I found a cheap hitch that has the bolt on sides, but it's a little too narrow. I was going to make 1" spacers for each side and was wondering if aluminum would be ok as steel will add some weight. Keep in mind that the spacers will be sandwiched in between the center section and the end plates. It will have three 1/2 grade 8 bolts going through on each side to hold it together.

So, to sum up my question......spacers aluminum or steel.

This is an example of the style I have.

 

Would it give you the required width if you swapped the end plates side to side?
Seems it may be a bit wider.
BTW, I would use steel if I had to make spacers

 

I checked it's too wide with the end plates swapped.

 

I would use steel tube and weld everything, no bolts.

 

If you wanted to bolt it together still, I would make two solid blocks, drilled, tapped, use 6-bolts & 6-lock washers per side.

If I was going to weld it, I would take the sides and put them on the opposite side, cut the same amount off of the two ends of the receiver bars and weld it in place.

 

Yes, aluminum will be fine. The amount of stress on an aluminum spacer that large and given the surface area, will be very minor. You could even machine a portion out of the middle of it to save some weight.

Doug

 

That's exactly what I did with a junkyard hitch I found and modified for my '49.

 

don't use aluminum spacers. you will regret it... do it right, make new end plates with the proper offset so that they will bolt up... even spacers between the end plates and the frame will weaken the hitch attachment... don't cut and extend the hitch, unless you replace the entire length of the bar from the center weld to the end plate flange... current hitches are made as light as possible to handle the weight specified in their rating... if you modify a hitch, you may end up with a very bad day...
cl the hitch and get one that fits....

one thing that is not included with current hitches. is a plate for the outside of the frame. so that the hitch end plate and the extra plate sandwich the frame between them. this acts like a boxed frame for strength. up to the point the hitch and outside plates stop, at that point is the weak spot... if your over loading your truck, the frame will crack in that location..

 

The one I have is a straight single bar, not the "V" one I have pictured. It's for a F350, it was made in 1996 and is HEAVY. It's for a 32" or a 37.5" frame. Now I'm thinking of cutting off the welded ends, cutting square holes in the side plate, swapping sides, sticking the bar through the holes and welding it or steel spacer, bolt it and weld it.

Kind of like this example:



This is the same part number of the one I bought.






Keep in mind that it will most likely be towing a small vintage trailer and maybe a rented flatbed with a car on it......not sure if I want to tow anything heavier without boxing the frame.

 

No need for boxing, its all in where you place the load on the trailer.. We

carried a 450 JD dozer for years with a 56 F250......

 

awesome....and do you have a pic of the 56f250 pulling the dozer?
I am going to pull a trailer with my 56 f250 this summer,and wife thinks it would not be a good idea.

 

You pulled approximately 8 tons (16,000 lbs.) with a 1956 F-250? Wow! I own a modern Super Duty F-250 diesel truck, and I also own a JD 450D. There's no way that I would attempt that.

 

Getting it moving is the easy part, stopping it is another matter! My AC backhoe weighs 16000, had it delivered by tractor trailer on a lowboy, just a bit heavy for a pickup truck to tow.

 

I'm also making a hitch for my 54. I'd like to pull my 24 ft. camp trailer some day. It's 4000 lbs. I boxed the frame all the way to the rear but am concerned about the C notch so I calculated the static load moment at the C notch for several load combinations. I'm pretty sure I can beef up the C notch by adding a 2x6x1/4 plate on the top of the frame rail. The piece of pipe I used to make the bottom of the C notch was 1/2" w.t. so that's ok. I also show some calculations at the bottom of the page for shear loads on the hitch side plates. The way I'm making mine it bolts to the inside web face of the boxed rail, not the bottom flange. The maximum shear load is 1385 lbs. for 4 bolts and more than a 7x factor of safety for 5/8 inch bolts.

 

+1 this and then some. At work we have a 5 yard dump truck and we used to haul our backhoe with a 3 axle trailer with electric brakes. That was a accident waiting to happen. Now we have a double axle with duals and air brakes. Much better.