would like to put a hitch on our 48 aerosedan to pull a 20 foot holiday trailer. Just wondering what some of you have done to attach it to the "top hat" frame? I was thinking of replacing the rear crossmember with an assembly similar to a receiver hitch on a newer pickup and bolting it to the bottom of the frame in several places. Any thoughts?
We modified a bolt on unit for a '73-'87 chevy pickup for my friend's '47 coupe. It still bolts on, so he can take it off if he wants to. AS I remember, it took some modifications to the plates on the ends and we had to narrow it some, but it turned out pretty trick. I'm not sure if I have any pictures of it, but I'll take a look.
Found a picture, the end pieces go across the entire underside of the frame and they extend back to a mount about 9" ahead of the back of the car. With the bumper and gravel pan on, you don't notice it, but we can still take it off and put it on easily to tow a trailer.
You do know that those cars pulled 20 foot plus Airstreams, New Moons, ect. mobile homes (then called house trailers) all over the country and often with a clamp-on-the-bumper ball.
Are you running the stock bumper? I made one for my '46 that comes off in a couple minutes; bolts to the frame in four places and uses the rear bumper for extra support. If you want I can take pics of it tomorrow, it's off the car right now.
The availability of hundreds of ready made receiver hitches over the last 30 years has given us a vast array of easily modifiable hitches for almost every hotrod. Easily modified and quality materials to work with. And they're cheap at junkyards and swap meets.
I went to a number of trailer hitch places last summer, in Big Olds, looking for a hitch setup, off the shelf or custom. They looked at me like I was crazy. Not one had one that would work or were willing to make one. I'm also interested in seeing detailed photos in this thread. Thanks
snowcombine my 47 chevy coupe has a hitch very similar to the one that wayfarer posted. as he mentioned.. with the pan and bumper on the car.. the receiver is invisible.. my hitch is a bolt on and began life as a junk yard hitch that I had modified extensively to make work.. with a 20 foot older trailer.. I think weight.. and drag.. and think that you should look into gear ratio first.. my car has a 3:08 posi and it works hard on hills pulling my 15 foot scotty. my 40 ford pulls the exact same trailer with ease. but has a 355 rear gear.. Denise.. please remember that the olds frame is significantly different than the Chevy frame at the rear.. my olds has a hitch (although unused as of yet!) and its installation required MUCH modification to the frame to make it as stout as the Chevy.. ADDITIONALLY. I had an old timer at Hershey tell me that in 1940 Oldsmobile had "problems" with some of their frames cracking just above the rear axle.. (I've never actually researched this, but knowing the olds frame design.. i believe it to be true.. ..) please know that I do not advise that you bolt a hitch (or modified hitch) on big olds without doing something additional to the rear frame rails. J
Thanks everyone, I looked at aftermarket hitches but only to copy in order to build one. Never thought about modifying one.
I made a heavy duty hitch for my '40 Chevy. The rear cross bar is 1/8" plate shaped like the picture and has a 2" hole in it for the receiver bar. The pattern was developed so the receiver passes forward about an inch below the gas tank. A similar cross bar was made to attach to a crossmember in front of the tank which also holds my rear sway bar. The rear cross bar has a 1" lip welded to it at a 90 degree angle and it is bolted to the hat brim of the rear crossmember with about a dozen 3/8" bolts. I made the two cross bars, bolted them into the chassis and then fit a new 36" receiver tube from Tractor Supply into the square holes and tacked and trimmed as required. Removed it from the car and finished welded. Made a safety chain loop and welded it on the receiver. It worked out great and cost about $80 which included laser cutting at the sheet metal shop I use. I have a club plaque that hangs behind the hitch when not in use and it pretty much hides it. I tow a tear drop camper or a well loaded Mullins trailer and haven't had any problems. It's tough enough to pull a bigger trailer. Charlie
and to think I was worried about the lack of suspension travel, not the frame. Thanks for the insight, much apprecaited.
Pics of mine. The two half inch bolts on the main tube go through brackets (angle iron) welded on the rear crossmember. The bolts on the outside "wings" bolt through the crossmember at the framerails. The bracket at the rear end of the main tube goes against the front side of the frame crossmember to further insure the hitch doesn't pull rearward. the curved bracket at the front of the main tube bolts through the bumper. My license plate covers the hole in the bumper. I've towed a heavy two axle popup, A 24 footer, many hundreds of miles with no problem, even got into a tail wagging the dog situation and never even though about the hitch. It goes on in about five minutes.
Denise you should know that you have to take your car to a hot rod guy to get a hitch built. The trailer places can only bolt on off the shelf stuff to late model vehicles.
