Hitch Installation

[RVD]

I recently purchased a hitch (Curt Class 1 Trailer Hitch 11419) and I believe that this should work for my 2018 Kia Soul EV. I do not plan to tow anything. I am simply looking for a hitch for my bike rack. I also have an interesting contraption that I use (connects to a ball on a hitch) to pull up my trash bins to the street (my house has a long uphill driveway which makes taking the trash bins out to the street a bit of a pain).

The receiver tube is only 1.25" but my bike rack supports both 1.25" and 2" so I should be ok there.

I also have an adapter to go from 1.25" to 2".

Anyway, I hope to get to actually doing this install this weekend but we'll see. I'll try to document as much as I can.

And yes, I did see the other thread with the other hitch from one of our local companies up here in the Seattle area (torkliftcentral) and that looked good but my car is a lease and didn't want to spend $300 on a hitch (the curt one is <$110 shipped via amazon).

 

[RVD]

So I started this hitch install last night.

There is a plastic cover on the bottom that must be removed. It contains ~10 plastic clips and ~6 10mm screw on bolts. The plastic clips are fairly easy to remove once you get the hang of it. You use a screwdriver to wedge between the head of the plastic clip and what looks kind of like a plastic washer. Once you do that with your screwdriver you can pull up on the head and leave the plastic washer flush to the tray and that will bring up the head a little bit. Once you do that, the plastic clip should pop out pretty easily by hand. It took me about 30 seconds to figure this out for the first one (natural instinct is to try to force pop the plastic clips out but don't do that).

There are 10mm screw on bolts on the sides and far end (middle of the car) so you will need a socket wrench (small one) or socket screwdriver to remove those.

There are 2 plastic clips in the middle and it is best to remove those last. The tray is not heavy though.

Removal of the tray took about 10 minutes so it's not difficult. I was able to do this crawling under the car without having to jack up the car and put the car on jack stands, etc. but if you do that, it will make life a little easier for you.

The next part was installing the actual hitch and I had some issues here because it just wouldn't fit right. It almost fit but was about 1cm too narrow I looked much closely and it appears that my hitch came slightly damaged so that's why it doesn't fit.

There are 6 big bolts to hold up the hitch and screw the hitch onto the car. The holes are already there and it looks like it's a perfect fit!

Since my hitch didn't fit, I ordered another one and I'm hoping that one will be better. In the meantime, I put the plastic cover back on again and will try again next week.

The plastic cover once removed.

The holes on the frame to mount the hitch.

The left side looks a little bent and damaged so it won't actually fit!

Top view looks like it's bent.

 

[HIKia2016]

Aloha! Did you get the hitch installed?

 

[RVD]

Not yet. I have a replacement hitch coming in because the first one was bent. It should be here this week so I hope to get to installing it this weekend (Saturday night).

 

[JohnKiaSoul]

What you need is this configuration for the EV Soul. I've been through some discussion with HitchWeb about the DrawTite model wrongly dispatch as a "non EV" hitch. (Anyway It wont fit due to the muffler in the ICE model!) I've got this one after getting your model before ... and returning it! The installation is quite simple and in fact it's only 4 bolts and a cut through the plastic cover. (I shouldn't mention it but i've also install the electrical wiring connector for towing a very light duty trailer because my EV cant have a roof rack!).
https://www.hitchweb.com/product/88/24915/Class-1-Hitch-Kia-Soul

 

[RVD]

btw, i did get this hitch installed when i got the replacement Curt hitch.

it fit perfectly using the existing holes.

you do need to take off that plastic cover and cut some holes in it to get the hitch + plastic covering to fit.

the left side of the hitch (when viewing your car from behind) is tough to tighten the bolts because there isn't much room to work with for a standard socket set, etc.

 

[penpal]

Anyone towing a trailer of any kind must be aware of the Combined Gross Vehicle Weight Restrictions for the vehicle. Anyone towing and exceeding the CGVWR is invalidating their auto insurance. The liability potential is horrendous.

 

[jray3]

Pen pal, I don’t know what country you’re writing from, but if you’re insured to operate the vehicle, your liability coverage is valid in the USA even if you decide to tow 5 tons with a Soul EV while drinking a beer with one hand and holding a phone in the other.
Sure, they’ll drop you like a hot potato after paying the claim and you’ll never get insured again, but that’s the nature of liability coverage, it’s a driver’s credit rating. Most passenger vehicles in the US don’t even have a GCVWR listed.
Comprehensive coverage for your vehicle is debatable, especially if you get a traffic citation from the triggering event, but online examples of denied claims due to towing weight seem scant.
Concerning the original topic, I installed the Torklift Central hitch and it fit great.