OLD VX HITCH Identification & Re-Installation Help PLEASE!

[CowboyErik]

Hello, I got my VX with 90K on it, it has alot of chasis rust, I've cleaned alot of it. I removed the hitch rather quickly when I bought it because it was TOTALLY rusted out as seen in the pictures. I don't have a van anymore so now I need to pull a small trailor a 150 miles round trip later this week. It's a light trailor. I am going to paint this hitch in the morning. The cladding on the car looks like it was never modified, it seems to fit in the factory groves.

I have these 17mm head bolts that look good and I'm going to run them in and out with torque in the morning, looks like I have to removed the rear lower cladding to install new carriage bolts and spacers with a "fish hook"?? "Grade 8" 7/16 1.5inch bolts "square hole spacers" to prevent the carrage bolts from spinning when you torque it on?

Does anyone recognize the type of hitch in my pictures? I can't find any marking on it of any kind. It seem fairly light, large receiver and double receiver hole locks, not sure why. PLEASE help me do this right on monday!! I have to pull some cargo for work Wednesday!!! Will removal of rear cladding be the worst of it? THANKS! Erik

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[Y33TREKker]

I can't tell you/remember what kind of hitch it is, but the one that was on my VX when I bought it looks pretty much the same. When I took mine off though, I just left the bolts where they were, greased up the threads, and put a few extra nuts and washers on to protect the threads. So now, all I have to do if I need to re-install the hitch is remove the extra nuts and washers.

Anyway, I take it there are no holes in the side of the frame rails that the hitch mounts to that you can insert the mounting bolts and work them around to get them fed into the mounting holes that face downwards? That's how mine is set up on the VX, and when I had a hitch mounted on another vehicle awhile back, a hole saw was used to drill the holes used for getting the mounting bolts into the frame rails in the first place (although on that other vehicle the access holes were made on the bottom of the frame rail).

I don't know if the frame rails are boxed on the ends of the VX, so I can't tell you if removing the rear cladding would get you access to the inside of the frame rails or not. I'm sure someone here knows though.

Edited to add: I don't know the diameter or pitch of my (4) additional mounting bolts/threads, but they are longer than 1.5". This additional length helps a little when trying to get the nuts started, but it's probably not necessary. Once those four mounting bolts are on and started, I install and tighten the stock metric bolt (in the middle) to run the hitch up to the frame rail so that I know it's aligned properly/straight. My four additional mounting bolts don't have square hole spacers either, but getting them tight enough has never been a problem.

[VX KAT]

looks like a class 2 "Curt" brand hitch, really common model.

http://www.curtmfg.com/Category/4/Class%202%20Trailer%20Hitches

http://www.curtmfg.com/Category/1/Hitches

[tom4bren]

Erik,

The Curt hitch shouldn't require removal of the rear cladding. That's why it's a popular alternative to the hidden hitch that Tone used to sell & I've been getting upgraded.

I can't help you out with the bolt arrangement on that one. The attachment points that I'm using are 6 threaded holes in the frame (3 on each side).

Good luck with the re-install. Let us know how it works out.

You may want to stop by your local U-Haul if they install hitches. IIRC, they sold the same hitch design. They should be able to bolt it right up for you fairly cheaply or at least give you a few pointers.

Tom

[SlowPro48]

Your pics illustrate why I'll never powder coat a frame or any other critical part that's exposed to the elements!

That's the Curt/Dalan #13556 / Reese/Uhaul #757235.

Like Tom said, you don't have to remove any cladding. The frame rails are not fully enclosed at the end. You fish the carriage bolts and spacers through the opening. There's just enough room. And yes, the spacers have square holes which prevent the carriage bolts from turning, allowing you to tighten the nuts to 50 ft-lbs. The 12mm bolts get torqued to 62 ft-lbs.

You can find the instructions here:

https://www.hitchsource.com/images/curt/13556/installsheet/CM_13556_INS.PDF

Hope this helps.