Bumper Hitch

[zoom zoom]

Whatcha think?

I think it should work just fine.

We'll find out!! Tomorrow I gotta flip it over and do the other side, then get it mounted on a car and find a trailer to pull...

It's 2 1/8" plates front and back, squeezed together tight against the bumper with 4 02Rio head bolts, tacked, beat into shape and welded solid. Then 4 more long thin strips of eighth inch boxing the whole area in. I stuck an old bolt in the pin hole on the backside as a safegaurd. The bumper will be ripped off the rear before this fails, IMO.

Any ideas on how to beef up where the bumper mounts to the car? I also need to get a couple pad eyes welded up somehow, probably use a thicker 3/16 or 1/4" for those.

The receiver is this harbor freight special.. 1.25 -> 2" adapter, I picked it up for 12.99 on sale + a discount coupon.

http://www.harborfreight.com/1-1-4-quarter-inch-to-2-inch-hitch-adapter-65023.html

Before I even put the outside plate on, I stuck the receiver thru the bumper, put two small beads on the receiver to the bumper, and literally beat the crap out of it with a 4lb sledge...it didn't go anywhere, so everything else was probably an overkill. Since I only have a fluxcore welder on hand, I usually do 3 beads on every 90* corner, one in the seam and two on top of that. It's ugly but I know it burns into everything good. I burned thru the 1/8" steel a couple times trying to weld it to the receiver.

[DriverOne]

Re: Bumper Hitch

That should work really well for Class I. If you want more strength, take a piece of 1/4" thick x 1.5" wide steel and attach it to the spare tire well with bolts, then weld it to the bumper. That's similar to the Curt way of doing things.

I just realized that's Class II. Well, Neanderpaul pulls a 600+lb. enclosed cargo trailer with his rear bumper in a similar setup. I guess you would be fine up to about 1,000-lbs. I'll say that the bumper will probably cave or the rear sheetmetal will tear before those bolts break, but at what weight is then the question.

[zoom zoom]

Nice, I might just do something like that. A little extra support against downforce would be nice. I don't plan on hauling any major loads, possibly flat towing another aspire if I get a chance but I'm not even sure about that yet lol.. The receiver is class II, 350lb tongue weight, and 3500lb pull weight iirc. Should be more than enough for my needs!!

I really want to get some better hardware when I hang this on the car, the 6 studs on here just don't feel right.

[kingstonpygmies]

Re: Bumper Hitch

This sounds better than the curt one for 150 plus new. I'll try it out. Have plenty of hitches and stock around the shop

Sent from my HTC One VX using Tapatalk 2

[kingstonpygmies]

Re: Bumper Hitch

About the new curt hitch. Does anybody know where to get a used one. I can't find any on junkyard cars. I can't find any on craigslist. I may end up making one. Where have y'all found cheap hitches?

Sent from my HTC One VX using Tapatalk 2

[zoom zoom]

Ended up welding the rear bumper right to the car. I was planning on doing some fancy stuff with a 3/8" foot long drill bit and some threaded rod, nuts and fender washers, but in the middle of this I just wanted to get it done, and I hope the bumper never needs removed lol....

I put a couple slivers of 3/16" from the bumper right to the car, I didn't run it to the spare tire well, but it should hold as good or better than doing that.

[zoom zoom]

Final pics, I took them after dark so its crappy quality, ill see about getting good ones tomorrow. My neighbor gave me a socket for trailer light wiring, hopefully I can get that rigged up soon too.

[FestYboy]

the rot/holes in the bottom of the bumper would concern me....

otherwise, i like it.

[zoom zoom]

Yea, it's impossible to get ahold of a rust free bumper around here though. I think the 1/8" steel plates are spread wide enough to get a good pull on the whole bumper...if it rips it in half though..lol, that's not really something I can control. I gotta find some of those bull balls now.

[zoom zoom]

anyways, I got this little thing from harbor freight. This has the loop on it I think I can use to hook chains to instead of having to weld padeyes to the bumper or the car. I just flipped it upside down and stuck a 2" ball on it. I'm probably gonna get another one and a 1 7/8" ball.

http://www.harborfreight.com/2-inch-ball-mount-with-tow-loop-66167.html

I'll get trailer lights wired in tomorrow, my neighbor gave me the harness for it, said he had a couple laying around.

I uploaded 35 pics to the aspire site, it's this whole deal from start to finish in a crude how to. I don't care to make a write up with everything I used and what went where exactly, most of it's just common sense and the next time it won't be the same exact way anyway...just reference material for anyone interested.

http://aspire.b1.jcink.com/index.php?showtopic=883&st=0

Final pic with the hitch...



Oh, forget the bull balls, TSC has a propeller deal that will look awesome!!

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/bullyreg%3B-propeller-hitch-cover?cm_vc=-10005

[bravekozak]

Lookin good! Now you only need a hitch receiver.

[Festevil3]

I like it, nice work