Concealed Hitch Receiver Available Again!

[tom4bren]

Sorry for the delay but it's not procrastination on my part (this time).

The shop can't get the VX into the bay until I get them a steering box & they won't start working on my droopy rear end till it gets in the bay. RamAirZ already shipped the steering box but it hasn't arrived yet.

If all the stars align properly I'll get the hitch to welder guy this week.

Until he gets it in hand, I can't get an estimate on the cost.

I'll also find someone here at work that can do mechanical drawings (gotta keep those interns busy).

[JAMAS]

Cool....thanks


Are there any concerns about weight/load rating since Welder guy wont be able to test the welds?

or is that a silly concern in my amateur head?

[tom4bren]

The strength of the hitch is limited by the bumper that it bolts to (in our case), not in the welds.

While they have the rear cladding off, I'll look to see if the strength of the end product can be upgraded by modification (I'm thinking that there should be a way to extend the hitch bracket to actually engage the frame rails). I'll let you know.

[JAMAS]

You 'da man.

[BigMeatVX]

The strength of the hitch is limited by the bumper that it bolts to (in our case), not in the welds.

While they have the rear cladding off, I'll look to see if the strength of the end product can be upgraded by modification (I'm thinking that there should be a way to extend the hitch bracket to actually engage the frame rails). I'll let you know.

your right there is a way to add a piece of 1/4" thick angle accross between the frame rails...thats how I built mine...

I made my own conceled hitch back in 2000

I used a way beefier design than what is pictured above, however I abuse mine...bigtime...

I have towed almost 15,000 lbs like 200 miles (zero tongue weight)
Yarded 17,000 Board feet of Huge logs with it and pulled out countless over-egoed 4WDers....
So mouch abuse in fact that my pin-hole in the receiver, now looks like an egg-shape...

Anyway, with a little more "beef" to the above design, it should be able to handle heaver loads and or winching....

[JAMAS]

Sounds like a great upgrade to the already awesome design.

[JAMAS]

How goes the VX repair?

....parts in?

[vt_maverick]

The strength of the hitch is limited by the bumper that it bolts to (in our case), not in the welds.

While they have the rear cladding off, I'll look to see if the strength of the end product can be upgraded by modification (I'm thinking that there should be a way to extend the hitch bracket to actually engage the frame rails). I'll let you know.

your right there is a way to add a piece of 1/4" thick angle accross between the frame rails...thats how I built mine...

I made my own conceled hitch back in 2000

I used a way beefier design than what is pictured above, however I abuse mine...bigtime...

I have towed almost 15,000 lbs like 200 miles (zero tongue weight)
Yarded 17,000 Board feet of Huge logs with it and pulled out countless over-egoed 4WDers....
So mouch abuse in fact that my pin-hole in the receiver, now looks like an egg-shape...

Anyway, with a little more "beef" to the above design, it should be able to handle heaver loads and or winching....

Too bad I didn't read this before I made more or less an identical suggestion in the cargo box thread lol. Can't wait to hear how it turns out Tom. If it takes that long, I'm probably going to have a metal fabricator down here look at the problem as well in late July / early August, so I'll post his thoughts as well.

BigMeat, do you have pics of what you did? Might be convenient to show the fabrication shop...

[tom4bren]

I have the receiver removed and in hand. I'll drop it off to welder guy this morning to make a copy. After he's done, I'll find someone to make a set of drawings to share.

I'm only going to have him make one copy for now since I want to make some modifications for any future builds (longer to reach all the way across to the frame rails to make it stronger).

Tom

[tom4bren]

I reinstalled the hitch over the weekend. While it was apart, I started looking at it in terms of the modification talked about above. I quickly decided that I need to have 'Welder Guy' have a look at it to have an input on the design since he'll be the one doing the fabrication.

I'll keep Y'all posted.

Tom

[janodes]

I'm looking at installing Tone style concealed receiver hitch and wonder if welder guy and friends ever came up with a new and improved version for sale?
I can have my own locally fabricated but figure it would be cheaper to buy one
ready to install.

[tom4bren]

I have not worked on the upgraded version yet. It's much more complicated than I anticipated. The tube bumper (behind the cladding) has the mounting features for the bottom part of the rear cladding. We'll lose that bumper with the new design. The Tone version cut out the center section as well. I need to find a way to replicate those mounting features into the new hitch design. That part won't be all that difficult but the problem will be to hold the tolerances tight enough so that everything will still bolt up nicely. The last time I had my cladding off, I was not able to get one of the cladding bolts back in. I don't want anyone else to have to go through that.

Tom

[VX KAT]

When Dub installed mine from WelderGuy, he couldn't get 3 cladding bolts back in. They were from the bottom of the cladding and all facing upward. (That's why he was grinding down the edge of the receiver in my See America thread).
But there were enough other bolts to hold the cladding on, it's not going anywhere.

[tom4bren]

GTK but I wanna get it right!

[JHarris1385]

I would like one of these, if it were cheaper. I understand the reasoning for the possible price. I just would not use it alot but would like to have that option, now that we have sold our Explorer for something MUCH smaller.