Interesting that this comes up...I considering a '28 Sedan (body and frame) in TX and was thinking of attaching a hitch on my 54 so I could make a road trip out of it.
There was a build-it-to-suit trailer hitch shop on the East Side of Houston years ago somewhere around Lockwood and Polk, I think. You could drive in there and buy a ready-made, and get it installed, or drop off your car/truck and they would build you a hitch, welded in or bolted, usually in a day or two. The modern shops can't do "specials" because of litigation issues and insurance premiums.
Yeah, I found that out after I stopped. The sign said "custom hitches" so I pulled in. He looks thru the computer, blah, blah, blah, then tells me he can't find one for my car. I say well then make me one of those "custom ones" like your sign says. He was speechless. I walked out without another word shaking my head.
Denise, Your Big Olds and my Ponticas are pretty similar. These are some photos of the hitch going under the '51 wagon. They bolt to the bumper mount holes in the frame horns, to the frames bottom lip, and to the crossmember at the center. It's visible, but not out of place on the wagon. I could have made just the reciever show, as I did with the one under my '48 convert, buy mounting it under the crossbar, which might be more what you want. On both cars, I have the licence plate on a plug which goes into the reciever when not towing, and pull it out when the stinger goes in to tow. We tow a 25 foot Spartan Manor with both cars, the upper limit of what one should tow with a car this size. The Chevy frames, being the top hat style, would be tough to make a mount which bolts to the bumper mounts like mine, the photo of the red Chev's hitch above looks plenty stout bolted to the bottom of the frame. The comment about cars of this era pulling large trailers with bumper hitches should be NOT be taken as an endorsement to do so, I can tell you from tens of thousands of miles pulling our Spartan with a street rod that it is nothing to be undertaken lightly. When the tail starts wagging the dog, it's not fun. To hopefully remedy this, I'm building a one ton, 1948 Diamond T pickup. More weight, more wheelbase, more brakes, 10 ply tires, stiffly sprung.
The frame under your convert is (or certainly should be) plenty stout to accept a hitch and be safe to tow. Air bags or air shocks a must tho. As this shows, the wagon needs them... Brian
Thanks guys for the info. I'm just looking to pull alittle open trailer I have with my go-cart on it.
Go to a welding shop to get a trailer hitch. Most have old ones in their scrap pile that have been removed to upgrade for a customer.
I am building one from scratch for my '46 Ford tomorrow, anybody else build one for a transverse spring car? The rear of the framerails from the crossmember back was never meant to support anything but the rear of the body, anybody have any insight? My plan it to tie it to the crossmember, basically build a stronger rear frame (Mostly 2x3x1/8" rect. tubing and 3/16" plate) from the crossmember back just under the rails and rear part of the original frame, with a receiver tube welded into the middle, but hiden behind the license plate. The most trailer it'll ever tow is my little 1500 lb. camper.
I'll resurect an old thread! I just finished making a reciever hitch setup on my wagon. Prolly overkill, but shouldn't fail! Tell me what y'all think. Cut the end crossmember off the back of the car flush. Got a 3"x 3" square tube the same length and 2- 20", 3" C channel red iron from the scrap pile. Welded it all together and put the 2 1/2" receiver tube thru the 3" and welded it all together. Slid it into the factory frame rails to the desired depth (flush!) and drilled holes and bolted it to the frame. I had to tap the 3" tube for the bumper bracket bolts and cut a square out in the bumper behind the plate which will now be a fold down one My question is, will 3- 3/8" grade 8 bolts on each side be stout enough to hold it all together pulling a trailer? I'd hate to screw up 2 cars because of that! Thanks! Ill try to get some pics.
I wonder if the old timer was thinking of the 39 buick's with the frame that ended at the rear end. They would fold if the truck was overloaded. Short lived experiment to same a couple of bucks on gm's part. The rest of the frame and the later 39's with the full frame were strong frames though.
Thanks Brian I honestly don't know how manufactured ones are built. I was just using a bunch of stuff I had laying around. I will get some 1/2" bolts then. But I'm afraid that since the stock frame isn't very wide, that it might compromise it if I drill thru the bottom of it. Thoughts?
When I was looking at putting one on a '99 van I found that Advance Auto stocks a new universal hitch made to fit multiple vehicles - it comes with a couple different side brackets and the rear crossmember is two tubes that slide in and out to adjust for width. I have to think for a hot rod, especially if I wasn't afraid of spending the bucks, I'd check out one of those for a start. I think they run around $100-$120 and it's a real class III/IV hitch -
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