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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

  • totally fine doing whatever!

  • [Music playing]

  • So Tesla's are some of the coolest cars on the planet. But, allowing a car to accomplish

  • more things is always a good thing. Today we're going to install a hitch on the Tesla

  • Model 3 that will allow it to tow, carry bikes, and just be an all-around more productive

  • vehicle. Let's get started.

  • [Intro]

  • So this isn't my Model 3, obviously. It took me a second to find someone brave enough to

  • let me teardown their vehicle.

  • [Ben] Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey. Wait a minute. Tear down?

  • [Zack] This is Ben from Teslanomics. He has a whole channel dedicated to the economics

  • of Tesla vehicles. Why do you want a hitch on your car?

  • [Ben] Well, I think that these cars are beautiful, but they are not as functional as they could

  • be. So adding this hitch is going to give me a whole new capability of, you know, carrying

  • bikes around, and little things like that. And while the Tesla's aren't rated to tow

  • anything yet, we did see a performance model that was pulling something recently. So I

  • thought this was just a great way to get that same functionality without having to buy an

  • $80,000 car.

  • [Zack] That's true. And the thing that I like about this hitch is that it does nothing to

  • change the aesthetics of the vehicle. You can't see it's there when it's installed.

  • It's totally hidden – 100%. Let's go around to the back of the car and show you how to

  • install it.

  • Alright, so we have to get this hunk of metal behind the bumper inside of this Tesla. So

  • we're going to tear off the whole back end to get it installed, but it's not as hard

  • as it sounds. This is called the Eco Hitch – I'll have it linked down in the video

  • description. This video is not sponsored. But this thing has a towing capacity of 2,000

  • pounds, and a tongue weight of 200 pounds.

  • Now, obviously, like we mentioned before, Tesla's not actually rated to tow stuff. But

  • at the same time, Tesla's are super powerful vehicles with electric motors and, you know,

  • large batteries inside. So it's not like it's going to hurt the car to throw a couple bikes

  • on the back or to tow a trailer every now and then. It's probably not the best idea

  • to put like a mobile home behind this thing. But, you know, 2,000 pounds is 2,000 pounds.

  • We'll test it out here at the end.

  • You nervous yet? Alright, for this little plastic piece over the top of the light, this

  • little guy is kind of hard to unscrew and we don't want to scratch it up because the

  • Tesla is kind of nice. So we're going to take these pliers with a cloth over it and then

  • grab it and twist it like that because the pliers are longer than your hands are. And

  • once it's started, it will come off the rest of the way.

  • Let's keep going. Alright, so there are 2 little plastic pins on the inside that you

  • just pop off this top and then the whole thing collapses inside allowing you to pull the

  • whole contraption out from underneath, allowing this felt piece to pull away, giving us access

  • to the taillights. And then to pull the taillight out, there are 2 bolts holding it in and both

  • of these are 8 millimeters.

  • Alright, after those 2 nuts are released from the bolts, the whole thing comes away. There

  • are 2 little pins: one here and one here. And the way that they're shaped, they go inside

  • these little plugs. So just a little bit of force pops the whole light out of the housing.

  • So the other...the passenger taillight is the same way. It has those 2 little nuts inside.

  • And then hopefully...yep, same 2 little clasps right here. So now the taillights are out

  • and now we can work on the bumper.

  • [Ben] So we've got these 2 pushpins that hold this side of the bumper into the wheel well

  • And then just one torque screw that holds it all together.

  • [Zack] Okay, so we are underneath the Model 3 right now and there are...these are all

  • 10 millimeter bolts. There are 3 over here on this end and we're moving this bottom plastic

  • plate. And then there are 2 more clips right here on the very end right next to the bumper.

  • And these can be pulled down with just a screwdriver popping out this plastic piece and then you

  • have full access to the bolts right there. So let's pull off this plastic chunk.

  • Remember, throughout this whole process it's probably a good idea to keep your screws organized,

  • as with any project. There are 2 more bolts up here at the top of the bumper underneath

  • where those headlights used to be. And by headlights, I mean taillights.

  • So the bumper itself is all made of plastic and it's got these little clasps right here.

  • So I'm going to unclip all of these. [Snapping sound] Oh! This isn't my car! And then all

  • of the rear sensors on the bumper are attached to this little guy. And then the whole thing

  • comes out. Looks like Ben's been collecting rocks under here for a little while. You been

  • taking this thing off-roading? Where have you been going buddy?

  • [Ben] Ha ha! I've just been jumping it, you know!

  • [Zack] And this is what a Tesla looks like without the whole bumper or taillights. How

  • are you feeling about not having your car in one piece anymore, Ben?

  • [Ben] Ha ha! I feel alight. I'm a little worried about the Ikea nature of the assembly, but

  • I know where to go if we lose any of these parts.

  • [Zack] Those plastic push pins are impressive.

  • [Ben] Yes! You know, get some cinnamon rolls while you're there. It's cool.

  • [Zack] Okay, so all the plastic bumper stuff is off. There's this metal piece right here

  • called the crash bar, and there are 3 bolts on either side. Three where Ben is at, and

  • then 3 right here inside of these little holes. And each of them are 15 millimeters. And then

  • the whole crash bar pulls up and away from the frame.

