Trailer Hitch? Is this an accident waiting to happen?

Hell, I think that I still have 3-4 of those laying around the barn someplace. Use them? Hell, NO!!

 

I would make a cross member that bolted to the frame back under the car,and bolt one of these on when I wanted to tow if you want hidden.

http://www.jamestowndistributors.co...dwords!6456&keyword=product_ad_57813&type=pla

 

It will scratch up your bumper and maybe bend it. No good on cars after about 1956, the bumpers are too flimsy. OK for a light trailer going short distances like taking trash to the dump. They were used on cars like 53 Chevs to tow a 14 foot boat up to the lake at 35 MPH. I would never use one on the interstate, or to tow anything that weighed over 500 pounds, or to go more than 20 miles. Check the bolts regularly.

Any time I want a cheap hitch I buy one at the junk yard for $20. Lots of cars and trucks have them. If you can't find one on the exact same car as you have, measure the distance between your frame rails and buy one that wide or as close as you can get. Remember it is easier to cut and shorten one than lengthen it. You can almost always find one that will fit your vehicle if you drill some bolt holes.

 

Maybe Ryan needs to come out with a HAMB tag that slides into a 2" receiver to hide a hitch and be trad!!!!

 

What he said...
http://www.etrailer.com/hitch-size.aspx

could put a little nerf bar in there when you are not towing, might look cool.

 

About 25 years ago I was merrily driving north on L.A.'s infamous 405 freeway with my wife and the kids after a day at Ports O' Call in San Pedro. Suddenly a boat and a trailer came sailing over the divider, spun around and I slammed, head on, into the 100 horse Merc outboard, totaling my Datsun pickup. The boat continued into the next lane and wiped out a Porsche. A third car was also damaged.
Guess what kind of hitch he had????
The only bright spot was both insurance companies paid off. I made a bundle on that truck

 

I'd think it would be easy enough on most cars to build a hidden receiver and a drop down hitch that would just clear the bumper rather than use something like that. True we used them back in the day but they weren't much good then and as several said they often came loose then or at a minimum screwed up the bumper on what they were on. Now some guys can figure out why that 40 something rear bumper that they got a great deal on at the swapmeet had those little kinks and scratches near the middle of it.

 

They work when not over-loaded, just make sure you used safety chains that cross and tie to the holes you are gonna need to blow through your frame rails .... thats the way the safer folks did it in the fifties LOL

 

beef up your bumper and use it.

 

You can't be serious?! That looks like a gettin sued for everything you got waiting to happen!

 

...and now know NOT to use those...

Cosmo

 

Pulled a boat all over the country behind my '39 Chevy with one of those hitches in the '70's. It would slide from side to side until I drilled and bolted it to the bumper. It would make for a wild drive when you are more than one lane wide and you would never know if it was going to be to the right or the left.
Would I do that today... I guess not unless my Insurance company said they would cover any mishap with it and we can guess what the answer would be.
Looking back I was one lucky son-of-a-stupid.

LJ

 

Yea, flimsy bumpers, then plastic bumpers.

 

Some guys with boats would bolt that hitch onto their front bumpers. It made it easier to jockey the trailer around in the yard at home.

Bob

 

Yes, these were used back in the day, but only on "REAL" bumpers. Cars of the 50's / 60's had hardened steel bumpers that were actually meant to provide protection in case of an accident. You ever tried to drill a hole in a 1957 chevy or Ford bumper? Hard mofo's I'll tell ya. Today's bumpers are ornamental only.

I used one like that way back when, but would never do it again. Even on an older car. Just too what ifish.

 

Briefly off topic. Last summer my wife and I traveled back to the UK, where I am from. We were driving along and she practically spat her coffee out, pointing at a car. I asked her what was wrong and she said 'look at what that guy has for a tow hitch!', I didnt get it. He was using a normal UK hitch.

I grew up there and never thought anything of it. As an American she thinks our European hitches are hilarious and decidedly phallic...

 

We used them all the time, but common sense must prevail!

 

Well, considering that the rest of this car is bulletproof, I guess I should look at a receiver hitch of some sort.

Shouldn't be too hard to fab up.

JH

 

What is your Coupe?

 

Original '46 Ford bumper and braces are spring steel and probably stronger than many purpose built hitch rigs around today...FINE for a light rig.
If bumper or braces are repro, they are generally soft and malleable steel. Certain death.

 

This one gets my vote!

Show em how you really feel!

 

Measure the distance between the frame rails and go junkyard shopping. You should be able to find a hitch that will bolt in, there is not a lot of variation in frame width. At worst you will have to do a little cutting and welding.

If you want to tow a real heavy trailer here is what I did. Used a stock Reese trailer hitch which was shaped like the letter I. Fabbed another cross member of 2" square tubing, same as the hitch was made of and put it as far forward as possible (about a foot) and connected it to the stock hitch forming an H shape. This more than doubles the strength and makes it impossible to twist or bend. The welder who welded it for me said "you could tow a transport with that".

If there is not room for an H shape add a couple of braces in a Y and it will be just as good.

Something like that will tow a car trailer, or a 35' travel trailer with no chance of failure. The stock Reese is rated for 4000 pounds and 400 pounds tongue weight.

 

Ah there is nothing quite like towing a car on a trailer down a bumpy four lane road going about twenty and looking out the drivers side window in time to see your car on your trailer passing you...don't ask.

 

I like it !!!! hahahahahahahahaha

 

Back in the day! We did not go 70mph down the highway. I would not trust it.

The new style reciever might not look so good,

but it would look a lot better then you as the "guest of honor" at a wake

 

And with all the correct equipment this happened to me

the ems guy

 

Those Euro hitches are on everything - BMWs, Benzes, VWs, even Trabants, and all of those regularly pull things like boats, cars, and travel trailers with them. And yes, they look funny as hell!

I had my full-sized '85 Dodge pickup in Germany while I was stationed there, and it had a big Class III receiver hitch on it. I rented a car hauler from a local trailer dealer several times while I was there, and he was simply amazed at how large our US hitches were. The cool thing about a German autoanhanger (car hauler) trailer is that the deck is over the wheels, as streets in European towns are decidedly narrower, and pulling an American-style car hauler would be just plain stupid! That, and the fact that most of their car haulers are made of aluminum and have surge brakes, made things great for hauling a full sized US car, like a B-body Mopar or a '50s pickup.

 

Easy way to mount a hitch out of sight: We do this on almost all of our hot rods. Weld in a small receiver hitch then buy you a hinged tag mount (found on a lot of early 70s Gms) When your towing you can flip the tag up and slide the hitch through it and when your not nobody has a clue theres a receiver in there. Works great!