Trailer hitches?

[BlueCuda340]

Anyone do anything trick for a trailer hitch? My spare tire well and tailpipes will make it tricky to fab one up on my barracuda. I might just go ahead and cut the spare tire well out in preparation for a fuel cell, that would make it easy to put a removable hitch setup in. I would love to see anything trick anyone else has done. This is not something I ever thought I would need lol.

I still might go sans trailer but with carrying spare tires and such it will get heavy quick. I don't know how well the Calvert monos will like a load. Thanks for any info.

Fastback.....lots of room....poor accessability

Clark

[BBR]

On a car as nice as yours. I'd think hard about hiding it behind the license plate.

[ksj2]

On a car as nice as yours. I'd think hard about hiding it behind the license plate.

I agree.Maybe the local U-Haul has a temporary style that would work.My old 68 FB Fish the back seat folded down.Depending on how many passengers and how much stuff you are taking you may not need one.

[BlueCuda340]

Thanks for the compliments but it just photographs real well, it's a track whore lol.

The license plate idea has come to mind but that damn tire well buts right up behind it. I will do a trial run with spare tires and parts to see what I can stuff in there. Tires are the biggest problem on space and I just don't feel right rolling with no spares.

[bulletproof]

none of the hitch companys had a listing for a 53 ford car...who would have thunk it!!!! a jeep cherokee one is really close had to cut and reweld a bracket on both sides..

[CDMBill]

In '05 I made an under-ride setup that attached to the original factory shipping tie down points on the rear frame rails. You can sort of see it here and get a clue as to how '05 went for me. It worked and it was heavy. Also getting a long distance tow when you are pulling a trailer is a PITA.



Last year I added this smaller receiver as a combination trailer hitch and parachute mount. As it is directly behind the stock gas tank I added a new 1.5" x 2" steel cross bar and diagonal braces inside the trunk floor.

There is an inside the from where the gas tank sits view, the added cross member and a bad night shot. I'll add a better one tomorrow. The receiver is kinda hidden under the bumper and above the plate. I also added saftey chain loops made form old u-joint loops that also hide under the bumper.

[lun40119]

I had the chassis shop make me one........tucks up very nicely.....

[Dignlif]

Good looking car. We scratch built a hitch for mine kinda like what Bill did on his Mustang. I've included a few pix of the setup. I bought a receiver and we basically built the rest around the location of it. Although it's a back half car, I think you can do something similar with a stock frame rail car. We welded (you can bolt on) a plate on each side for a solid/ stable attach point. Then we made the hitch assy as a separate bolt on piece but it's really simple. Square tubing going through more plate with receiver welded to it. We then took a piece of round solid stock and bent a loop out of it for the chain attachment. It's made it through two Drag Weeks plus local testing so it's solid. The trailer is just a Harbor Freight special with the 12" wheels.

Outside shot showing the plate welded to frame and how the hitch assy bolts to that.


inside shot shows clearance available.


This is all that shows from the outside.


trailer attached

[JeffMcKC]

Here is mine, and pull the plate down the chute plugs in.

[CDMBill]

Following Rich's example this is what it looks like from the back now. The height is on the cam centerline as a proxy for the longitudinal center of gravity which is important so that deploying the chute doesn't unload the front or the rear tires. I'm making a little body color block off cap to hide it a bit more, but I'm not trying for any sort of sleeper deal.



A dropped hitch unit gets the trailer level without too much leverage due to tongue weight. I went with the small Class 2 size as I do not intend to tow a big trailer and the size was perfect for the parachute round tube inside a short length of square tube. The second parachute retaining bolt hole is inside the trunk above the lateral and diagonal bracing which ties to the factory frame rails.

The receiver tube cost $5 from the local rack store and the hitch bar was another $5 from their clearance section. The trailer started life as a Harbor Frieght deal to which I added decking, removable sides and top and a tire rack, all of which had to fit in the back of my short bed pick-up under the tonneau cover for the tow back to the Midwest, but that is another story

[JeffMcKC]

Damn Bill, could you not have found some heavier stuff to use?

[CDMBill]

If you mean the hitch/parachute mount, the added material minus what I removed worked out to about seven pounds, those flat pieces are tubes, not solid stock. If you mean the trailer, the box frame tubing is thin wall, the sheeting is aluminun as is the decking. The complete trailer weighs right at 145# empty. My first removable hitch, which was a PITA to remove weighed 22# and looked kinda like Rich's. It pulled a 4x8 U-Haul box trailer with a ton 'o junk in it no problem. Clutch didn't like the towing though as I had the six speed in it in '05.

[JeffMcKC]

Ok its not as heavy as it looked at first then. I aways looking to tow less than I am going to work my trailer over if I have time this year it feels like a anchor.

[CDMBill]

I'm hoping to do the same as we may had a bit too much junk last year, but given the route I'm adding the EZ-up regardless.

[BBR]

Mine's ugly. But so is the rest of the car. It fit's it's persona.