Heavy Duty Trailor Hitch for my MCI 9.

[johns4104s]

Help would be appreciated in info on  Building and installing a hitch on my MCI 9.
I have a welder.

John

[gumpy]

http://www.busconversions.com/bbs/index.php?topic=8888.0.

[jjrbus]

John, your post says "heavy duty" what do you plan on towing? Jim

[johns4104s]

I will be towing a car Hauler/trailer 2500# and a Vehicle at 3000# Total 5500#

Thanks

John

[Kenny]

The photos of Grumpy's hitch are an excellent example of a hitch for an MC9. One thing you may want to keep in mind is the tongue weight of anything you will be towing. Many past posts mention tongue weight and existing engine cradle cracks. The MC9 engine cradle will develope stress cracks on its own without a trailer hitch. My MC9 is a perfect example of this. Depending on the hitch design will determine acceptable tongue weight. Now if only pulling a toad or light weight trailer, Grumpy's hitch would be more than you need.

Kenny

[rv_safetyman]

There have been many threads on trailer hitches and towing larger trailers.

I have tried to respond to each one, expressing my concern.  One of the threads was:  http://www.busconversions.com/bbs/index.php?topic=4080.msg37688#msg37688

Towing with no vertical load (towed four down) is GENERALLY not an issue as long as the hitch is well made AND the bus structure is good.

When you start putting a vertical load on the hitch (trailer), you can get yourself in trouble.  In general, our buses were never designed to tow trailers.  Couple that with the fact that some of our buses have seen a ton of miles and metal fatigue/rust (not just Eagles ) can really create a dangerous situation. 

As noted in the above thread, I have gathered quite a bit of material and documented some of my thoughts at:  http://www.rvsafetysystems.com/Trailer%20Towing.htm.  On that page, I document my concerns about the affect of dynamic loads on our structures.

Your trailer combination is probably within the realm of being OK if everything is OK

BTW, a note to the moderators.  I am not convinced that the search engine is working correctly.  I could not find any of the threads I am pretty sure are in the database.  Had to search my own posts and gave up after looking at the first 20 pages.  I will flag this for the moderators to look at.

Jim

[johns4104s]

Thanks Grumpy,

Great input and photographs.


Does anyone have a copy of  the MCI,s hitch?

Thanks

John

[JackConrad]

BTW, a note to the moderators.  I am not convinced that the search engine is working correctly.  I could not find any of the threads I am pretty sure are in the database.  Had to search my own posts and gave up after looking at the first 20 pages.  I will flag this for the moderators to look at.
Jim

Jim,
   Thanks for the "heads up".  That will have to be checked by Dallas or Phil or anyone with more computer knowledge than me.  There have been times in tha past when the search mode has developed minor glitches.  Jack

[Dallas]

Here is a photo of a factory MCI Hitch. (Courtesy Cody)

also, Greyhound Canada uses freight trailers on some western routes to haul tandem axle trailers.

IHTH

DF

Thanks Gumpy,

Great input and photographs.


Does anyone have a copy of  the MCI,s hitch?

Thanks

John

[johns4104s]

Thank You Dallas,

It does not look as heavy duty as Grumpy,s? What do you guys think??

John

[jjrbus]

I have a similar setup to Gumpys except instead of square tubing and plates I used a heavy angle iorn, with the reciever welded to the bottom. So I think Gumpys is the right way to do it!!!  I've noticed that no one is mentioning the "Jone's" offset hitch anymore?   Jim

[johns4104s]

What is the Jones of set hitch?? Any pictures??

Thanks

John

[jjrbus]

Poor Mr Jones.  A busnut named Jones noticed that he had more problems clearing things with his toad when making right turns. He also did not like that he could not see his toad in the mirror. One nite about 3 AM he awoke with a thought and quickly jotted it down.
Soon thereafter with grinder and welder and a couple beers, he moved his receiver one foot 6 inchs to the left. Now Mr Jones was happy. He had more clearence when making those troubleing right turns and he could see his toad in the drivers mirror.
Now I know some are saying well now he will not have as much clearence making left turns!!! But you do not understand Mr Jones genuis. On the left he can look out the window and see how much clearence he has, he cannot do that on the right!! That is the story and why it is the "Jones" offset hitch.
I am surprised it never caught on. I expected to see improvements as time went on. Gear drives, hydraulics, pnumatics, to remotely move the reciever from side to side as turns dictated.

                                                                              Jim
After all that typing I did a web search       http://www.busnut.com/artdg06.html

[gumpy]

Soon thereafter with grinder and welder and a couple beers, he moved his receiver one foot 6 inchs to the left. Now Mr Jones was happy.
I am surprised it never caught on. I expected to see improvements as time went on. Gear drives, hydraulics, pnumatics, to remotely move the reciever from side to side as turns dictated.

When we built the hitch for my friend in AK this summer, we briefly considered adding a second receiver that was offset to the left. Only briefly. I just don't see the benefits of it, with respect to the extra cost and labor to install it.

Once you get used to driving your bus, towing a car is just not that big a deal. Yeah, I'd like to be able to see it in the mirror, but I have a camera so I can see it back there. I don't think having it off to the left side would help much, and when I get into winding and twisting roads in the mountains, could actually be a hinderance and safety issue.

Just my opinion.

[jjrbus]

That is why you need to design one that can remotely move the toad from side to side and of course back to center for those super hiway criuse's!!!
A dual reciever is a good idea, the cost is really neglagable even the xtra labor costs what, two maybe 3  beers?