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So we have the Model 3 hooked up to this 1700 pound trailer. That is not my Model 3 so I'm
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totally fine doing whatever!
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[Music playing]
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So Tesla's are some of the coolest cars on the planet. But, allowing a car to accomplish
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more things is always a good thing. Today we're going to install a hitch on the Tesla
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Model 3 that will allow it to tow, carry bikes, and just be an all-around more productive
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vehicle. Let's get started.
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[Intro]
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So this isn't my Model 3, obviously. It took me a second to find someone brave enough to
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let me teardown their vehicle.
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[Ben] Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey. Wait a minute. Tear down?
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[Zack] This is Ben from Teslanomics. He has a whole channel dedicated to the economics
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of Tesla vehicles. Why do you want a hitch on your car?
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[Ben] Well, I think that these cars are beautiful, but they are not as functional as they could
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be. So adding this hitch is going to give me a whole new capability of, you know, carrying
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bikes around, and little things like that. And while the Tesla's aren't rated to tow
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anything yet, we did see a performance model that was pulling something recently. So I
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thought this was just a great way to get that same functionality without having to buy an
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$80,000 car.
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[Zack] That's true. And the thing that I like about this hitch is that it does nothing to
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change the aesthetics of the vehicle. You can't see it's there when it's installed.
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It's totally hidden – 100%. Let's go around to the back of the car and show you how to
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install it.
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Alright, so we have to get this hunk of metal behind the bumper inside of this Tesla. So
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we're going to tear off the whole back end to get it installed, but it's not as hard
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as it sounds. This is called the Eco Hitch – I'll have it linked down in the video
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description. This video is not sponsored. But this thing has a towing capacity of 2,000
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pounds, and a tongue weight of 200 pounds.
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Now, obviously, like we mentioned before, Tesla's not actually rated to tow stuff. But
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at the same time, Tesla's are super powerful vehicles with electric motors and, you know,
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large batteries inside. So it's not like it's going to hurt the car to throw a couple bikes
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on the back or to tow a trailer every now and then. It's probably not the best idea
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to put like a mobile home behind this thing. But, you know, 2,000 pounds is 2,000 pounds.
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We'll test it out here at the end.
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You nervous yet? Alright, for this little plastic piece over the top of the light, this
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little guy is kind of hard to unscrew and we don't want to scratch it up because the
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Tesla is kind of nice. So we're going to take these pliers with a cloth over it and then
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grab it and twist it like that because the pliers are longer than your hands are. And
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once it's started, it will come off the rest of the way.
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Let's keep going. Alright, so there are 2 little plastic pins on the inside that you
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just pop off this top and then the whole thing collapses inside allowing you to pull the
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whole contraption out from underneath, allowing this felt piece to pull away, giving us access
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to the taillights. And then to pull the taillight out, there are 2 bolts holding it in and both
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of these are 8 millimeters.
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Alright, after those 2 nuts are released from the bolts, the whole thing comes away. There
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are 2 little pins: one here and one here. And the way that they're shaped, they go inside
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these little plugs. So just a little bit of force pops the whole light out of the housing.
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So the other...the passenger taillight is the same way. It has those 2 little nuts inside.
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And then hopefully...yep, same 2 little clasps right here. So now the taillights are out
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and now we can work on the bumper.
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[Ben] So we've got these 2 pushpins that hold this side of the bumper into the wheel well
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And then just one torque screw that holds it all together.
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[Zack] Okay, so we are underneath the Model 3 right now and there are...these are all
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10 millimeter bolts. There are 3 over here on this end and we're moving this bottom plastic
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plate. And then there are 2 more clips right here on the very end right next to the bumper.
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And these can be pulled down with just a screwdriver popping out this plastic piece and then you
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have full access to the bolts right there. So let's pull off this plastic chunk.
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Remember, throughout this whole process it's probably a good idea to keep your screws organized,
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as with any project. There are 2 more bolts up here at the top of the bumper underneath
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where those headlights used to be. And by headlights, I mean taillights.
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So the bumper itself is all made of plastic and it's got these little clasps right here.
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So I'm going to unclip all of these. [Snapping sound] Oh! This isn't my car! And then all
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of the rear sensors on the bumper are attached to this little guy. And then the whole thing
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comes out. Looks like Ben's been collecting rocks under here for a little while. You been
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taking this thing off-roading? Where have you been going buddy?
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[Ben] Ha ha! I've just been jumping it, you know!
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[Zack] And this is what a Tesla looks like without the whole bumper or taillights. How
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are you feeling about not having your car in one piece anymore, Ben?
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[Ben] Ha ha! I feel alight. I'm a little worried about the Ikea nature of the assembly, but
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I know where to go if we lose any of these parts.
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[Zack] Those plastic push pins are impressive.
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[Ben] Yes! You know, get some cinnamon rolls while you're there. It's cool.
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[Zack] Okay, so all the plastic bumper stuff is off. There's this metal piece right here
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called the crash bar, and there are 3 bolts on either side. Three where Ben is at, and
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then 3 right here inside of these little holes. And each of them are 15 millimeters. And then
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the whole crash bar pulls up and away from the frame.
