Attaching a holder to trailer hitch safely

You intend to have the pintle hitch a foot and a half off center, mounted on the right side? Prepare to be pulled over by the first cop who sees you.

Much better is to have a class III hitch with the 2" reciever. I have a pintle hitch on a 2" mount as well as a 1-7/8" ball mount, 2" ball mount with a different drop, bike rack, and a small winch. I mix and match on two vehicles, take them off when not using them.

If you don't like changing out your hitch, consider mounting a reciver below your existing hitch ball. If you insist on tying into just one side of the existing hitch frame, make sure that you take care of bracing to resist twisting loads. If the side plates hang down very far from the frame, they won't have much strength left for lateral loads.

Welding on the hitch is **USUALLY** not a problem since most aftermarket hiches are mild steel but adding point loads, your welding technique, location, etc, etc could cause a buckling of the hitch under load.

Another no no is to through bolt > I bought a combination pintle hook (for lunette eye trailers) and ball

Yes, mounted on right side, looking sideways (pointing rightward instead of backward).

That would be for storage only, obviously.

I am not sure why, I mean, it will be clear that it is not mounted sideways to hook trailers.

Yes, I have two ball mounts also.

The hitch that I have and that I am talking about in this thread is similar (but more solid) to

All I want is, instead of it pointing backwards when not in use, to be hidden underneath the truck, pointing to the right.

Oh, that would never be used for actually pulling trailers, only for storage.

OK, got it.

Since then I realized that there is a third way of mounting that holder, which is to have angles on the other side and bolting to the angles, holding onto the hitch frame only by compression. I am not feeling well today, so I may not be able to explain it well, the frame (flat part) would simply be compressed by angles from two sides, and my holder would be welded to one side.

I can draw a picture.

i

Two things:

1 - *DO NOT* tow a ball hitch trailer with the pintle clamped down on top. It will damage the trailers hitch and possibly the pintle as well depending on the terrain you are driving over.

2 - Put the hitch under the back seat like everyone else does so it won't get damaged or stolen. If you don't have a back seat, go to your favorite truck dealer and trade it in for a proper crew cab in the brand of your choice.

Pete C.

Roy, Maybe you ought to go back and read his post again before you start claiming that the cops will be all over him.

Read it all carefully.

Iggy, A set of short (say 3/4 inch or so) tack welds will do very well to hold this in place and should do nothing worse to your hitch than burn a little paint. If you are at all concerned with warranty issues, look fro a location you can bolt through to mount the holder.

It sounds like a very practical idea.

Cheers Trevor Jones

I had no idea! Thank you. I will definitely avoid it (and will try to read more)

Well, maybe it will come to it, but I live where stuff rarely gets stolen. I have a six seat cab.

i

Yes, I can see how I was not specific enough about my intentions. I never intended to tow anything with the pintle mounted off center in some homemade contraption, but I can see how this maybe was not clearly conveyed.

i

No, he says he wants to store the hitch with the hitch parallel to the bumper, and underneath the bed of his truck, so it does not stick way the hell out the back when not in use, and does not otherwise take up usable space.

So read it again and this time look for that information. Really, it was there. Nothing I'd expect a cop to give a shit about. Really.

To save you a bit of trouble have copied the pertinent details.

"My own idea is to make a little holder for it, a square tube that would be mounted on the side of the trailer hitch frame, pointing rightwards, below the truck. (instead of sticking behind, it would be below the truck)"

I got it first time through, I figure you should have as well. Nothing worth whinging about cops over.

Have fun!

Cheers Trevor Jones

No, but I really don't like snotty responses by third parties when we have safety issues involved. Trailer hitches are a safety issue by definition. In case you didn't catch it, put some emphasis on the opreative words in the first sentence.

Trevor J>