Here is the finished hitch minus a couple of gussets and some holes to hook the safety chains to. I don't have any material here at home to make the gussets so I'll wait till monday after work to add them. I've also decided to throw another $30 or $40 bucks at it and get it powder coated - no sense in having a rusty old hitch on a new vehicle.
Found the link to this thread at Rav4 World. Very nice job, I can appreciate how much work you put into that. It's good to know that I wasn't the only one driven to build my own Rav4 hitch. I hit all the same attachment points but with a slightly different layout. Described here Rav4 forum RAV4World - :: View topic - Low-profile trailer hitch More pics here RAV4World - :: Album. If I had it to do again, I'd recess it completely like the Australian version, which I can't find a link for at the moment.
The M8 bolts in the rear on the "black brackets" that I chopped were very difficult to install. I knew this going in and had every combination of driver, extension, socket and universal I own at the ready - still tough. In fact, I couldn't get the left side ones in at all, I ran out of time tonight. I'll have to loosen all of them and mess with it on the weekend. It's not falling off with nine M12 and three M8 bolts in tight! The muffler hanger is disconnected in this shot - it mounts higher than shown here.
The hitch is fairly well hidden
Center of the receiver is at just over 12" off the ground
I still have to source a plug and play wiring harness for the electrical.
I didn't think of taking pictures until I was done, but today I installed the wiring harness in the Rav. I just went to a local hitch shop and bought the harness for $60.00 CDN- a little more than I figured. I could have shopped around and saved ten bucks but I didn't bother. Once I got home and opened the packaging I read the instructions, I know - who does that? It was basically a plug and play with the exception of a power lead run from the battery to the controller in the kit. My guess is that because the tail lights on the Rav are LED and draw very little power the vehicle harness was not designed to support the load of the trailer lights. That power lead required me to pop off the tread covers in the drivers side door openings as well as the trim in the cargo area to run the wire. I fished the wire through the main harness grommet on the fire wall and followed it to the battery. I crimped on the supplied fused link and connected the wire to the positive terminal. Part of the vehicles harness runs through clips hidden under the tread covers in the doorways. The clips are nicely designed and allow you to add a wire easily. The connectors for the tail lights just snap in and are reached through the access doors on each side in the rear (the jack storage door and the tool bag storage door on the other side). You do have to loosen and pop off the big rear interior panels to run the wires across the back. When not in use the wire to the trailer stores in the left side storage compartment. When in use you just hang it out the door and shut it.
Also I did finally install the three hard to reach bolts on the drivers side of the hitch - took my time and worked through the hand cramps.
First thing I did was run about an hour north to pick up my utility trailer I had stored at my uncle's place. Hooked up, plugged in and safety chained. Dragged her home like nothing was there, of course it was empty. Now I can use the hitch for it's intended purpose - assisting in the FJ45 rebuild .
I hit all the same attachment points but with a slightly different layout. Described here Rav4 forum 