  • So this is the hitch right here, and you see how it has this sloping plate? The car also

  • has a sloping plate. So this piece of metal right here, we actually take off and discard.

  • We don't need it. But to access this metal, we have to remove this. And these are all

  • 10 millimeter bolts, and there are 5 of them. One here...two...three...four...and five.

  • [Ben] I'm just going to pull this clip off, and you just set it inside.

  • [Zack] Man, this is pretty brutal. So these are the same 15 millimeter bolts all the way

  • around this. And once they are all off, we don't need this piece of metal anymore because

  • the slope is included on the actual hitch itself. Alright, so you remember that piece

  • we just pulled off and discarded? There are these little plastic washers that are included

  • with the kit that we're going to put on each one of these little bolts, and that's to keep

  • the 2 metals separate from each other. And it could be for vibrations, to minimize them,

  • or it also could be because 2 dissimilar metals fusing together is a thing and we don't want

  • that to happen.

  • So the white washers go on these bolts as well as the 3 bolts right here on the mount

  • itself, and that's where the crash bars installs once the hitch is on the Model 3. Perfect.

  • So now the hitch is installed on the back of the Model 3. This part right here is removable.

  • I'll show you that in a second. And all of these nuts are tightened down to 50 pound

  • feet of torque. So the thing with torquing down all of these bolts to the 50 foot pounds

  • of torque is so that the torque wrench, right when you hit the right amount of torque, it

  • will do this clicking thing. [Click sound] Right there. And that's when you know when

  • to stop, and the nut is tight enough on the bolt. Then the crash bar attaches right onto

  • the hitch itself, with the white washers between it and the hitch to prevent that corrosion.

  • So the crash bar is also installed now, and each of the nuts holding it in place are also

  • torqued down to that same 50 foot pounds of torque that the base hitch was torqued down

  • to. This part right here is the hitch. And the whole hitch is hidden except for this

  • part right here which sticks up inside of the bumper and attaches to the hitch itself

  • that we just mounted. But in order for that to happen, we do have to cut the only cut

  • that we're going to make, a hole in the bottom of that plastic piece underneath the bumper

  • itself. That way, with the hole there, this can slip inside of the hole, and then this

  • will protrude out, but only when we actually want to tow something. That way when we're

  • not actually towing something, we can take it out and it's hidden and the Tesla 3 looks

  • like it has no hitch.

  • So probably the scariest part of this ordeal is cutting into the bumper itself. But it's

  • actually a lot simpler than it seems. We have the bumper off of the car, set right here.

  • And to get the correct measurements, we're measuring from the inside of the car to the

  • outside where the bumper is at. And right here, measuring along this center line, we're

  • looking at 26 and ½ inches, which is this line right here. And in the instructions it

  • says that if we put a dot right here, which is ¾ of an inch, from this one center line,

  • we can use a 4 inch hole saw and cut right there, and then put another dot over here,

  • 2 and ¼ inches from the center line, and use that same 4 inch hole saw right here.

  • We don't have a 4 inch hole saw, so we used this pink candle, set it right here and got

  • the diameters correct. And then we can use a jig saw to cut that hole out and it accomplishes

  • the same thing.

  • And there we have it. Perfectly cut for the hitch.

  • Alright so the bumper is in place. It's clipped in in both wheel wells. We have the little

  • plastic tacks and both torque screws going up in the top, connecting the bumper and the

  • wheel wells. And Ben just finished installing all the bolts underneath that plastic skid

  • plate. So we should be good to go after we install the brake lights. We have to test

  • out the trailer.

  • Alright so we have the passenger taillight installed. Remember it has that plastic bit

  • up top. Then we got the driver's side taillight for the Model 3. Now it's in. And we'll plug

  • it in and get those 2 nuts screwed in on the backside. And this is what it looks like with

  • the hitch installed.

  • Let's get that trailer on.

  • [Music playing]

  • Alright, so we have the Model 3 hooked up to this 1700 pound trailer, which is pretty

  • close to maxing out the towing capacity of the hitch we just installed. But we're going

  • to give it a try anyway. Like I said, it's not my Model 3 so I'm totally fine doing whatever.

  • [Music playing]

  • So I think the trailer did good. I was on the trailer, so how did it feel from the inside?

  • [Ben] It felt good. It didn't have any kind of hesitation about pulling it. It felt strong.

  • I was more worried about the trailer kind of bouncing around and stuff, but it felt

  • solid.

  • [Zack] Obviously we weren't going super fast in a parking lot testing it out because we

  • don't have the lights and stuff on the back of it. Depends on what state you're in, you

  • might need a wiring harness and brake lights and all of that stuff. But for a bike rack

  • and stuff – I think it would be great.

  • [Ben] Yeah, for any reasonable amount of needs that you would have for a vehicle like this,

  • it performs well. So thumbs up.

  • [Zack] You might not use that hitch all the time, but sometimes it's useful to have on

  • there.

  • [Ben] And when you don't need it, it's totally hidden.

  • [Zack] If you have any questions or comments, leave them down in the comments section. Check

  • out Ben's channel. I'll leave a link right here. And thanks a ton for watching. I'll

  • see you around.

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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