Tale of Three Hitches
Post by barrman on Sept 13, 2006, 8:14am
Barrman Fabrications made this hitch in November of 2001.
It was simple and bolted into holes already on the rear frame crossmember. You do have to imagine the reciever part of it though. That was cannabalized to make this hitch/bumper in January 2003.
The pipe bumper worked great until the quest for stock tail lights started. I could cut off the outside edges and still make the stock light buckets work, but it just wouldn't look right. Plus, I bent my front pipe bumper at the FE trying to climb the rock wall Will is pictured climbing below. So, the quest for stock lighting really goes along with the search for a stock style front bumper. Since they should match, I just removed the pipe bumper.
I still need to pull ball type trailers though. That led to this hitch last night.
You will notice that the stock spare tire rack still functions. This hitch is welded on good enough to work like it is. but, continuing the philosophy that everything should be over built by a factor of 5. I am going to add 1/4" plates to the sides at an angle and more at the front and rear. The only hold up is the spare tire rack. I have thought about it for 12 hours now and decided that since I am running XZL tires and the spare is a NDT and that I have OBA along with a new tube in the tool box, I really don't need a spare. Matter of fact, a spare that much smaller just might lead to a "Brian Moment" while trying to drive somewhere. I am having trouble driving without a spare for security though. Anyway, the spare will go away and the entire rear of the truck should be green after I finish making it really overbuilt in a few days.