I had my welder neighbor weld in a 2" receiver tube on the rear "bumper" on my first IDI. A week later, the head gasket blew. So I stripped the truck and scrapperd it last summer. But I had a friend cut the "receiver hitch" section of frame off for me. It's the frame rails, crossmember, and rear bumper.
The same neighbor welded another 2" receiver tube at the same time that he welded this "bumper" onto my frame. I knew it was going to be too tall for towing anything, but I envision this as being a towing/recovery point for yanking out bushes and stuff. I figure I'll use the top receiver for any heavy towing, like an equipment trailer with a skid steer. The top receiver is essentially built into the frame, so it's stronger.
I jacked this receiver hitch up to the truck frame, put a 2" ball mount in the receiver, and put my light-weight Single Axle utility trailer on the ball. The height was almost perfect! It was still a little tall, but with some weight, it might level out. (Takes a lot to sink this suspension!) The bottom of the receiver is 15" off the ground. That brown crap on the sides is left over Liquid Nails construction adhesive, the stuff that comes in the caulking tube. The muflaps on the first IDI were too big, so I glued them to the frame to keep from flopping around in the wind.
I'm thinking I'll drill about 8 holes and bolt this puppy up wih 7/8" Grade 8 bolts. 3 along each side on the frame rails, then 2 more on the rear "bumper". The bumper on the truck frame is 1/4" C-Channel, pretty beefy stuff! Then I'll have my neighbor throw some welds along the seams to further stiffen it all together. You guys think 7/8" Grade 8 hardware will be enough to keep me safe? I'm going to start towing a equipment trailer with cars or farm equipment like tractors and skid steers. I'll set myself up with a weight distribution hitch. If this "receiver" won't handle 14k pounds, I'll go off the top receiver. The receiver frame rail tops have two holes, and an area of thin metal. I'll ask my neighbor to cut the thin stuff out, and fill it in with heavy steel. That shouldtie it all together nicely.
Any suggestions on weight distributing hitches?
Think 7/8" Grade 8 hardware plus some welds will be enough? If not, I'll go up to 1" Grade 8.
I'm assuming the equipment trailer will have a 2 5/16" ball for the weight distributing hitch. If the trailer is pintle, then what is everyone's experience with pintle towing?
I don't have a trailer yet, just planning ahead for this spring. I figure I must be about overkill by now, my neighbor also welded those D-Rings on for me. He said the last time he handled a D-Ring this big, he was welding them on a Mack 10 wheeler dump truck. They're made in USA, from Northern Tool. Buyers Heavy-Duty Forged D-Ring — 1 in. Dia. w/ Weld-On Bracket | Rope Rings | Northern Tool + Equipment
Priced at $12 each, they were only $5 more than the appropriately sized D-Rings for this truck. Cheap Insurance against a run-away trailer! I also figure this is adequate because the stock '03 F350 Superduty hitch on my dad's truck is bolted on with 4 big bolts, and is rated at 15k pounds. The receiver on a friend's 2006-era Chevy 1500 is only held on with 4 bolts also and 2 go to the bumper. So, I must be in pretty good shape with my setup...









Looong post, but I figure I'd try to provide as much info. as possible. We all know how hard it is to answer questions without enough background info.! What did I miss? Thank for your opinions!

 

hell just going by the pics it looks like your ready to drag down a house. Thats one helluva hitch.

 

those frame sections not so much though.

 

Yeah, the tops of the frame rails are pretty thin around the holes. That's what the entire truck frame was like before I stripped it and scrapped it.
I'm planning on cutting off the rivets holding that front factory crossmember. Cut off the top of the frame rails with an angle grinder with a cutting disc, leaving the sides of the frame rails and rear "bumper" as is. I'll get sections of 1/4" flat steel stock the same width as the top frame rails. I'll have my neighbor weld them on in place of where the thin frame rail tops are now. Then, I'll drill holes and re-bolt the factory crossmember to the new frame rail tops.
Sounds like a lot, but it seems like it will yield good heavy-duty results. My goal is to tow an equipment trailer, like 14k pounds. It might be overkill for this bolt-on receiver hitch, and if so I'll tow with the top receiver that's welded right to the truck frame's 1/4" C-Channel rear "bumper".
After the receiver hitch section sall welded/repaired, I won't be worried about it. My only concern will be the 7/8" Grade 8 hardware and the welds holding the receiver to the truck frame. If 7/8" Grade 8 isn't enough, then I'll upgrade to 1" Grade 8 bolts.
Any thoughts on the hardware? Any thoughts on a weight distribution hitch? How about the height off the ground, is that about the same height as a pickup's receiver hitch?

 

Does anybody have pictures of their receiver hitch to compare?

 

My 12,000 pound hitch runs the lenght of the rear tank and has four 3/4" grade 8 bolts up into the frame bottom rail.
At the rear of the frame there is a bracket that goes the full height of the frame rail and down to the reciever side with a couple more 3/4" grade 8 bolts.

