DIY Tow Hitch

I continually make these investments in my own skills, not too sure what day they actually pay off since I rarely am doing the same thing twice.

Yeah, you could have bought one, but we wouldn't give you nice strokies would we?
There are plenty of cheque book hobbyists ..
'Look what I bought yesterday'....
'Uh? Yeh, nice....'

I'm sure If I totted up the time I spend mking bows, I could buy 'em cheaper...but it's the uniqueness....
Can't beat building it yourself...you know exactly how it works and how to fix it if you do get problems.
(I bet all the local cats rub up against it too...whereas they probabbly just pee on the commercial ones)

Oh, yeah, it is nice and unobtrusive too.
Del

I sure hope the VERY 1st cop that saw that thing stopped him and wrote him up a very $$$$ ticket and told him to call someone to come and get the 5th wheel trailer towed by a properly outfitted truck.

How can anyone be so stupid?

GA Scotch, This rig is one for the Darwin Award.

Here's the scenerio: The first time he hits a bump, the front end goes skyward, can't do a thing about it because he cant, see anything. Won't matter. By now the rear wheels hit the bump, smashes the halves of the tailgate together, splitting the 4x4, those smarmy little S hooks straighten out about the same time the driver hears an awful noise. Putting on the brakes results in (1; The trailer brakes pull what's left of the tailgate off, or (2; Whats left of the tailgate winds up on the dashboard. In either event it's a 6,000 lb. (est.) loose cannon. No sway bars, no breakaway chain. Sheet metal screws?

How can anyone be so stupid? Beats the hell outa me.

I was just going to say that the DYI hitch would be a nice thing and you'd enjoy doing this, could face some problems and learn a little bit solving it, untill I saw the photos... After some moments trying to bring my mind back to reality, after figuring out if we are not just lying in a jelly connected to a great installation serving as power supply to a big computer, I had to vote for good answer. I really think CSN Engineer made a great contribution to this forum, remembering that just a few part of us are engineers, or show any level of interest in solving things the right way, and that any answer in CR4 could be potentially deathfull if incorrectly understood. Remember: the one that made this stuff could be the next to ask something here... how would him understand it?

so who is responsible if your boat disengages from your car with your homemade hitch that you "jumped on a few times, seemed OK"? A lot of research and testing is done on this type of unit before it is released to the public along with load capacities and limits etc. I would prefer to use a good quality "Name Brand" unit. Just my thoughts.

I'll inspect your bows anytime Del.

Sad thing is, you probably know far more about their performance than this qualified mechie! Your knowledge of defence equipment is slightly less than optimal though!

PS Spooky finding this thread today - a colleague and I were discussing the legal modification that can be made to an F150 to add a 5th wheel towing hitch for just this situation. Since F150s imported into the UK tend to have a Cummins A or B series 4 cyl/ 4 litre Diesel engine inserted (mostly for running cost reasons), this seems like a good engineering solution.

For the uninitiated, the Cummins B series 4 litre is used to power the Dennis Dart buses found in London and other cities in the UK.

I agree with you that making your own toe hitch is a risk one that I had to evaluate before I used it, and is one of the reasons I would buy one if I had to do it again.

That being said, In this case I over engineered the hitch as much as I could. It is designed so that even if most of the welds broke, it wouldn't just fall off. In the bracket connected to the car I cut a hole for the square stock put it through the hole and then welded it. Even if the weld broke, this would likely still stay connected to the car. In every toe hitch I saw sold for my car, everything is welded and would come completely off if the welds broke.

As for my comment about jumping up and down on it, that was more of a joke. I did test it to make sure nothing was loose and it didn't budge at all but I didn't really jump on it. I put it through its paces on a private road and did things like hit the breaks hard, accelerate and turn hard and other sorts stress it might experience. I also only used it on local roads not going very fast.

Should people not make anything themselves these days because it hasn't been properly tested and approved? Perhaps we should just buy everything and not even try.

Then again I fix things that have been tested and approved all the time, and often I find that the bad quality and manufacturing is the reason it broke in the first place.

Who is going to fix these quality issues and manufacturing issues if no one is learning anything new.

I have worked as a quality engineer in a manufacturing plant in the past, so I know what goes on.

You sound like you are a reasonable person with due respect for the engineering required for this type of application.

Unfortunatly I meet a lot of very smart guys in their field but have no idea of other stuff. ie- which end to hold a hammer! DIY trailer hitches are not the the thing to be done by just anyone.

When I go to U-Haul to rent a car carrier they will not rent to Ford Explorers(?) and visually check my hitch for stickers and Class Ratings.

Hidden Hitch has some very nice units that actually do almost hide under the bumper and are certified by vehicle and tow rating. My next door Industrial unit renter installs these hitches and I am amazed at the intricate pull wires and captive nuts along with reinforcing plates that are required to install these units.

A small trailer, which you may have, hooked to reasonable size vehicle, if enginneered properly will probably work just fine. But to say this is the same, as someone has said about building a cross bow, it is not the same thing as the crossbow when it breaks may at the worst injure the operator, but the trailor letting loose could injure or kill an unsuspecting person or family.

You indicated that you inserted the cross tubes thru the mounting plates and welded. This is a good thing that works well but others trying to duplicate your results may not realize this technique.

I saw the other attempt at a hitch and can only say Please "do not try this at home!"

I fully agree that many projects I and others do should not be attempted by someone who has no clue. Risks are involved with everything, and everyone has to evaluate this on their own before doing something.

It amazes me how many people do things they had no knowledge about. Of course you almost never hear the story about the person who made something and it worked well. You mostly here the stories that end in tragedy, because they make the news.

Everyone is at a different level, their are people who would hurt themselves trying to open a can of soda. Its unfortunate that everyone doesn't think things through before they do them, it would save lives.

So, with any of my projects, many of them are dangerous, and many of them should not be attempted by others. This is for each individual to evaluate, but if in doubt don't do it, and if you do anyhow, don't blame me if it ends in tragedy.