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Gen2 - 2006 Curt Hitch Install + Factory Wiring Harness

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13K views 52 replies 20 participants last post by  Campjp  
#1 ·
I had this little gem living on another little xterra forum and I thought it could use some play over here. I know its no big thing for most of you but this might help someone out down the road so here goes. Enjoy!

The Deal:
I looked around a lot, hidden/valley/curt/uhaul/shrock.. I thought about getting the base shrock rear bumper with shackles but this truck is really going to be a city/town beater with the occasional camping trip, home improvement haul, and possibly 1 xterra rally a year (mostly for the camping haha).

N E way, found this deal at jcwhitney (they are always running different deals so idk what they'll have when you click the link)

http://www.jcwhitney.com/CURT-CLASS...SS-III-ROUND-TUBE-RECEIVERS/GP_2011910_N_111+2006+200729034+600002324_10101.jcw

This hitch is the middle of the road as far as weight goes... Most of them are GTW 3,500 TW 300, The valley is supposedly 5000 and 500. The curt hitch is 4000 and 400. But, you get the hitch with a free 2" drop ball mount (at least when I bought mine). it was $131 shipped to my door, using the free shipping code they have up right now.. SAVENOW.. I ordered Saturday, it was here yesterday (Wednesday) They are always running deals, find a coupon code!

I know some people are choosy when it comes to packaging, this arrived in a box and not one scratch on it. Everything was taped to the hitch so nothing was banging around to scratch it up. I was going to install this tonight but I ran out of steam and daylight. boob tube here I come.

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I will spare you some details, actually most of the details cause when you order this hitch you'll get all the directions and there is a great youtube video on the install, just search for 'xterra hitch install' eTrailers.com provided it.
 
#3 ·
They say to drop the back hanger for your exhaust (and the spare obviously) but if i were to do this again my exhaust was not in the way at all and with me doing it myself It would have made a better helper at holding up that side of the hitch while i got the bolt started on the other side.

If you have watched the youtube video they will show you that the bolt in the picture below is used to get your hitch up in the rear-end and allow you to get the rest of the bolts started, then you take this bolt out and slide a washer between the frame and hitch and slide the bolt and washer back on.

The hardware that came with this curt hitch did not come with the washers to slide inbetween.... I ended up driving down to autozone to pick myself up the washer pack also pictured below. I think that I could have even used two washers instead of just one.
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#4 ·
This picture shows why the washers are helpful, maybe even necessary. You'll notice that if you don't use any washers you end up bending the bracket. I figure that the hitch shouldnt go through any unneeded stress. You can see that even though I added the single washer The bracket ends up bending some anyway, In hindsight I would probably have put two (maybe three) washers of that thickness on both sides.
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#6 ·
I really like the step plate that is on top of the hitch. Really makes a nice spot to step up on and then to the bumper if needed. You may be wondering where my spare tire is in the picture... Id really like to know too... Dealership is still figuring that out too.. I really dont like dealing with them.. Supposedly I'll be all taken care of monday.. so they say..

I'm off to the parts department tomorrow to get the wiring harness, pics should follow at some point. They quoted me 60 over the phone.. its 55 everywhere else.... I'll take a print out tomorrow... thats a gallon of gas after all
 
#7 ·
I picked up the wiring harness today.. Another run in with the con-artists at the dealership. courtesy nissan (online) listed it for $56.39, Universal Nissan here in Orlando FL quoted me $55.60 over the phone but they live on the other side of the city from me. And I wanted to install today (well, yesterday now, saturday morning). So I went to the closest dealer that had it.. Reed Nissan here in Orlando, they wanted $60 and I asked for a price match and they basically said deal with it we can charge what we want..
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#8 ·
This set up was really easy, minus a little custom work I decided to put forth. I looked at a couple options and saw some people recommending the factory wiring harness and I would as well, very easy and a perfect factory fit.

If you were to buy the factory hitch, you would have a nice bracket to accept your 7pin receiver/harness. As you'll see in the pics below I devised my own plan. I have also read a bunch of stuff about people bending up the brackets off roading, and I'm a bit OCD and if something exists on one side, it should exist on the other. So my solution keeps it out of sight and out of harms way.

Any who, I started by making a cardboard template of the 7pin receiver, taped up the section on the bumper I decided to cut on, took my cardboard template and traced it onto the bumper. The next picture (to the right) shows the cut out, I used a jig saw with a metal blade and cleaned it with my air tool similar to a dremel. The bottom two pictures will show the final product.

If I were to do it again I think I would move it another 1/4 inch or so closer to the drivers side in hopes of straightening it out some more. Its a bit tricky to find the sweet spot, the bumper isnt exactly flat under there, so I was shooting for a satisfactory position. If you got yourself a pin receiver that was set up right you could use a whole saw and put it right on the face of the bumper, the factory harness does not really allow for that type of install, and I like a cleaner look.
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#9 ·
Here is the rest of the rear wiring harness install, the red arrow shows the re-location of the black connector. Its found on the outside of that leaf spring mount/support bracket. I stuck a long slender flat head screw driver up that bracket to pop out the black connector from its original location. I have marked the new wiring harness connections with green lines. I routed the black connector through the channel found behind that bundle and made the turn to plug into the newly relocated factory connector. The gray was was a no brainer ;)
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#10 ·
Ok, first picture here shows the passenger side kick panel. The install of the relay pack. Apparently some models have an AMP.. ? where the relay pack is located in my picture (lower part of the green line). So if your using this as a template you might have to lay your pack out a little different. The rest of the pics are just more views of the finished product.

