Trailer Hitch design...

[70shortwide]

I have dreams of towing a boat with my f100...

I have a roll pan on it, and would like to have a hidden receiver behind the license plate. Has anybody done this? I have a pretty simple Idea in my head of how I want to do it.

I'm thinking Ill just build some brackets for an old 'factory built' type receiver hitch that go on the outside of the frame and bolt to the sides... the only thing I dont like about it is that Im not seeing how Ill be able to build big brackets that will go forward a ways along the frame since its a shortbed and the rear spring mount is pretty close. I feel like it would be 'ok', but thats not enough. I want it to be strong enough that if a tank ever ran over my truck repeatedly and shot at it with whatever a tank shoots and ran it over some more, then hooked a chain to it and drug it around for a few weeks that the hitch would still be there holding the truck together...

Basically, how am I going to make this thing much stronger than it ever would need to be? The brackets in my head would only be about 6" front to back... gotta do better...

Aaaaand to complicate it a bit more: I would like to install a mustang tank someday...

[tac]

It's been a few years but I just bought a Class III receiver made for that year and it bolts to the bottom of the frame. Had to drill holes in the frame to attach it and it sticks out under the chrome rear bumper.

[sargentrs]

I would say to "double bolt" it. Make the brackets to bolt to the sides of the frame and to the bottom like an L bracket configuration. That way the forces would be distributed both horizontally and vertically. Incorporate some square cutouts into the plates and slide a 1/4" wall square tube through them, weld it solid around the tube, and add some triangular gussets overlapping the bottom of the tube to the side brackets. A similar setup on the receiver tube to the cross tube.

[texrodder]

I did exactly what your talking about to my 71.I took a bolt on hitch that was off an old van and narrowed it to fit inside the frame rails.I took 3/16 plate and cut two pieces to use as mounting plates. I cut a square hole in each plate that was the same as the OD of the hitch . I then rolled the lower half of the plates to fit the inner contour of the frame and added a plate to the top to contour to the top of the inner frame.I welded 1/2x13 nuts to each side to mount the hitch and the rear sport bumper. It also got diagonal gussets from the hitch to the inner part of the plates. With this configuration it comes out in the center of the bumper behind the liscense plate which would be the same area as a roll pan, If you want I can get pictures this weekend when I get back home.

[70shortwide]

Texrodder, I would love to see some pics of your setup! judging by the work we have seen in your project thread, its going to be worth seeing! Sounds like the way you did yours is different than what I had in mind, might be worth scrapping the parts I have gathered to start over... I know what I have in my head "would work" and be pretty safe, but Im going for overkill.

[texrodder]

Texrodder, I would love to see some pics of your setup! judging by the work we have seen in your project thread, its going to be worth seeing! Sounds like the way you did yours is different than what I had in mind, might be worth scrapping the parts I have gathered to start over... I know what I have in my head "would work" and be pretty safe, but Im going for overkill.

Here are a few pics, let me know if you have questions

not sure what the dark spot is in the weld, glare I guess, you can see how it fits.
you can the 70 mustang rear mounting tabs
here is how it bolts in, 2 bolts through bumper mounts and 2 above those
here is what it all looks like with tank and hitch installed
had to make bolt in thread inserts (1/2-13) for bed bolts, no access with tank installed, I bought stainless 1/2-13 allen drive button head bolts to go in from inside the bed
heres the new bed mounting thread inserts, still havent shortened the insert mounting screws yet but you get the idea
You were talking about adding 6" front and back of hitch, not sure you'd need that much bracing, the one I did mimics the ones that were made for the Chevys back in the 90's to come out behind the roll pan, I measured off a friends 98 Chevy. One thing you could do is add a plate on the outside of the frame where you bolt it on, my bumper brackets do this for me. Or you may be able to run diagonal braces running parallel to the bottom of the frame?. Any way good luck ..

[texrodder]

One other idea if you wanted to add length to the mount would be to remove the rear spring hanger, and make the inner frame brackets run forward beyond the hanger mount and use grade 8 hardware to reattach the hanger and also mount the rear section of the inner frame mount, then you could add diagonal braces from the top of the hitch to the extended plates above the fuel tank, that would definitely be overkill but doable, let me know if you have questions,.

[70shortwide]

One other idea if you wanted to add length to the mount would be to remove the rear spring hanger, and make the inner frame brackets run forward beyond the hanger mount and use grade 8 hardware to reattach the hanger and also mount the rear section of the inner frame mount, then you could add diagonal braces from the top of the hitch to the extended plates above the fuel tank, that would definitely be overkill but doable, let me know if you have questions,.

Thanks for all the pics!

Sorry I havent been back to this, Ive been very busy with the mom-in-law. We're 700 miles away now and she decides to spend some time in ICU... Outlook is good now, we took her home yesterday and drove back last night.

I had thought about doing it the way you did, but decided against it because I just moved and dont really have space to pull the bed (I have a roll pan). now that I see how clean it looks compared to what I came up with I think Ill put this on hold until I can do it this way. I really need to do a c-notch too, I think Ill just set some time aside and pull the bed and do this while I have it all apart.

Another thought I had:
I could build the hitch to bolt to the outside of the frame like I had planned, then sandwich the frame with a plate on the inside that goes farther forward... then I could do it without pulling the bed.......

I just need to pull the bed and get it over with...

Texrodder, thanks again for the pics. The quality in your work shows, I will be happy when my hitch looks that clean.

[70shortwide]

One more thing, now that youve already gone way out of your way posting pics... Do you happen to have a pic showing how it fit with the bed on? I know I can cut and hack until mine fits where I want, but it looks like you didnt have to really modify it too much to get it where you wanted it.