Concealed Hitch Receiver Available Again!

[ScottinMA]

And I negated to view the bottom of his post where he mentions that he opted not to purchase the model with safety chain provisions. My mistake. I own Tone's (RIP) hitch and love the fabrication. It's subtle and quite a nice design IMHO. Besides the bolts I had it welded to the frame since I'm pulling some significant weight and just wanted to make sure. So, if the price is the same as TONE's then some might want to pitch the extra $ for the concealed style of the hitch...I did.

[VCrossfan]

I fab'd mine about 4 years ago, going off Tone's great design with my own Tweaks. $50 total and $20 of it was the powder-coating. Go to any farm and home supply and buy a blank 2" receiver about 10" long, a 3/8" thick angle iron ( I think mine is 6" x 12" ) and using my home 110v mig I pulled the bumper cover off/on several times and cutting the receiver each time until I was happy with the location/angle then tacked with the 110 mig, took it to my buddies race shop and hit it with the 220 mig, powder-coated and installed. Saving a ton and having a warm fuzzy feeling inside. The price Ganzman had really isn't that bad considering the huge use you'll get from it, I just had equipment, time and experience in fabbing..

Sorry,, Kinda dirty...

[IndianaVX]

[quote=ScottinMA; since I'm pulling some significant weight

Scott,
are you pulling 2000lbs with that hitch? i know tounge weight wont be that much, but im just afraid of pulling my bumper out from under the vx......

i did get confused on the two hitches, im sorry about above post, and the mounting to the frame. and again, i dont question the quality, or any other aspect of the hitch that was made. im just concerned about the amount of pull that the hitch will withstand.

thanks

[tom4bren]

I pull my SeaDoo with Tone's hitch (pix in gallery). It's about 2000 lbs. No problems to date.

Tom

[TheGanzman]

Looks like this Friday is the day that my buddy and I will do this. For those of you who have installed this receiver assembly "out of the box", how long can I figure two retards to install, with no beers in the mix?

[ScottinMA]

[QUOTE=IndianaVX;157257][quote=ScottinMA; since I'm pulling some significant weight

Scott,
are you pulling 2000lbs with that hitch? i know tounge weight wont be that much, but im just afraid of pulling my bumper out from under the vx......

i did get confused on the two hitches, im sorry about above post, and the mounting to the frame. and again, i dont question the quality, or any other aspect of the hitch that was made. im just concerned about the amount of pull that the hitch will withstand.

thanks[/QUOTE]

Indiana,

I believe the hitch is rated for 5000 lbs. I pull 2 to 3 thousand without problems.

[4X4 UFO]

if you're also installing a trailer light harness. It took me longer than that, but I only had access to one retard! Don't forget the 2 "hidden" screws behind each side cladding panel, and take your time cutting the notch in the rear cladding.

Randy

[TheGanzman]

if you're also installing a trailer light harness. It took me longer than that, but I only had access to one retard! Don't forget the 2 "hidden" screws behind each side cladding panel, and take your time cutting the notch in the rear cladding.

Randy

No light harness, Randy; and actually, only ONE of us is a retart (ME) - the other guy is "all that and a bag of chips"...

Hoping to do the whole job in ~5 hours - whaddya think?

[4X4 UFO]

That should be doable, Joe. I don't think it took me much longer than that...........the printed instructions were a big help when I installed mine. I can send you a copy if you need them.

Randy

[tom4bren]

Joe - do yourself a favor and buy a new drill bit for the job. It'll cut the install time if half.

My install took over night since I wasn't paying close attention to the instructions and broke a mounting tab on the cladding. Over night was for the epoxy to cure on repairing it (lucky me - it's hidden - can't even tell I pulled a SNAFU).

[VCrossfan]

Joe - do yourself a favor and buy a new drill bit for the job. It'll cut the install time if half.

Tom You are 100% correct, I had one I thought was good enough and even after a series of step-up bits my final bit wasn't cutting it. I borrowed a buddies "new" bit and had to hang-on.

[tom4bren]

I fought for 2 hours (it felt like 8 hours) drilling the first bolt hole with a bit that I thought was in pretty good shape. When I finally broke that one & went & bought a new one ... Oh me Oh my ... what a difference. The second hole only took minutes.

Yer right though, hang on. With a good bit that large, when the bit punches through, it'll grab. If you can find one, a drill with a side handle helps a lot.

Man - I had to be careful how I wrote that first sentence lest LBUD quoted me on it and turned it into sumpn dirty.

[etlsport]

i broke a new drill bit halfway through the first hole.. then used drilling/cutting oil with my 2nd bit.. big difference there too!

[TheGanzman]

It's done and came out FANTASTIC! It looks totally "factory" - photos here:

[TheGanzman]

O.K. - I added photos above. It took us ~6 hours total. The BIG thing is getting the rear bumper cover cladding cut EXACTLY right - my friend prolly put it on and off (in place, not bolted) 4-5 times, cutting it a bit more each time. I don't think there's any way to make a "template" for this, since each hitch assembly is gonna be slightly different when it's welded up. My buddy also "radiused" the uppermost corners with a drill bit, rounding them slightly to match the receiver tube contours - the receiver tube literally looks like it has "grown" out of the cladding. If *I* was the one doing the job, it would have looked like a 7 year old had cut it!