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45002_3_500.jpg

 

 

The side plates/brackets are "Z" shaped on this one....some are "C" shaped. Those with long reaching brackets for trucks have them.

There is also 'pull' from the side.....side forces. Imagine using the hitch as a recovery point, your 4000lbs truck is being snatched from the side to pull you out of a ditch...for example.....the forces are wanting to bend the side plates.

 

 

It does not take a freakin engineer to figure this out.

 

 

THINK!

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Ok I understand you now. To make the plate more ridgid it needs a bend or something running parallel to it so it doesn't bend sideways... For as "long" as it is, and for what it's used for it shouldn't bend. They have limits.if you exceed them sure it'll bend or break but not under normal or slightly above normal stress. I know yours is 3/8 and shorter but why doesn't yours have that extra bend in it?

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Jeep Driver,

 

The Draw Tite hitch has 3 bolts on each side and no gussets.  It looks very much like the Uhaul hitch in krustyballer16's picture from what I can see.

 

The Reese hitch in your picture is a Class V hitch rated for 14000 lbs and 1000 to 1200 lbs tongue weight. 

 

The Comanche is factory rated to tow only 3500 lbs when "properly equipped" WITHOUT an equalizer hitch.  With the equalizing hitch it is max tow rating when "properly equipped" is 5000 lbs.  And, no short wheel base truck was ever "properly equipped" by the factory.  Only long wheel base trucks could be "properly equipped" from the factory.  (Yes, my truck is/was "properly equipped" from the factory).

 

Frankly, I suspect you are over thinking this, given that most of our trucks can not be properly equipped and nobody has claimed anything about the DIY hitch performance.

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45002_3_500.jpg

 

 

The side plates/brackets are "Z" shaped on this one....some are "C" shaped. Those with long reaching brackets for trucks have them.

There is also 'pull' from the side.....side forces. Imagine using the hitch as a recovery point, your 4000lbs truck is being snatched from the side to pull you out of a ditch...for example.....the forces are wanting to bend the side plates.

 

 

It does not take a freakin engineer to figure this out.

 

 

THINK!

the picture of the hitch you posted doesnt have "Z" sides... if you look on the far side they are perfectly flat vertically. it is a reflection on the close side.

 

id like to see what your personal "proper" hitch set up is... since you seem to know the "right" way. to design a hitch.

 

last time i checked no factory/commercial hitch uses a "Z" or "C" channel sides. the only difference would be a side or bottom bolt face.

 

now this attached picture dirrect from Curt which is a GLOBAL hitch company.. with many many years of design knowledge... even with ratings up to 18,000lb not one is gusseted or has "Z" or "C" channel. 

 

3cb3343f-bb9f-4229-af03-4e1bf16acd55.jpg

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45002_3_500.jpg

 

 

The side plates/brackets are "Z" shaped on this one....some are "C" shaped. Those with long reaching brackets for trucks have them.

There is also 'pull' from the side.....side forces. Imagine using the hitch as a recovery point, your 4000lbs truck is being snatched from the side to pull you out of a ditch...for example.....the forces are wanting to bend the side plates.

 

 

It does not take a freakin engineer to figure this out.

 

 

THINK!

 

Here's another pic of that same hitch. No "Z" shaped side plates.

 

45002_a.jpg

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I'm still in for the DIY hitch plates.  I'm not towing 5K lbs with my MJ.  I'm not towing a 25 ft. travel trailer or a Bayliner cabin cruiser with it. I might tow a small trailer with gravel or firewood in it, or camping gear or an aluminum fishing boat and I don't trust the bumper mounted hitch to tow anything I can't physically lift the tongue on...so maybe 200 lbs tongue weight (aka Class I or II at best). 

 

My MJ is not a F-250 or a RAM and although some might overload their MJ with the the DIY hitch, the local RV/Hitch guy in town would laugh at the ability and/or safety of my little truck to tow 5K up or DOWN a mountain pass with ANY hitch, he'd tell me that the DIY plate design that terrawombat and krusty have come up with is exactly what he would do if I asked him to make me a hitch...and give it a Class III rating

 

I am, however, very impressed with Jeep Driver's hitch/bumper fabrication job...which is nothing but bullet proof.  I do not possess those skills.  Most hitches I've seen use 3 or 4 bolts and do very well.  So, I'm just looking for a better solution than a receiver that is only bolted to my bumper...not a tank.

