What make of hitch? (1 Viewer)

[Riley]

I'm working on the spare tire cross member modification but I'm going to need to do something about the hitch. There's got to be a better design than the Valley Industries hitch. I need to get the thing up as high as resonable and only using it for a small trailer and 4 mountain bikes.

Can anyone recommend a decent hitch and roughly what it's worth?

Thanks

 

[Beowulf]

Riley,

I bought a bracket from MAF that mounts to the pintle hook holes. It comes with the 4 mounting bolts and, IIRC, it will handle up to 2500# and a tongue weight of 500#. Please check their web site for those numbers because I'm repeating from memory. You can get a 2" or a 1-7/8" ball. I put it on whenever I need it and take it off when finished. It works fine with the factory pintle or with the Slee rear bumper.

-B-

 

[cary]

Draw-tite. The receiver box is flush with the cross bar instead of below, only dissadvantage is it sticks out a bit.


Cary

 

[Brentbba]

Valley made (notice past tense - understand older model hitches are not produced any longer) the OEM hitch for Toyota.

 

[semlin]

Benie, I am actually glad to have the hitch there under the stock bumper to protect it (mine is not a valley but appears to be similar). It makes a very good skid plate and I have been glad of it more than once. I would save your new hitch money to apply towards a slee or kaymar rear bumper and live with the slight loss of angle of attack for now. This way you can get used to your rear clearance without paying the price.

 

[Riley]

I hear you Simon. I have a hitch on my 60 which is under the bumper as well. The problem is that the bottom of Valley hitch is about 5" BELOW the bumper. On my 60 it's like 2" below and still protects my bumper.

3" is huge penalty to pay. Tonight I'm going to look at just moving the old hitch over. I'm not thrilled to buy a new hitch.

Even on my slightly lifted 60 the old hitch bangs the rocks on the trail to fav lake. With another 3" gone I'll really banging.

See the PM I sent you. Was thinking about a lunch time chat and possibly a visit to the local ARM distributor if you are interested.

 

[cruiserdan]

Riley,

We refer to it as the "80 series hitch-slide" whereby you let yourself down easy on the rocks and "slide off" I do it all the time. I have been toying with building one that will fit into the rear xmember. The issues there are the spare has to go and you could not do a large aux fuel tank if you wished. I will eventually do that and incorporate Christo's wonderful bumper in the process. Beo and I have compared notes to make sure the tire will swing open without wacking my boat in the nose. It looks like it'll clear by about an inch .

 

[MTNRAT]

cruiserdan, when you get something figured out post the drawings and some pics. I am very interested. Then I would't have to take my class III hitch on and off.
Sean

 

[cruiserdan]

Sean,

Deal,
What I was thinking was using one of those make-it-yourself kits and ending up with what kinda looks like the factory hitch in there upside down going up between the frame rails, if ya get my drift.

 

[Riley]

Dan - let me make sure I got this correct. You're using the Valley hitch (or something similar) which has it's lower point about 5" below the bumper. The drawtight design sure seems better to me as it's has the receiver at the same height as the hitch crossbar.

With the 2" OME springs I can see this working but I'm planning on only the 4/5" OME and worried.

I guess I just have to test it out. I'll probably keep the old hitch (if I can get it off) just in case.

In short it's good to have a skid plate under the tranny but this "plate" is sitting 3" lower than whats needed.

 

[cruiserdan]

Riley,

I have the OEM/valley made hitch. And yes, it drops down as you describe. If you study the rear of the vehicle you will see that it does not really drop below the lowest part of the under-slung tire so that when you come off of stuff you actually drag the tire sometimes as well as the hitch. I think if you were to take the tire out the hitch could possibly get hooked on something that the tire would have not allowed it to catch on. I have not had that happen. As I have a heavy boat I NEED the platform so that's why it's still there. It is a compromise that I have had to make.

Dan.

 

[CruisinGA]

If all you're towing is a small trailer and some mtnbikes I would think that B's solution would be perfect.

 

[Beowulf]

The pintle bracket I got came from SOR, not Man-a-Fre. Here's a picture from the SOR on-line catalog.

Their web site says 2000# and implies a 200# tongue max. It ships with 4 bolts and the proper nuts and washers for the upper and lower. I have no idea why they picture it with only the top 2 bolts.

-B-

 

[Riley]

thanks -B-
I phoned Man a Fre today and they couldn't help me, now I know why. Looks it would work great from my utility trailer but I need a 2" receiver for the bike rack.

I guess I try my current setup once the woods cool down.

I also finished doing the spare tire mod tonight and it does sit up better but I see what Dan mentioned, tire and the hitch are about the same height.

The only big question is - in order to get better clearance should I go with the 2" OME springs or the 1" (my current thinking).

 

[CruisinGA]

[quote author=BenieBJ60 link=board=2;threadid=4652;start=msg35503#msg35503 date=1061962395]
thanks -B-
I phoned Man a Fre today and they couldn't help me, now I know why. Looks it would work great from my utility trailer but I need a 2" receiver for the bike rack.

I guess I try my current setup once the woods cool down.


[/quote]
Easy fix for that, drill a large hole through the middle of the bike rack, use a large bolt and bolt that sucker to the pintle hook adapter through where the trailer ball should be. If its tight enough it shoudn't sway but to be sure a second smaller bolt would not be a bad idea.

 

[Beowulf]

How about this one from SOR?

-B-