Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

Hello Deli Hommes

Anyone sourced any hot new tips on hitches out there. So far we have e&h hitch, and home fab jobs (from what I have found at least) What I'm looking for is a reciver hitch to put a rack to transport a dirtbike. I do not need and electrical connection and my bike and rack weigh in at under 300lbs. home fab jobs are fun, but at the moment i'm looking to just drop it off and get it done. e&h sounds like the ticket, just thought I would put it out there for an update.

cheers to the deli

There was also the Max Overdrive option of the prefab hitch assembly... I think Sabbir is at around $380 for it. There was a minor mod to do as Delicat discovered (I haven't got mine on yet) and I'd really recommend high grade bolts instead of the ones supplied, especially for heavier loads but by all accounts, it bolts to existing holes. The nice part with this hitch is it has 3 recievers (middle and both sides) which I would also recommend if you have E&H do the job. A good stable platform for a bike as the sideways twisting is all but eliminated.

There was a Mercedes van parked along the beach in White Rock for the longest time... had a motorcycle carrier on the back with an exoskeleton rack/roll cage. Wanted to take some pics of it but it has disappeared of late. Maybe it'll come back.

Cheers! Ian

Apline in Victoria did a nice job on my custom hitch. Nothing too fancy but it is strong enough to carry 12 cubes of oil (20L each, ~240kg.)

Hey Adam,

I ended up buying the same basket for similar use, it works great! And at $100 at Princess Auto it was a good deal. Were those pictures on your way to the States? Did you have any problems crossing the border?

Cheers,
David

Yeah, that Princess Auto basket on sale for $99 in the most recent flyer looks exactly the same as the SportRack one I got from CDN Tire for $150, nice purchase I ended up taking 12 cubes over to Vancouver on the Ferry with all the camping gear, but after doing some more calculations I left 4 cubes at my in-laws and still have plenty to get down to the Gorge Amphitheatre and back. Absolutely no oil issues crossing the border, BC Ferries gave me more of a hassle, but they were fine once they found out it was just cooking oil.

I do love the basket for camping, it doubled great as a camp table cooking area that was sheltered under the tail gate. It sure make picking up oil easier, no more moving car seats, folding up the seats, laying down a tarp, loading the buckets over the WVO tank, then strapping everything down.

I just finished installing one of the maximum overdrive hitches for $380. It's pretty much as described earlier, plus it comes with a receiver and ball. It's very easy to install, bolts right on around the spare. Bolts both to the bumper and to the frame. There are flanges that have to be removed before it will fit properly. I was told they were going to be removed, then after waiting 20 mins was given a hitch - only to discover it wasn't done once I got it home?

at any rate, this hitch will serve me well, and if you don't mind being treated with indifference when you buy it, it's not a bad option.

Looking for a hitch. Where does one find the Maximum Overdrive one? Also anyone have recomendations on winches?

Glen,

If it hasn't been done yet you should replace the bolts with high strength ones (they are yellowish in color) and use lock washer instead of the nylon lockers.

I've used a 24" bar to torque the nuts to around 100lbs and the rear part of the hitch still ended up moving down a few inches (not the part connected to the sub-frame but the part with the 3 receivers). I'll re-align it again and tack-weld it so it no longer moves.

Aside from that it's not a bad hitch. I'm not sure what flanges you were hoping to have removed? The only mods required is if you have a torsion bar you need to remove about 1/4" from the tabs butting against the torsion bar nuts where they connect to the frame.

Cheers,
David

I need a system thats not going to loosen easily as I will be travelling up and down the Hurly River logging road and its ROUGH! I want to be able to towe a small trailer or a small bowler/Burro type camper.

Todd

Hi todd, we recommend the E&H Hitch for sturdiness.

We tow boats, or carry the Princess Auto basket, or tow other stuck delicii out of mud holes. Has 2 inch square receiver. Jay has crawled under many Delicii hitches, and says this one definitely "bombproof" (his word). Only thing against, get them to give it good paintjob before installing as only has one coat of paint sprayed quickly on as he welds it together. The spare tire stays in place, but we lose the pretty little round metal bumper bar.

The triple head receiver is interesting, if you want to be able to mount a spare tire on one side, and still be able to tow the caravan.

If you're in Burnaby area, come visit, and stomp on it.

Cheers, Christine.

I agree with tardis.

the eh hitch is "the bomb"

i use mine mostly for bikes. when you have 4 big freeride bikes hanging off the back at 3grand+ a piece, and a semi 20 yards behind you (in the slow lane of course) the last thing i want to think of is the sturdiness of my hitch and mounting hardware. eh cost a bit more but they have been doing hitches longer than most of us have been living... worth the extra$ in my opinion.

sid.

sold.

glenn wrote:I just finished installing one of the maximum overdrive hitches for $380. It's pretty much as described earlier, plus it comes with a receiver and ball. It's very easy to install, bolts right on around the spare. Bolts both to the bumper and to the frame. There are flanges that have to be removed before it will fit properly. I was told they were going to be removed, then after waiting 20 mins was given a hitch - only to discover it wasn't done once I got it home?

at any rate, this hitch will serve me well, and if you don't mind being treated with indifference when you buy it, it's not a bad option.

Before it was delivered to, the brackets were trimmed off 1/4 inches so that it won't interfere with the bolts for linkage. Flanges or Bracket don't need to be removed.
Sabbir

I just finished installing a max overdrive hitch as well. Overall I'm pleased and it's very solid.

I had a bit of unforseen trouble, because my camper-deli is based on a work model Delica... no rear bumper bar or mounting holes! After removing the plastic and metal rear end bits, I was able to hole-saw 1" access holes and drill bolts through the locations where the bumper bar mounts should have been. On the plus side I figure it's a bit stronger , with 1/2" grade 8 bolts instead of the 3/8 bumper screws.

However same as delicat says above, I found that after carefully leveling the hitch brackets with high strength washers, the receiver part does move around up and down, settling at an overall downward angle after jumping up and down on it, despite plenty of tightening torque. doh! I like the 2-piece design, but this is the downside. I don't weld, so I'm not sure what to do to get the angle right, short of disassembling the bumper again and removing washers to bring the angle up abnormally on the brackets.

I have to wholeheartedly agree about replacing the connecting hardware with grade 8 high strength. I used one of the bolts provided, to temporarily hold the bracket and hitch bar together, and accidentally tightened a nut around it with mismatched thread (a grade 5 nut from home depot). After realizing it, I had to reef on the wrench to get it off, and in doing so snapped the max-overdrive-provided bolt in half with a 12" wrench and arm strength! Not so good... let me just say that I'm glad I heeded the advice here and got new hardware...use the included stuff at your own risk...

David

mdrive wrote:

glenn wrote:I just finished installing one of the maximum overdrive hitches for $380. It's pretty much as described earlier, plus it comes with a receiver and ball. It's very easy to install, bolts right on around the spare. Bolts both to the bumper and to the frame. There are flanges that have to be removed before it will fit properly. I was told they were going to be removed, then after waiting 20 mins was given a hitch - only to discover it wasn't done once I got it home?

at any rate, this hitch will serve me well, and if you don't mind being treated with indifference when you buy it, it's not a bad option.

Before it was delivered to, the brackets were trimmed off 1/4 inches so that it won't interfere with the bolts for linkage. Flanges or Bracket don't need to be removed.
Sabbir

I was just thinking about it, we have may trimmed the opposite side of the brakcet. If we did so, my appologies, next time you are around our shop, I will give you 2 oil filters free.
We will provide idustrial strength bolts from now on with the hitch as it deemed necessary.