$200 dollar hitch

[Manitoba Delica]

Hey folks, just thought I would share the hitch I figured out for my van. I was going to go with the $380 max. overdrive hitch, but on a whim bought the Buyer's universal class 3 hitch from Princess Auto for $80. I figured a welder could work with it for under $300. It's width is adjustable, but the challenge was to catch the bolt holes on the bumper and extend support to the frame. I found a welder on Salt Spring who helped me figure it out and welded the brackets for $120... ( a steal of a deal). It's extremely solid, probably more than I'll ever need. I had my spare off to mount this, but I'm pretty sur it wouldn't interfere.. I'm now trying to figure out mounting my WVO tank there.

I'll post pictures soon.

[Adam]

Nice work. I was eyeing up the Princess Auto hitches myself, but was warned off them. I can't justify a custom hitch for $500, but your solution would work for me. Now I just have to get over to Princess Auto again.....

EDIT: It turns out I'll be in Vancouver this weekend and my brother live only minutes away from Princess Auto. I guess I'll have to plan a visit with him So now the question is, do I wait unitl I'm on Salt Spring to get this welded up, or would any competent welder be able to handle the job?

[Adam]

I got the hitch for $88.88, now to find a welder that will make it fit.

[JMK]

Manitoba Delica, thank you very much for the head's up. With the Cargo Carrier on sale this week at Can Tire I'm going to go grab one of those hitches and then visit our welder at work to get it mounted.

Anyone know what concerns there were with the Princess Auto hitches that Adam mentioned? Presumably having a welder make the brackets up will override those concerns.

[loki]

I would like to see a pic of it mounted from a little further back, from the images shown it looks to hang a bit low, might be a concern for off road use.

[Adam]

Hi Adam,
We looked at the Princess Auto hitches (we did all our Christmas Shopping there this year -- so romantical). Jay the Spouse (who is a hitch expert as we have a few boats) figured they would not work as the attachment to the frame would need lots of grinding/cutting etc (we do not have anti-sway bars but do have spare tire underneath). I said hey let's buy it and beg EricN to help modify, Jay said way-y-y too much work, so we got the E&H hitch, very skookum, I pulled Jay's Huge chevy van with a boat up an icy hill last week (shhh, I guess the guy-code is never admit they needed help from the wifey vehicle).
Christine and Jay of the TardisDeli.

http://www.delica.ca/forum/trailer-hitc ... -2012.html

[Adam]

Manitoba Delica stopped by today for some WVO install talk, so I got a chance to see the hitch up close and in person. Looks pretty solid, here are some more shots:


Note the freshly installed marine fuel tank for WVO, 19 Gal, not bad. Might have to pick one up myself.

And now for the real test, how does my new CDN Tire hitch basket look on it?



Room enough to hold 12 cubes (240 litres), although I think that exceeds the 500lbs. tongue weight limit by about 50lbs.

[JMK]

I grabbed one of those baskets from Can Tire while they were on sale. I noticed it was kind of heavy to start with, but I guess it's a lot cheaper that something made from lighter materials. How does 500 lbs hanging off the back affect the handling?

[Adam]

Haven't road tested it yet, I just tried my basket on Matthew's hitch to see if it would work out. I only loaded up 4 cubes of oil on it because I didn't want to add a broken hitch to the list of tasks he needs to complete to get the his van running on WVO.

[JMK]

Thanks Adam,

I haven't gotten into Princess AUto to get a hitch yet. The Canmore Napa says they have a Class III Universal hitch ('Valley Brand') that fits quite a wide range of vehicles for $130.00 but I still have to get the measurments and talk to our welder at work. Was the $89.00 price at Princess AUto what they are all the time now, or was that on sale?

[Adam]

I think they are regularly $149 on sale for $88.88, not sure when the sale ends.

[JMK]

Further on this. Princess Auto no longer has the Class III on sale, but now have the Buyer's CLass IV on sale for $119.00. I understand that the Delica can tow 1700kg and that a Class IV hitch rating is 10,000 lbs so ovbiously a Class IV is overkill. But as the price is right, would it be OK to use one anyway, or will it be too big and heavy?

In the pic's above, did the decreased departure angle resulting from installing the tank and hitch cause any problems?

[Manitoba Delica]

Hey Folks, we just arrived home in Manitoba from our western hourney. Since the topic is on the hitch I rigged up, it does seem a bit low, but it is only slightly lower than my fuel tank, so I feel it is added protecion. It is still quite high off the ground, and the hitch rack is on, with 6 cubes of oil, it still had good clearance. I was surprised how well the vehicle handled even fully loaded with 5 people, two spare tires in the back seat, tons of stuff, 76 L of oil in the tank, and 6 cubes on the back. Of course going through some of the passes, I was going slow chugging black smoke, but it was all on veg power. It felt really good to pull through Calgary on veg power, although we couldn't connect with anyone there to get the rest of the way home on oil. A little disappointing to start paying full price again, knowing how much oil is floating around up for grabs. Anyways the hitch worked out great, the rack is sweet, and its almost good that it sits where it does, because full of cubes, you can open the back door without unloading each time.. Take care, I'll try to post pics, and stories of our trip and the WVO install....