FRONT Trailer Hitch Build

[Beertestr]

Figured I'd toss up some pics of the hitch I built for the front of my 02 2500HD. I have some tight space to maneuver in my backyard back where I store the car and horse trailers, this has been awesome to use in maneuvering stuff around the yard.

The receiver piece I bought from the local tool supply place. The corner radii are a little big unfortunately, so my solid 2" shanks needed a few kisses from the angle grinder to fit. Kinda bummed me out, I bought the one I did because it was locally built, not a Chinese import.

I had a meltdown on my TIG power cable, a leak in the cooling line, and the cablen overheated when I had it at 225A. I'll post pics of that later.












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[kf4zht]

Nice, looks factory.

I just welded a tube to the bottom of my warn transformer brush guard. Figure the guard is rated for a 16K winch and I am never going to be putting too much load on it. Most of the time the trailers are empty when I am using it

 

[Barlow L]

I made a hitch receiver for the front of my Jubilee tractor. so dang easy to drive a trailer than back it.

 

[NKlamerus]

Wow...I was JUST about to post about this. I have a really shot ranch hand on the front of my 2500HD I am planning on taking it off, sand blasting it, doing some fab work, and raptor lining it. For the fab work I'd like to add a hitch, not for trailers but for a removable whinch and a shackle. Along with a hitch I'd like to ad some mounted shackles as well but there aren't any strong points. Beertestr, you think adding a cross bar setup like yours between the mounts of the ranch hand would be strong enough? Or should I weld to the frame? I plan to remove the lower peice of grate. Or at least cut a hole on it. Or should I somehow fab a 2" reciever into the tube somehow? Wish I had those fab skills! That hitch looks SWEET.

2002 LB7 HypertechMaxEnergy. 4x4. Ranchands. 33Coopers. Stupid is a Stupid Does.

 

[NKlamerus]

Bump anyone?

 

[dankicksass]

To make life easy;
Replace either front tow hook with a section of receiver stock...and you're done.

Cut stock to length, drill four holes....

This sounds good, I like this.

 

[gtermini]

Wow...I was JUST about to post about this. I have a really shot ranch hand on the front of my 2500HD I am planning on taking it off, sand blasting it, doing some fab work, and raptor lining it. For the fab work I'd like to add a hitch, not for trailers but for a removable whinch and a shackle. Along with a hitch I'd like to ad some mounted shackles as well but there aren't any strong points. Beertestr, you think adding a cross bar setup like yours between the mounts of the ranch hand would be strong enough? Or should I weld to the frame? I plan to remove the lower peice of grate. Or at least cut a hole on it. Or should I somehow fab a 2" reciever into the tube somehow? Wish I had those fab skills! That hitch looks SWEET.

2002 LB7 HypertechMaxEnergy. 4x4. Ranchands. 33Coopers. Stupid is a Stupid Does.

I have a Ranch Hand on my 1998 Dodge. It has the built in reciever tube. It goes all the way through the main round tube dead center. I think it is just flush on the back side and welded front and rear. It would mess the bumper up before it came out. Maybe, if the snow clears in a couple days, I can get a pic.

Greyson

 

[NKlamerus]

I know what your talking about, unfortunately I guess the previous owner that bought the ranch hand didn't get that option. I'm really not sure how I could cut such a perfect square in round tubing...angle grinder and plasma maybe?

 

[Beertestr]

I dont know much about Ranch Hand bumpers but they look pretty beefy. I guess the only thing id be concerned about is not the bumper, but the frame horns that the bumper bolts to. My receiver bolts to the frame using 4 of the 6 tow hook bolts, directly to the frame. The stock bumper bolts to brackets welded to the frame. They look like 12 guage steel, but the attachment points are cantilevered off the main frame rail.

As for cutting the hole in your bumper, I can't think of a quicker method than a plasma cutter. There are plenty of other ways to do it though. You could mark the center and perimeter of the hole, use a hole saw to remove the first chunk and then rotary file it square. There's always more than 1 way to skin a cat. A local tool supply place sells receiver ends that are 2.5" 1/4" wall tubing, made in USA. Harbor Freight sells pieces like that but are a little thinner wall. Cut holes in your bumper to fit something like that and weld it in. Where are you located?

I'd like to build a custom bumper someday but there are several other projects ahead of it.

Anyways, off to go look at a 16" South Bend!!!


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[NKlamerus]

My bad It's been awhile! And I'm located in Niceville Florida. I'm kinda thinking about adding 2 hitches....1 in the tube of the ranch hand and one that will be mostly hidden under the ranch hand between the frame rails. That way; I could have 2 hookup points for shackles, or I could use a block/pulley setup with a whinch. That;and I'd have 1 high mount and one low for adjusting trailers...