trailer hitch

[mikec]

I dont have my festy around here right now...so i have a quick ? for some one...can anyone measure the width of rails or a section where hitch can bolt up to ?...i found a reese small hitch today at garbage sale had insert with it too...lady said it was from an S-10....i think it could be modded to work on a festy.....thoughts / suggestions ?....darn, i should got the model no off it and looked it up on reese site...oh well its close by...they were asking 10.00....i just didnt want to grab it and have some other pc o scrap laying around that i cant use...maybe if i can get it for 5.00 ill take the chance...

[joebreck117]

Dude i imagine the one for a S10 would be the same as my dad has on his Blazer, and that thing is a MONSTER. It's big, heavy, and bolts on to the chassis.
But you say it was a small one? Well I dunno.

[eurotiva]

You'd be better off to buy the metal and make one. I have different hitches on both my festis, and the best is a 2x2 piece of box welded between the tow hooks. With another 2x2 box with some gussetts for the reciever. My $.02. S-10 ones are too big and heavy.

[Pu241]

38 1/8" outer flange face to outer flange face.
The hitch below was made using 25Horseplays Class I hitch as a template.



This was designed to mount to my festiva with the combat chasis!

[mikec]

i think the lady was wrong cause this thing is small...it looks just like 2 x 2 between endplates, but i didnt have a tape with me to measure...it only has a small insert maybe 1 1/2 inches ?....i think it could be modded like pu241s pic...just cut to size and change end plates...me thinks it came off a small car...guess i can get the reese no. off it and determine that way..im sure it will still be there tomorrow morning...i saw it just before they were gonna close for the day...im pretty sure its a class one...if not we move on...LOL

[mikec]

btw, that hitch pic looks good !

[Pu241]

btw, that hitch pic looks good !

Thanks, but I can't take credit for it!
I friend of a friend, at my last steady job, decided it needed to be a little heavier duty and used 2" square tubing as a starting point.
Only issue I have is that the chain attachment/hanging points are all thread and I seriously doubt that they would hold if the ball failed.
Now just clean it up an paint.

25Horseplay, you find some appropriate bolts and nuts for your hitch?

[mikec]

what does that forward facing bracket attach too ?...and also what does the notch clear ?

my car is 300 miles away so i dont get to check until next week....

[Pu241]

what does that forward facing bracket attach too ?...and also what does the notch clear ?

Bracket is attached to spare tire wheel well.

Notched portion clears the exhaust pipe.
So this hitch is tucked up pretty tight under the car.
Will get pics when I get it mounted.

[mikec]

cool...interesting...thanks PU241 for sharing

[Pu241]

Had hoped to have more than one reproduced and/or have the parts cut for others but economy tanked and the maintenance department was cut.
Hope the guy got a better job elsewhere.

You know I'll bet quadawg could cut the flanges for these easy the rest really is very simple if you can either lower the hitch to avoid the exhaust, so you don't have to fab that cutout for it, or find a an easier way to make that cut out. Like welding a piece of bar stock across the 2" square tubing.

[mikec]

well, i went back checked it out and measured it.....its a class 2 ...fits an 83-91 s-15 jimmy...part no 06030....was 2x2 sq tube about 35 in between plates and had an 1 1/4 receiver..with the hitch, 1 7/8 ball and cover. pin and clip......so it pretty much approximates what you made up...just need to make mods to it...its straightacross no bends ....with plates on ends it gets to about 38 "....just an fyi...still considering...

[mikec]

you could drop the side plates down possibly to clear the exhaust ?...and install at tiedown plates ?...make new side plates to incorporate tiedown holes ?...plasma cutter....still add the pc up front to attach to spare tire well....give you three points for attach ( two sides, spare well ) and maybe no cutting of tube for exhaust clearance ?,,,was in good shape, no abuse and minimal rust...so it wasnt mounted long...

[mikec]

anymore thoughts on this ?

[shortystowing]

I have put a hitch on ever festiva I have owned. I searched for a premade one, but have only turned up the flat bar bolt ons from ebay for $78 & up. I am going to build one pretty much like the one in the posted picture, except I will be changing the location of the exhaust to fit the hitch.