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So this is the hitch right here, and you see how it has this sloping plate? The car also
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has a sloping plate. So this piece of metal right here, we actually take off and discard.
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We don't need it. But to access this metal, we have to remove this. And these are all
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10 millimeter bolts, and there are 5 of them. One here...two...three...four...and five.
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[Ben] I'm just going to pull this clip off, and you just set it inside.
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[Zack] Man, this is pretty brutal. So these are the same 15 millimeter bolts all the way
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around this. And once they are all off, we don't need this piece of metal anymore because
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the slope is included on the actual hitch itself. Alright, so you remember that piece
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we just pulled off and discarded? There are these little plastic washers that are included
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with the kit that we're going to put on each one of these little bolts, and that's to keep
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the 2 metals separate from each other. And it could be for vibrations, to minimize them,
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or it also could be because 2 dissimilar metals fusing together is a thing and we don't want
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that to happen.
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So the white washers go on these bolts as well as the 3 bolts right here on the mount
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itself, and that's where the crash bars installs once the hitch is on the Model 3. Perfect.
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So now the hitch is installed on the back of the Model 3. This part right here is removable.
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I'll show you that in a second. And all of these nuts are tightened down to 50 pound
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feet of torque. So the thing with torquing down all of these bolts to the 50 foot pounds
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of torque is so that the torque wrench, right when you hit the right amount of torque, it
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will do this clicking thing. [Click sound] Right there. And that's when you know when
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to stop, and the nut is tight enough on the bolt. Then the crash bar attaches right onto
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the hitch itself, with the white washers between it and the hitch to prevent that corrosion.
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So the crash bar is also installed now, and each of the nuts holding it in place are also
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torqued down to that same 50 foot pounds of torque that the base hitch was torqued down
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to. This part right here is the hitch. And the whole hitch is hidden except for this
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part right here which sticks up inside of the bumper and attaches to the hitch itself
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that we just mounted. But in order for that to happen, we do have to cut the only cut
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that we're going to make, a hole in the bottom of that plastic piece underneath the bumper
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itself. That way, with the hole there, this can slip inside of the hole, and then this
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will protrude out, but only when we actually want to tow something. That way when we're
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not actually towing something, we can take it out and it's hidden and the Tesla 3 looks
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like it has no hitch.
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So probably the scariest part of this ordeal is cutting into the bumper itself. But it's
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actually a lot simpler than it seems. We have the bumper off of the car, set right here.
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And to get the correct measurements, we're measuring from the inside of the car to the
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outside where the bumper is at. And right here, measuring along this center line, we're
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looking at 26 and ½ inches, which is this line right here. And in the instructions it
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says that if we put a dot right here, which is ¾ of an inch, from this one center line,
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we can use a 4 inch hole saw and cut right there, and then put another dot over here,
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2 and ¼ inches from the center line, and use that same 4 inch hole saw right here.
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We don't have a 4 inch hole saw, so we used this pink candle, set it right here and got
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the diameters correct. And then we can use a jig saw to cut that hole out and it accomplishes
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the same thing.
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And there we have it. Perfectly cut for the hitch.
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Alright so the bumper is in place. It's clipped in in both wheel wells. We have the little
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plastic tacks and both torque screws going up in the top, connecting the bumper and the
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wheel wells. And Ben just finished installing all the bolts underneath that plastic skid
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plate. So we should be good to go after we install the brake lights. We have to test
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out the trailer.
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Alright so we have the passenger taillight installed. Remember it has that plastic bit
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up top. Then we got the driver's side taillight for the Model 3. Now it's in. And we'll plug
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it in and get those 2 nuts screwed in on the backside. And this is what it looks like with
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the hitch installed.
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Let's get that trailer on.
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[Music playing]
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Alright, so we have the Model 3 hooked up to this 1700 pound trailer, which is pretty
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close to maxing out the towing capacity of the hitch we just installed. But we're going
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to give it a try anyway. Like I said, it's not my Model 3 so I'm totally fine doing whatever.
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[Music playing]
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So I think the trailer did good. I was on the trailer, so how did it feel from the inside?
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[Ben] It felt good. It didn't have any kind of hesitation about pulling it. It felt strong.
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I was more worried about the trailer kind of bouncing around and stuff, but it felt
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solid.
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[Zack] Obviously we weren't going super fast in a parking lot testing it out because we
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don't have the lights and stuff on the back of it. Depends on what state you're in, you
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might need a wiring harness and brake lights and all of that stuff. But for a bike rack
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and stuff – I think it would be great.
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[Ben] Yeah, for any reasonable amount of needs that you would have for a vehicle like this,
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it performs well. So thumbs up.
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[Zack] You might not use that hitch all the time, but sometimes it's useful to have on
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there.
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[Ben] And when you don't need it, it's totally hidden.
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[Zack] If you have any questions or comments, leave them down in the comments section. Check
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out Ben's channel. I'll leave a link right here. And thanks a ton for watching. I'll
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see you around.