mci 9 hitch idea! Opinion!

[grantgoold]

I am ready to begin making my hitch. I have a class V hitch and will be 'tweeking it" to meet my needs. My welder/fabricator guy has suggested that I take away the inner rear bumper (crosses just in front of the bottom pulley) and recreate something out of steel that can can now act as the new inner bumper and can also become the mounting for the hitch. He also suggests that we modify the out bumper (nice painted piece of aluminum) so the hitch can protrude through the painted bumper enough to be functional and keep the hitch higher then it would be under the bumper. He is not afraid of the fabrication

Your thoughts on having the hitch receiver up 3 or 4 inches and protruding through the rear bumper?

Thanks

Grant

[rdbishop]

Hi Grant,

I have an mc-7. At the end of the frame, on both sides, I had 2-1/2" holes. I took 3X3X1/4" 9" long angle iron with the flat toward the bumper and bolted them to the frame. I cut my class V to fit in between the two angles and welded it so the receiver came out just under the bumper. I don't think you would want your hitch hooked to the bumper.

Richard

[DavidInWilmNC]

Grant,

I asked a question about this a week or so ago and got lots of good info.  Here's the link www.busconversions.com/bbs/index.php?topic=5225.msg48528#msg48528.  I was all ready to do this... until I removed the bumper and cover - the mounts are rusted out.  The were full of wet dirt, which obviously is not what one wants in a mostly enclosed metal area.  I cut out one mount today with a plasma cutter.  I'll be attempting to re-fabricate it tomorrow with some steel plate and square tube.  Although I still think this would be a nice area to attach the hitch, I wouldn't rely on it entirely.  I'll likely use it, but I'll definitely have the main part of the hitch's mount extend farther forward and attach to the rails.  Even if your bumper mounts don't appear rusty (did they use stainless on models later than MC-8's?), I'd definitely do some checking with a punch and hammer and see if there are any soft spots. 

Let us know what you decide on for your hitch.  Take pics and post 'em, too, if you don't mind.  It seems like hitches are one of the more difficult aspects of conversion, and for good reason. 

David

[grantgoold]

I will do my best to remember to take pictures. Yesterday I took off the exterior bumper and interior bumper. The mounting bracket is made of stainless and in good shape. The bolts that held in the interior bumper to the frame were rusted. I will replace them with stainless. We also plan on stabilizing the front to back stress by tying the cross member of the hitch to the bottom of the frame rail using square stainless tubing. The entire hitch will be designed to bolt on.

We are trying to design the hitch to stay as high off the ground as possible so we reduce the amount of drag points. Coming out in the middle of the exterior bumper we thought might save us from drag should the hitch exit below the exterior bumper.

Thanks and keep the ideas coming.

Grant

[NewbeeMC9]

Mine is under the bumper.

its too low in my opinion, causing me trouble wanting to match up my tow bar to my 4wd truck.


I drug it once going into a friends drive way,  i guess it may have protected the bumper but it made sure i couldnt back up.

maybe if you have it not protrude and reach behind the bumper to install the pin.

also  ask yourself ,  Where exactky on your leg do you want to smack the $^&@ out of it. then set it at that height   you can adjust from there.