2022 Hitch Install

jjeeatx said:

How to install a factory hitch to a 2022 Acura MDX w/ Advanced Package (kick motion sensor) I apologize in advance for not providing detail images, but as you will learn, some parts were so difficult to install, I didn't want to take it apart to take photos. But with combination of some great Youtube links (provided below) and instructions below, I think you will get it. Good luck. It's about a 3 hour job for an amateur like myself. Tools - pretty much same as the original poster here minus some cutting tools since I purchased the factory hitch trim kit ($161) versus cutting out a large notch. 10mm combination (ratcheting type makes it way easier) - Couldn't agree more for this job 18mm socket 6” extension Torque wrench (63 ft/lbs for the (6) bolts) - I did mine to 70ft/lbs. Not a big difference here. Razor or other short blade knife (only used to cut out the plastic cover piece on the hitch trim kit where wire harness connection would stick out) Small flat head or better yet, plastic retainer clip remover tool https://www.autozone.com/test-scan-...l+kit&fromString=search&isIgnoreVehicle=false You wont need this trim removal kit, if you are really careful not to break those plastic push trim clips. I am not, so I had some laying around. Parts to purchase from your Acura Dealer - About $1,000 (including tax) 08L91-TYA -200 $218 plus tax - Harness Kit (aka all the wires that connects to your trailer lights). IMPORTANT - Do not get 08L91-TYA-200A if you have an advanced package. 200A comes with an extra wire connection and a separate kick sensor kill switch. On the advance package - The kick sensor kill switch (safety feature so no one gets caught between door and trailer) is controlled by your dashboard menu. Acura gave me the 200A part by mistake and it took me an hour trying to figure out what the extra wires were for. 08L92-TYA-200 $316 plus tax - The hitch with 6 bolts 08L91-TYA-200B $245 pus tax - The kick sensor kit. There are some debates out there about if this piece is really worth keeping. I find the kick sensor on these 2022 Acura MDX to be glitchy and I look stupid kicking my car endlessly to make it work. But I installed it since I didn't want to lose any potential resale value. But be warned - the kick sensor will only work by kicking on the right side (passenger side) if you want to keep this feature. As of this posting - This sensor was on 3 months backorder, but Acura sold me one by mistake (probably meant for someone else). If you are wondering if you can install this later after all else is installed, the answer is no. It was very challenging to install the trim with sensor without the hitch getting in the way. So I can't imagine how you can install this part later without completely taking down your hitch. But I am an amateur, so maybe you can do it. 08L92-TYA-200B $161 plus tax - The bumper trim piece versus cutting out a notch on the existing piece. Now to the actual installation - Important: install trim and kick sensor first and install the actual hitch last. 1. Remove the existing trim piece - This video was the best. Just ignore his comments about cutting a notch on the new trim piece IF you decided to purchase a new kick sensor kit. I suppose you can keep the existing kick sensor if you follow his notch cutting technique, but I don't know for sure. I generally don't like cutting factory parts to make things fit.

2. IMPORTANT - as the Youtube video shows, save all the plastic push pins and bolts. The new parts don't come with these. 3. Attach the new kick sensor 08L91-TYA-200B to the new trim piece 08L92-TYA-200B. Sorry no images here but it essentially fits together in only one correct way. Align the two philips screw holes on top and tighten with two philips screws provided. If you did this right, the bottom two holes will connect to the new trim piece using two plastic push clips that you saved from step 1. Now set this piece aside and go to Step 4 4. Installing the harness/wiring kit 08L91-TYA -200 - This Youtube video was perfect EXCEPT it doesn't show you the proper way of attaching the "black box" to the car frame. I will describe it for you on Step 5

5. Installing the "black box" from the harness kit to the frame - It took me few minutes to figure this out- The kit should come with silver metal bracket. Attach this metal bracket using the same screw hole shown on Step 4 Youtube video of attaching the ground wire. In other words - This metal bracket and the ground wire are attached to the frame using the one bolt provided. The bracket only fits one way because of the small bent piece catches perfectly next to the screw hole. The kit also comes with a grey sponge with adhesive on one side. I am guessing (from prior experience) that you want to stick this sponge between the car frame and this metal bracket to avoid possible metal to metal vibration noise. Not 100% sure, but it made sense to me. Once you attach the metal bracket, you should be able to slide the "black box" onto this metal bracket. It takes little muscle power to slide this "black box" onto the bracket. 6. Now the hardest part - in my opinion - attaching the new trim/kick sensor piece from Step 3 above to the rear bumper. Laying underneath car you have to angle the trim piece about 45 degrees and it will slide into it's position (almost). For me - it was very challenging to attach this piece because I was so focused on matching up the 6 or 7 push tabs. After about an hour of frustration, I took a beer break and this time I focused on two bolt attachments on top of the trim piece. The key is that you have to focus on sliding the two tabs that are attached to the main bumper into two slits on the trim piece. If you examine the trim piece, you will see the slit where the two tabs from main bumper will have to slide into in order for you to bolt everything together. Yes - you can safely push and pull the main bumper to make this happen. Once I did that, all the remaining push tabs aligned itself perfectly. I hope this tip helps, if it doesn't work the first time, take a beer break (or white claw if you are under 30) and try again. Once you succeed, don't connect the kick sensor wire from the car to the kick sensor just yet. Do this after step 8. I made the mistake of attaching the wires connection at this stage and almost broke the wire when I was moving the hitch into it's place in step 8. 7. Before attaching the actual hitch to the frame of the car, you have to attach the trailer harness to the hitch first. Unless I did it wrong, I don't think you can do it after attaching the hitch because the bolt holes will be blocked by your trim piece. The harness kit comes with two bolts (two different lengths but same size) and two hex bolts. I also noticed that the harness wire is not long enough to attach to the hitch if the hitch is sitting on the ground. So I used the big sturdy box that the hitch came in to get the hitch closer to the harness and so I can attach the harness to the hitch by myself. But essentially the harness slides into a groove on the hitch and you secure it using the two bolts and hex nuts that came with harness kit. The longer of the two bolts goes into the right side hole (as you are looking at the harness from the connection side) 8. Attaching the hitch to the frame. This definitely takes two people and be careful not to drop the hitch or the bolts onto your face. I highly recommend (for few bucks) buying a round wire brush from HomeDepot to clean out the 6 holes on the car frame. Over time, dirt and debris will get in there making it hard for the bolt to get a good grip to start threading by hand. No real mystery here, just strong arm strength and start hand tightening the bolts. The bolts should start with little hand pressure, followed by 18MM socket wrench. If it doesn't go in smoothly, stop and start again. You should be able to get the bolt almost all the way in with very little effort. I started with the middle hole on both sides before doing the remaining four. IMPORTANT - When moving the hitch to align up with the holes, be careful of two wires (1. Harness is attached to the hitch now so you can't drop the hitch to the ground without snapping the wires 2. the kick sensor wire from the car - just make sure it's not stuck between the hitch and trim piece). Before tightening all the bolts, take a look at your handy work to make sure trim piece and hitch are aligned (visually). Now go ahead and tighten each bolt to 70 lbs/ft using the torque wrench and finally connect the kick sensor wire connector. I also zip tied the extra harness wire and kick sensor wire. I also noticed that the rubber gasket that comes with the harness kit doesn't want to stay and cover up the hole in the car frame. So I just used some metal duct tape to do the job. Again, apologies for not having any photos/videos. Doing it once was enough for me.

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