[HandynTechy]

I purchased a trailer hitch, folding basket adapter, wiring harness & 4-pole mounting bracket from eTrailer. It took 3 days from order to deliver the items from MO to MD.

Install time took about 2 hours. Take off about 30 mins or so if you already know where to lift your Carnival and don’t need to install a carrier.

Here’s the purchase order:

Tools used:

Pry bar was used to remove rubber exhaust mounts. There are tools specifically for this task but this is what I had in my tool box.

3/4 Socket & 19mm Ratchet Wrench were used to install the bolts.

Red handle tool was used to pull the grommets out the under carriage cover. And I used my Dremel to cut the cover.

I placed a floor jack near the rear wheels to lift the Carnival and then placed my floor jacks under the shocks.

The green mark is where the 2nd exhaust mount is located. The 1st mount is near the end of the pipe.

Yellow: Grommet locations
Red: Cut outs. eTrailer provides the measurements. You could very well cut out a smaller section.
Not shown: this side was very easy to mount. The wiring harness installs here too. Plug and play and run your 4-pole underneath or along the hitch.

I spent more time than I wanted installing this side. I have big hands and I didn’t drop the exhaust enough for my hands & tools to fit. The swivel head ratchet wrench was a time saver.

To be continued in the comments section…

 

[HandynTechy]

I didn’t end up using the 4-Pole bracket because the wiring harness cable was to short for my carrier. I may either get an extension or a plastic wiring cover.
Folded Carrier
Carrier Down

 

[HandynTechy]

From our Spring Break Trip!

Having the folding basket adapter was a game changer and a must have if there’s any chance you need to park in a garage or need to use valet service. Folding the basket up does block the back up camera but the sensors still work well. With the basket down and backing up, you can still see everything but the sensors go crazy. Not a big deal to me though.

 

[Kia-Driver]

Nice job on the install!
Carnival (and Sedona) needs a Tow Mode to turn off the sensors when either towing or installing a carrier.

My Sedona bugged me with this as well. Anytime I pulled a trailer or had my Hitch-Haul carrier mounted, my BSD system would flag a warning, and the warning would stay on the screen. If I switched to any other view, 10 seconds later it would beep and switch back to the BSD warning.

Come on Kia, give us a Tow Mode that'll prevent that from happening!

 

[trippster08]

It looks awesome! What is the ground clearance of the hitch receiver? Do you have scraping problems? Thanks

 

[HandynTechy]

The receiver actually sits higher than the hitch frame. The outside ends of hitch frame where it bolts to the Van frame hangs about as low as the mud flaps. I’ll get exact measurements and post in a follow up. I only have had one scraping issue and the scenario actually warranted some sort of scrapping.

The rear end was loaded down with passengers, luggage in the back and carrier loaded. I pulled into a parking garage too fast and there was some sort of hump leading down and I didn’t see it in time to reduce my speeds. It scraped but there was no serious damage.