisticated enough tool inventory but clear sizing info would have saved minor inconvenience.Very small concerns. The hitch is now installed and we're happy.