Perhaps some poor soul out there with a Tundra can learn from my (unfortunately) extensive experience with two front hitches widely available for the Tundra: A Reese/Draw-Tite hitch, with a logical install method, but mounting holes that would not fit my vehicle; or this Curt hitch, which did fit, but had a mounting scheme apparently devised by bored chimpanzees. For starters, I strongly disagree with other review that calls this Curt hitch "super easy" to install. In fact, it can be a nightmare. I'm fairly handy mechanically, but the Curt method to add a third mounting bolt to strengthen this hitch (beyond the two existing bolt holes for tow hooks on '04-gen Tundras) is sort of a joke. Curt provides a flexible "fishwire" to drop a large bolt and mounting flange down into an existing access hole in the frame, about 10 inches to the rear of your newly drilled hole (the third hole) all the way up near the front of the hitch. You're supposed to pull the wire down through your newly drilled hole, fish the hardware forward, and the bolt, you hope and pray, will drop down through the hole, allowing you to nut it off, tighten down and be finished. In my case the fishwire broke off in my hand as I delicately tried to thread the bolt down through the new hole, leaving me with both bolt and mounting flange bouncing around inside the frame -- and no clear way to retrieve them. I was able, after three hours (literally) of effort, to use what remained of the fishwire to miraculously push the mounting nut flange up to the front of the frame and get it to drop out of a narrow opening there. And then I eventually got the bolt to the same position and in true McGyver fashion, managed to work it back along the frame rail and down through the mounting hole by employing some monofilament fish line reverse threaded through the hole via the supplied fishwire. Countless profane adjectives were uttered, but the bolt is now in place, albeit without the inside lock flange that's supposed to hold the carriage bolt in place for tightening. It did tighten enough regardless that it should stay put, and at least it's not loose, rattling around in there. Bottom line: It's a pretty stupid design. If you lose the hardware inside the frame, your only other recourse, I believe, would have been to remove the entire front bumper and access it through the open front end of the frame. This experience left me too traumatized to even attempt (so far) to put the third mounting bolt in on the other side. (For my very lightweight intended use, it's probably not necessary anyway). Plus, I have no intact fishwire to do so, and will have to seek a replacement from Curt. Something to consider: The comparable Reese/Draw-Tite hitch for this vehicle model is heavier, larger, slightly more expensive, and has a much more logical mounting system. That hitch sits much farther back on the frame of the vehicle. The third mounting hole in this design is directly below the large insertion opening in the frame. Draw-tite's third hole is to be drilled here, and the mounting bolt is inserted from the outside, to a nut that has a flexible metal handle for insertion down through the frame opening. You just bend the handle in the proper shape to get the nut straight down and onto the bolt. YOu never actually let loose of the nut handle until the bolt is threaded on. And you could use the handle, which stays attached and sticks through the opening to retrieve the nut later if you want to take the hitch off permanently. IMO it's an infinitely superior design, both for install purposes, and for overall hitch strenth, as it spaces your bolts out across a much larger space on the frame. I bought this hitch first, and unfortunately never got to this third bolt install, because the entire hitch was a touch too wide to fit the existing front mounting holes on my Tundra (for whatever reason; see my review of that product). I had to return it, receiving not an ounce of help or even sympathy from their parent company in the process. Amazon, however, was fantastic about the return, picking up the shipping on a very heavy item, which is why I shop here in the first place. If you're willing to take the chance on fit, the Draw-Tite Reese hitch is a better design. If you DO decide to install the Curt hitch, some advice: Make sure the third hole you drill in each side of the frame is VERY well rounded out by the bit, to ensure the bolt will fall through without requiring even a slight amount of tugging on the fishwire. Remember: The bolt will be a touch thicker than its original size (and the drill hole size) because of the fishwire wrapped around its threads. If I were to do this again, I also would loop some monofilament line or something around the head of the bolt and leave that hanging out of the insertion hole, just as a backup in case the fishwire broke again. That way you could at least retrieve the hardware and start over if things went bad. Of course, if you're only using your front hitch for a bike rack or rod holder or pushing around a very light trailer, you probably don't need three bolts in each side in the first place. I note that the same Curt hitch for newer-model Tundras (starting '07, I think) only uses two bolts, and they're not that much more spaced out along the frame than these are. Finally: The form/powder-coat finish of the Curt hitch is nicer than the Reese/Draw-Tite, as well. And it's almost 10 lbs lighter, if that matters to you one way or the other. Bottom line: For pushing around a very heavy trailer, I would want the Reese/Draw-Tite hitch, assuming it fit my rig (maybe mine really is the only one on the planet with mounting holes set 1/8 inch too far apart), because it would install without insanity, and looks beefier all around. For lighter apps, I would go with the Curt and just use two bolts on each side.
