hidden trailer hitches
Roast em' if you got 'em
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 22,044
Likes: 10,055
From: Rio Rancho, NM
...ah, the good old days.....
Bobby
Cargo Master
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 3,338
Likes: 167
From: Harpswell Maine
John... you are da man !!! that's exactly what I was looking for... gonna call tomorrow and verify a few measurements... I have the Mustang tank out back and have to make sure I can squeeze it all in...
thanks man... and thanks to all with suggestions and ideas... THAT'S why I love this place !
john
thanks man... and thanks to all with suggestions and ideas... THAT'S why I love this place !
john
Thanks for starting this thread. It could help a number of us. I am looking at the same "hidden hitch" for my 49. Did you happen to get a height measurement, explicitly from the top of the hitch mounting flange where it mounts to the frame to the top of the receiver. I would call this the "drop" measurement. From the pictures it looks like about 2 inches.
EDIT: I called on the hidden hitch and the answer to my question was 1", close but not quite! I will keep looking.
Thread Starter
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old and in the way
Joined: Jul 1997
Posts: 5,928
Likes: 1,055
From: Lovely Hueytown Alabama
John,
Thanks for starting this thread. It could help a number of us. I am looking at the same "hidden hitch" for my 49. Did you happen to get a height measurement, explicitly from the top of the hitch mounting flange where it mounts to the frame to the top of the receiver. I would call this the "drop" measurement. From the pictures it looks like about 2 inches.
EDIT: I called on the hidden hitch and the answer to my question was 1", close but not quite! I will keep looking.
Thanks for starting this thread. It could help a number of us. I am looking at the same "hidden hitch" for my 49. Did you happen to get a height measurement, explicitly from the top of the hitch mounting flange where it mounts to the frame to the top of the receiver. I would call this the "drop" measurement. From the pictures it looks like about 2 inches.
EDIT: I called on the hidden hitch and the answer to my question was 1", close but not quite! I will keep looking.
later
John
Cargo Master
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 3,338
Likes: 167
From: Harpswell Maine
John, Thank you for providing the measurements. My research let me to a Drawtite #5350 to get the drop in the 2+" range. This is an adjustable width hitch normally used on a motorhome. It comes in 3 pieces, 2 side pieces with pockets to insert the 2 1/2" cross truck square tube. You cut the tube to length. I had a discussion with the tech line at the manufacturer for Reese, Drawtite, Hidden hitch and others. My critical measurement is the total drop since I tucked my bumper higher and closer to the bed than stock. I have not pulled the trigger yet but am getting closer.
Roast em' if you got 'em
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 22,044
Likes: 10,055
From: Rio Rancho, NM
Just a thought for those considering making their own reciever hitch. Its well worth the money to buy the actual reciever tube.
Sure you can get a section of tubing anywhere but when you go and weld on the strengthening collar around the edge it warps it enough so that the stinger won't slide in easily.
Bobby
Sure you can get a section of tubing anywhere but when you go and weld on the strengthening collar around the edge it warps it enough so that the stinger won't slide in easily.
Bobby
Cargo Master
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 2,624
Likes: 7
From: OR and UT
Just a thought for those considering making their own reciever hitch. Its well worth the money to buy the actual reciever tube.
Sure you can get a section of tubing anywhere but when you go and weld on the strengthening collar around the edge it warps it enough so that the stinger won't slide in easily.
Bobby
Sure you can get a section of tubing anywhere but when you go and weld on the strengthening collar around the edge it warps it enough so that the stinger won't slide in easily.
Bobby
Great thread, by the way.
Senior User
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 115
Likes: 0
From: San Francisco, CA
I have a hitch behind a stock-mounted rear bumper. We fabricated brackets so it would mount at the location we wanted. You can see pictures in my gallery here:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...&albumid=37087
https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...&albumid=37087
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Thread Starter
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old and in the way
Joined: Jul 1997
Posts: 5,928
Likes: 1,055
From: Lovely Hueytown Alabama
thanks Paul
that's a serious hitch... you've got more room with a bumper than with a roll pan.
I've got about 2.5" from from the back bar on the tank frame to the back of the tag box on the roll pan... not a lot of room... I think it fabrication time ! I found a hitch with a shorter tube that might work or might be 'adjusted'. Other priorities right now.
