Curt Manufacturing 11468

Check this out! Curt Manufacturing 11468 Class I Receiver Stout, Solid Hitch Receiver for Our 2006 Toyota PriusBy Tom TracyThis is a well-made, heavy duty tow hitch receiver that I was able to install easily on our 2006 Toyota Prius. We got it for use with our Yakima DoubleDown 4-Bike Hitch Mount Rack. Amazon had an excellent price on it, and, although it arrived via FedEx with a partially torn-up & re-taped box, the hitch receiver itself was undamaged. And, the hitch receiver I received was the revised, newer model w/ the cut-out for the exhaust.I installed it easily enough in about 30 minutes. To make the job as easy as possible, I had a floor jack, wheel chocks & two small jack stands so that I could safely elevate the rear-end of the Prius in my garage. This is necessary as there is very little clearance underneath the rear end of the car.Once elevated, I removed the two factory tow hooks using a socket wrench (the factory bolts are metric, although I do not recall the exact size - just that they were smaller than the 17 mm bolts supplied with the hitch receiver). On the driver's side, the tow hook is covered up by a large, thin plastic guard. The installation instructions tell you to remove the guard entirely. However, I simply cut out an approximate 8" x 4" piece of the guard around the tow hook using a carpet cutter which allowed me to easily access & remove the tow hook & left enough room for the hitch receiver to mount. Then, using the floor jack, I hoisted up the hitch receiver in place and screwed in the 4 bolts to secure it to the car's frame rails (the holes matched up perfectly). Finally, using a torque wrench, I torqued down the bolts to the 35 ft/lbs specified in the installation instructions.Once I installed the Yakima DoubleDown Bike Rack, I was pleased to discover that I was able to open the Prius's rear hatch door all the way, clearing the bike rack without having to swing the bike rack down. It cleared by about 1" - perfect!I highly recommend this hitch receiver & bike rack combination if you have a 2006 Prius (it fits other model years as well - 2004-9 I believe, but verify that using the "Make Sure It Fits" drop-down on Amazon's main page for the hitch receiver before you order). To recap, the tools I used to install it were:Socket Wrench (w/ 4" Extender)Metric SocketsTorque WrenchCarpet Cutter (to trim plastic underbody panel on driver's side)Wheel Chocks (to secure front wheels while rear of car is elevated)Floor Jack2 Jack StandsIf you do not have these tools at your disposal, another reviewer here had it installed for $35...See all 16 customer reviews... » More Information about Curt Manufacturing 11468 Class I Receiver.

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