From what I understand everything is all set now, I still wont have electric brakes until I buy some kind of modulator, but now that all the relay packs are in and the back is all hooked up there is a connector under the steering column to plug an electric break module in and the 7pin will be fully functional.
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#14 · (Edited)
Here you go (although it's pretty dirty, lol.)

I don't think it looks too much different though from the rest. From all the info I gathered before buying one, it's the same as the oem one without the little mount for the 7 pin plug, but cost like $200 less, lol. Oh and it doesn't come with the plastic piece for the step, and you can't buy it seperate from nissan either, so I'm just going to make my own.

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You know what would go great with those hitches, is a cool lightup X hitch plug, lol.

Availible here: http://www.graveyardgraphics.com/clubxterralogos.htm :wink-big:

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#16 ·
nice swirl on the plate.. hah.. weird.. i was expecting the Valley to be square for some reason... I kept trying to find pics when i was going to buy.. but couldnt... idk why they would rate the valley's 5000 and not the curt like i got... weird...

yeah its annoying you cant buy the pad for the step.... with everyone using rhino liner for everything I was thinking about slapping some of that stuff on my step..
 
#17 ·
TN4x4Xterra said:
Creepy....you shouldn't have had to twirl your license plate...its not like we're gonna stalk you or anything! ;)
Click to expand...
LOL, I'm not worried at all about you guys, it's all the freaks out there on the rest of the interweb I'm worried about, lol. You can get a lot of info on someone from thier plate. Better safe than sorry.
 
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S
#18 ·
Thanks for the write up. I ran into a problem maybe you guys can help me. I got the uhaul hitch and it's solid after the install. I looks exactly like your Curt hitch and has the same ratings. My problem was that where you used 1 washer, I had to use 3. And the bumper bolts, I had to use 2 washers on each bolt. This would not weaken the strength of the hitch would it?
I don't know why the fit was off about 1/2" (1/4" on each side).
 
#19 ·
Hmm.. I did a lot of reading and watched the videos I could find on youtube about the 2nd gen hitch installs. Many of the hitches just plain come bent.. And if the Uhaul actually comes from a different manufacturer (sometimes these hitches are the exact same thing just re-branded) the specs/quality control might not be as good as the one I bought..

But to try and answer your questions directly.. Like I said in my write up, I would have used at least another washer where I had put 1. I had bought the thickest washers I could find, so if you had to use three maybe they were not as thick.. even if they were I would not be suprised if it took three on each side.

I do not think the washers would hurt the strength at all, as long as everything is tight, and if you used large/tall washers like I did I think you would b a o k.

There was some play on either side of my hitch during the install, I don't think it was 1/4" on each side though.. I just torqued them down..
 
#21 ·
Just finished installing the wiring on mine. I tried doing it without dropping the spare tire and just couldn't see where to move the rearward plug, the over-photocopied pictures in the instructions are useless but yours helped immensely, more rep for you!
 
R
#22 ·
I've got the same hitch. I think mine actually came with a dog leg in the mounting plates so I didn't need an extra washer or anything. It was a bit bent and needed some definite stretching to get it to fit. Have used it one a few occasions, no problems though.

I did approach the install of the wiring harness differently, though. I didn't like having the whole thing hanging out there, so I recessed it a bit.

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Works pretty well.
 
#23 ·
@Fzzt I am glad you resurrected this and gave it some props. Its really the whole reason why I posted it, in hopes of helping someone out.

@Ron ap Rhys Thanks for posting your pic, gives everyone more ideas on how to mount. I thought about that idea and it looks good. I wanted to hide mine a little more though. One thing about mine though... Those adapters to go from 7-4 pin's are not very tight and I thought my adapter was going to fall out because as you can tell with my set up after you plug it in it kind of hangs down so gravity/bumps could pull it down and out. I have used it a lot though and I havnt lost it yet. The spring loaded 7-pin cover helps keep it in place. If I have problems I am sure it wont be hard to fashion a spacer or something to make it a tight fit.
 
R
#24 ·
I've not had a problem - the 7-4 adapter I picked up fits in there pretty well. Of course, being horizontal vs vertical helps a bit, but it is what it is.

When I did that one, my cut lines weren't all they could be so when I get a solid rear bumper like a Shrock or the like, I'll get a bit more precise with my cuts.
 
D
#25 ·
Hey all, I am new here and was browsing this thread. I have an 09' and bought and installed the Curt hitch on a Saturday in June. On Wednesday I was driving home during the morning rush hour and a Mazda 6 rearended me. He smacked right into my new hitch at about 30 miles an hour while I was stopped. Here is a couple of pictures.

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I had the Xterra for two weeks. The body shop had it for three weeks. The X had to have a completely new frame trucked in and installed. $8800.00.
 
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