I'll take a pic of the back end to show my limitations. I can move the tank forward about 2" which might help...but that's something else that needs to be done and paint to screw up... hoping to do as little damage to the pretty frame as possible..
thanks for the suggestion I might want to get some dimensions from you later
john
that's a serious hitch... you've got more room with a bumper than with a roll pan.
I've got about 2.5" from from the back bar on the tank frame to the back of the tag box on the roll pan... not a lot of room... I think it fabrication time ! I found a hitch with a shorter tube that might work or might be 'adjusted'. Other priorities right now.
I'll take a pic of the back end to show my limitations. I can move the tank forward about 2" which might help...but that's something else that needs to be done and paint to screw up... hoping to do as little damage to the pretty frame as possible..
thanks for the suggestion I might want to get some dimensions from you later
john
Thread Starter
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old and in the way
Joined: Jul 1997
Posts: 5,928
Likes: 1,055
From: Lovely Hueytown Alabama
this picture shows the delima... I can move the tank frame forward a little (2") but that's more stuff to screw up paint
picture tells the tale... pardon all the clutter and crap...
edit..... did another email to EC tech support... still no reply, did a little more measuring and find 4" between the bottom of the frame rail and the bottom of the tag box in the roll pan... so the mounts, cross bar and hitch tube have to fit in a 4" high space if the hitch bolts to the bottom of the rail... don't think that's gonna happen ! I think more and more that a fab mount is gonna do here... with a cross rail mounted inside the frame rails or snug up against it...and the receiver tube mounted to that. If it's snug up under it the actual mounting plates could be on the outside of the rail and substantial enough to handle anything... although the trailer I plan on pulling is just an old coke cooler rehabbed into a trailer..
j
Thread Starter
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old and in the way
Joined: Jul 1997
Posts: 5,928
Likes: 1,055
From: Lovely Hueytown Alabama
and yet there is more...
sketched up what I think will be the answer... the hitch will have to wrap around the frame rails and tuck up under the frame rails tightly so the receiver will fit in the box opening
I'll also have to move the tank forward to allow enough length on the receiver tube to hold a hitch bar and get a pin in it...
find the flaws in the plan ???
sketched up what I think will be the answer... the hitch will have to wrap around the frame rails and tuck up under the frame rails tightly so the receiver will fit in the box opening
I'll also have to move the tank forward to allow enough length on the receiver tube to hold a hitch bar and get a pin in it...
find the flaws in the plan ???
Mountain Pass
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 237
Likes: 0
From: Niles, MI
that looks like it should work quite well..
A few words of advice:
I bought a used reciever hitch at a swap meet that was a bit bigger than I actually needed. I cut off the side brackets and used the main tube and reciever tube only. I fit it up to the frame rails and added 1/4" plates to each end that were bolted to the frame. Total cost was about $25. Sorry I dont have any pics, it was along time ago on a truck that has long since been scrapped.
As for the flip down plate bracket... GM used them on full size cars thru the late 90s... Caprice, Impala, Roadmaster, Fleetwood, 98 all had them, as did Gbodies ( Monte Carlo, Regal, Grand Prix and Cutlass ) thru 1988.
A few words of advice:
I bought a used reciever hitch at a swap meet that was a bit bigger than I actually needed. I cut off the side brackets and used the main tube and reciever tube only. I fit it up to the frame rails and added 1/4" plates to each end that were bolted to the frame. Total cost was about $25. Sorry I dont have any pics, it was along time ago on a truck that has long since been scrapped.
As for the flip down plate bracket... GM used them on full size cars thru the late 90s... Caprice, Impala, Roadmaster, Fleetwood, 98 all had them, as did Gbodies ( Monte Carlo, Regal, Grand Prix and Cutlass ) thru 1988.
Roast em' if you got 'em
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 22,044
Likes: 10,055
From: Rio Rancho, NM
Do you have a buddy that works at a body shop? If so then they typically have used reciever hitches laying about. My buddy told me that the law says they have to replace the receiver hitch on any truck that has been smacked in the rear....wether the hitch has any damager or not.
It could be good source of a donor hitch to modify
Bobby
It could be good source of a donor hitch to modify
Bobby
