trailer hitch on 85 stepside
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trailer hitch on 85 stepside
Got my trailer hitch the other day, and was gonna start installing it, but noticed that the spare tire will be in the way of the trailer hitch.
Any solutions?
Barry
sorry for posting in two different forums.
Any solutions?
Barry
sorry for posting in two different forums.
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From: Virginia
I never liked the spare tire under the rear anyway. I always mount mine standing up in the bed on the passenger side front corner. It never gets in the way of cargo, but I have a 8 foot regular bed. It would stick out possibly in the way on a stepside.
Go ahead and put the hitch on temp, and then hold the tire up and see what your options are. Maybe you can angle the tire or move it forward a little bit.
Go ahead and put the hitch on temp, and then hold the tire up and see what your options are. Maybe you can angle the tire or move it forward a little bit.
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Joined: Jun 2002
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From: Suffolk, VA USA
The factory under-bed tire holder has multiple mounting holes...you might want to try getting the hitch in place and seeing if you can move the tire holder to fit. You might need to drill a new hole or two in the bottom of the frame, but as long as you have two attachment points and can still tighen the top of the tire against the cross brace it should work.
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From: Minneapolis, MN
This is what I did on my stepside. I found a spare tire holder from a 90's dodge dakota, then made brackets to mount it to the frame. I really like it better than the stock setup, because it is cable operated, and you just wind it up.
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From: Minneapolis, MN
Sorry it took so long, I took some pics this morning, and the batteries went dead on me, so I waited til after work. It was dark out as you will be able to tell, but they turned out o.k. The pics are in my gallery, I can't figure out how to put pics in here.
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Thanks 86.
How hard was it to remove the bed? Im gonna have to redo the wood in mine pretty soon. Its starting to rot out around the bolt that holds the bed down near the tailgate. Other than that the bed is in pretty good shape.
Also gonna have to sand the hood and roof where the paint has wore off and the primer is starting to rust.
Barry
How hard was it to remove the bed? Im gonna have to redo the wood in mine pretty soon. Its starting to rot out around the bolt that holds the bed down near the tailgate. Other than that the bed is in pretty good shape.
Also gonna have to sand the hood and roof where the paint has wore off and the primer is starting to rust.
Barry
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From: Virginia
Bring the picture up when you are in your gallery, hold the mouse over the picture and right click. Go down to properties and click. In the properties window there will be a http url. Copy this and then go to your post and paste this in the text lines. Then put a [ i m g ] in front of the http, and a [ / i m g ] at the end. The img triggers the software to go get the picture from your gallery and put it in the post. I put spaces in the examples up above so it would not trigger the software, but you need to leave all the spaces out between the brackets.
P.S. That's the same hitch I had on my 1980 f150. When the engine blew up in it, I got my old 53 f100 going for awhile, and needed to tow a 79 cougar home to get the engine for the f150. I took this same hitch off the f150, swapped the sides so the mounting ears pointed in instead of out, and it bolted right on the old 53 after I drilled some holes in the bottom of the frame.
Last edited by Franklin2; Nov 7, 2007 at 11:13 PM.
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Joined: Jul 2005
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From: Minneapolis, MN
As you can see my bed was in rough shape. The wood was so rotten that when I would go over a bump the whole bed would shake. I took the sawzall and cut the bolts right off. It only took me and my dad to lift the bed off, but it would have been nice to have one more person there to help lift.
Last edited by 86Stepside; Nov 8, 2007 at 12:28 AM.
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