There is also nice big washers against the frame rail on all of the bolts so they don't just pull through the frame.

That looks good on the back, and about right for height.
But the side rails look to short, to much load in a small area of the frame.

I would go for longer side rails, more bolts a bit smaller in diameter to spread the stress over a larger area.

 

Thanks Dave, that's good to know!
I'll have to acquire some C-Channel and make those side rails longer. I'll have to measure to see how far I can go.
I'm glad I asked about the bolt size. I would've gone bigger, without thinking about spreading out the stress.
Thank you!
I'll post pictures back on this thread when I get this hitch to where I want it.

 

What's wrong with the hitch you already have on there?

 

Time for an update,
Dodge, the bottom of my receiver tube that's built into the frame is 25" from the ground. This is measured with 225/75R16's on the front and 235/85R16's on the rear.
I'm looking to build my rear bumper/hitch assembly finally, and am looking for advice on an ideal receiver hitch height. As I've concluded, 15" from the ground to the bottom of the receiver seems ideal. That's the measurement my Dad's '03 F350 has.
Here are pictures of my current hitch setup. While I built the new flatbed I had a good oppurtunity for some pictures...so here goes.







I have some updates on the D-Rings as well. These are the ones I bought from Northern Tool: Buyers Heavy-Duty Forged D-Ring — 1 in. Dia. w/ Weld-On Bracket | Rope Rings | Northern Tool + Equipment
I've found out they are too large in diameter for the safety chains on my small utility trailer to fit. I realze safety chains can be modified with larger hooks, but I'm thinking some smaller D-Rings would be better suited. I don't regret getting larger D-Rings because I don't have ANY worry about hooking up to them and yanking on anything. However, I think I'll get smaller D-Rings for the lower receiver hitch since I don't think a runaway trailer will exceed the 6k pound working limit and 18k pound breaking limit. Buyers Heavy-Duty Forged D-Ring — 5/8in. Dia. w/ Weld-On Bracket | Rope Rings | Northern Tool + Equipment

As for the lower hitch, I'm thinking of going with a full-width bumper setup with a drop-center to lower the hitch height for smaller trailer that have non-adjustable tongue heights.

Here's a picture of what I've got planned.


I'd use 1/4" thick plate steel and make L-shaped brackets extending horizontally off the rear frame rails extending the width of the wooden bed. I would make the bracket with a flat face and weld another 12" of 1/4" plate onto the bracket extending toward the front of the truck to create a flange to bolt to the truck frame. Also, I would weld a flange 2" wide onto the bottom of this L-Bracket so the full-width lower plate could bolt up to it.
As for the lower bumper plate, I'd start with a 10" wide x 1/4" thick plate and cut it on a dropped-center angle. I'd weld a 2" wide flange on top to bolt onto the truck frame and L-brackets. I'd then weld 4" tall C-Channel perpendicular to the bumper plate and run it up the truck frame about 36" on both frame rails. Run several Grade 8 bolts through these Receiver C-Channels and truck frame to tighten up this receiver bumper.
As for the receiver hitch, I'd cut a square hole into the plate for the receiver tube to slide through. Weld the tube on the front and rear of the bumper plate. Run a length of 1/4" thick C-Channel underneath the receiver tube at the front-most end of the tube. Weld flanges on both ends of the C-channel and run 1/4" C-Channel up to the frame. Bolt and weld these to the frame.

 

I've seen some pretty heavy trailers being towed by some pretty high/lifted trucks with just a drop hitch/stinger. There are some pretty heavy duty ones out there.
My '97 460 F-350 has a hitch set-up similar to yours. It was a railroad truck, the ones they drive on the tracks. It had a VERY heavy duty service bed on it that's now on my '95 PowerStroke service truck and they towed heavy loads with it that way. I'm sure with all of the weight in the service box it sat lower than your truck does however.

You are pobably much smarter and safer to put a lower mounted hich on your frame though.

 

It's the large drop hitches I want to avoid, it just seems like the trailer will push really hard on the hitch ball and act as a lever up toward the receiver tube itself....acting like a lever.
I know Oreo tows a tandem car trailer with his lifted rig, whatcha got for a hitch setup Oreo?

 

Personally if I ran a long drop hitch I'd tie it into some angle plates to the frame that would spread the load out over a larger surface.
I've towed a lot of weight with an extension in the hitch to clear the over hang of a large slide-in camper which kind of encompasses the same kind of leverage, only side-to-side as well as up and down, and I used chains with turn buckles to take care of the side leverage.

 

i wish i would have been more active on this site when i first joined... i would have caught this post. i have had plenty of experience towing with a pintle and i personally love it way more than the ball... much easier with turns and backing up, plus way more load rating!
a few months behind everyone else answers and comments lol but nice job on the hitch!

 

i would weld plate across every seam where the two frames meet. i don't like backing a pintcle hitch but it was on a cat d4 dozer, but they will pull alot why the military uses them.