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I guess HUSKY and their engineers have no idea what they are doing either. This hitch uses even fewer mounting points. It has two on the sides and one on the bottom of each leg. Not to mention the receiver tube is... bolted on! The legs mount to the inside of the frame rails. I had to drill the holes and fish the captured bolts into the rails.

 

396765_3487680317831_564868404_n.jpg?oh=

 

Can you imagine they even slapped a load rating on this death trap?

 

559166_3487674557687_56385714_n.jpg?oh=1

 

What is going on is the exact same reason JCR quit building MJ parts. If the nay sayers are such good fabricators and engineers, than build a better product and bring it to market.

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Well either way, if its gonna fail and explode and throw a trailer 50ft in the air, I'm gonna have them cut out and will sell them to the ones that want them. As for the people that don't,..... I guess you don't have to buy them, ill cry but I guess you don't have to purchase them....

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Well either way, if its gonna fail and explode and throw a trailer 50ft in the air, I'm gonna have them cut out and will sell them to the ones that want them. As for the people that don't,..... I guess you don't have to buy them, ill cry but I guess you don't have to purchase them....

 

I'm ready to go for it. No gussets, no Z's, no sweat.  Thanks!

 

When people start telling me something can't be done, or won't work, it makes me want to do it even more.  I'll risk it.

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45002_3_500.jpg

 

 

The side plates/brackets are "Z" shaped on this one....some are "C" shaped. Those with long reaching brackets for trucks have them.

There is also 'pull' from the side.....side forces. Imagine using the hitch as a recovery point, your 4000lbs truck is being snatched from the side to pull you out of a ditch...for example.....the forces are wanting to bend the side plates.

 

 

It does not take a freakin engineer to figure this out.

 

 

THINK!

 

Here's another pic of that same hitch. No "Z" shaped side plates.

 

45002_a.jpg

 

 

 

You need to look more closely.

 

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Prior to 1984 most Uhaul company owned stores, rental super centers, for the lack of a better description, employed hitch fabricators. If a hitch was not available the fabricator would build one from scratch.

In '84 I hired on as a lot attendant, bringing up trailers and trucks, checking them in, wiring cars that had not been wired for trailers before. I was immediately drawn to the hitch department, Roy was the fabricator and he and I became friends. When I was slow on the lot I would come in and help him, wire for flat plugs and that type of thing. He eventually had me installing "custom" hitches when he was too busy fabricating.

Uhaul had already begun to phase out fabricating as more and more 'custom' hitches became available. After I was there 6 months or so Roy left to move out west and I became the hitch mechanic.

 

In the two years I was there must have installed nearly 200 hitches or more, who knows, everything from Class l to Class lV. Behind my shop was the RV shop, they handled Class V WD hitches to goosenecks to 5th wheels. At that time I must have wired several hundred cars/trucks for for flat plugs to 7pin to the goofy connect-a-lite connectors to E-brakes, and I had every manufactures colors memorized and knew where the harnesses were. I could wire car in minutes.

 

In '84 there was Dixie Hitch and Uhaul to serve our west central FL area, there was no internet, no on-line ordering, no Tractor Supply.......if you wanted a hitch you came to us and we were busy. It was not uncommon to have 3-4 customers waiting for an install.

 

 

Why my story? I did not approach my hitch build from a position of complete ignorance.

 

 

I worked my @$$ off, I was 19 and full of piss and vigor. The manager liked me enough to allow me to use the unused portion of the hitch bay to assemble my '71 Camaro that I bought piece by piece, he even let me use Uhaul trucks to drag them in-

 

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This is me welding a hitch on to the front of the yard truck, sometimes we had trailers stacked in rows 6 deep and it was easier to drive them in that way-

 

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I got the first sheet of brackets nested for the lasers. It will be a couple weeks (5-6) before they czn cut them. So that'll give me time to set everything up. There isn't any shutting me down. Only way OT wasn't gonna happen here was if it was gonna take more drawing then what was supplied by Terra. But that was all golden so we're here at the end of discussing it and at the brink of bringing back a hitch for our amazing trucks. Win lose or draw thaw brackets are coming!

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