Step-By-Step Installation Tutorial for the Curt Trailer Hitch Receiver on a 2023 Ford F-150

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Hello neighbors, it's Brad here at etrailer and today we're taking a look at the CURT class IV trailer hitch receiver on a 2023 Ford F-150. Now this is what your hitch is gonna look like when it's installed on your truck and this is a pretty well hidden cross tube. You can see a little bit of the hitch hanging down, but overall it hides behind the bumper leaving the only thing visible, the receiver tube opening, the safety chain loops. Now this receiver is a two inch by two inch, which is great. There's gonna be tons of accessories whether you're picking a ball mount, bike rack, or cargo carrier. And all of those are gonna stay in place with the 5/8 pin and clip.
Now this is not included with the hitch. A lot of times when you pick up accessories they'll have one with it, but if you wanna leave your accessory on the vehicle long term, you might wanna look into getting a locking pin and clip. That way you can lock this in place and know that no one's gonna walk away with those accessories. A plate style safety chain loop here, so when hooking up your trailer with your safety chains, you can get a standard S hook on there, no problem. Even a larger clevis style is gonna work just fine.
Now speaking of towing, this is a pretty heavy duty hitch, so you're gonna have some serious towing capacity, at least at what it's rated at. Our gross trailer weight rating out the gate is gonna be 10,000 pounds and that's gonna be the weight of the trailer plus the accessories loaded onto it. And that's a pretty hefty gross trailer weight rating. As far as tongue weight rating, which is the downward pressure on the inside of the receiver tube opening, that can come into play when towing. Generally it should be 10 to 15% of the total weight of the trailer, but a lot of times it's gonna come into play with bike racks and cargo carriers, things that are suspended.
And with 1,000 pounds you could load up a four bike bike rack, no problem, a cargo carrier with no problem, and I don't think you'll ever go over that 1,000 pounds. Now if you need to bump up that capacity just a little bit, you can use a weight distribution hitch on here and that's gonna give you 12,000 pounds for your gross trailer weight rating, which is serious number there. Your tongue weight rating also goes up a little bit to 1,200 pounds. Now keep in mind, just because the hitch is rated that doesn't mean that the truck is, so check your vehicle's owner's manual to see what the truck is capable of towing and then compare that with the hitch as well as any of the accessories you'll be using to tow and take the lowest number. That way you stay safe.
And when choosing a ball mount, you wanna make sure that it sticks out far enough to where the coupler's not gonna make contact with a bumper. And if you're picking a bike rack or cargo carrier that stows in the upright position, you wanna make sure that it's gonna clear the bumper and this one coming from the center of the hitch pin hole, the furthest point of our bumpers three inches. So I really don't worry too much that you'll make contact. Now some of them keep in mind with those folding accessories when they're in stowed position, you probably won't be able to open up your tailgate, but it's generally gonna be empty so you can lower that down, still gain access if you need to. As far as ground clearance goes, this one is gonna come in at 17, 17 1/2 inches, somewhere in there. And that's a pretty good, you know, ground clearance for your suspended accessories. You wanna make sure that they're not gonna bottom out as you go up inclines. But also this is gonna be more important for choosing a ball mount and determining the rise or drop. So you can measure the coupler of your trailer and then compare that with the 17 1/2 inches, determine that rise or drop necessary that way your trailer's gonna be nice and level. Now as far as installation goes, this isn't too terribly hard to do. It's a little bit cumbersome and you're gonna probably want an extra set of hands to help raise it up to get the hardware in place. But other than that, it's just a few steps. Now if you are replacing your existing hitch, you get a little bit more capacity, you're obviously gonna have to remove that first. But as far as getting this in, I'll walk you through all those steps to make sure you get your hitch installed so let's take a look. To begin our installation, first you're gonna wanna remove your spare tire, so lower that down, get it out of the way. It's gonna give us a lot more room to work underneath here. A