Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

Once the repairs are done in calgary, I'll be headed out east to winnipeg.
A good friend of mine is a professional welder with 25 years experience doing both structural mig and stainless tig.
While i was out visiting he was all about the delica, and he commented on the lack of trailer hitch. so i showed him the ones on here for sale at around 400 bucks.
He then and there decided to make me a custom trailer hitch at his shop.
And soon i get to go and pick it up.
Do they generally just bolt on to where the bumper was? or is there more places for bolts that we should keep in mind?
He offered to make a few more, if anyone was interested, I'll cover the cost of steel, and welding and a fair commission to my friend, pop them in the back and be driving home to vancouver island. If anyone wants one let me know, and we'll talk about design, cost all that.
Does anyone think this is a really bad idea?
Does anyone know the legality of having a non-accredited or whatever hitch?
All the input in the world is welcome!
Thanks again, amazing delica community!
-Nathan

I had a steel bumper made up from rectangular material, 1 x 4" approx, with small 1 1/4" lightest duty receiver. Then had it powder coated.
I like it, but make no claims for its strength. I think the small receiver is a good idea, it will keep me or anyone else from hooking on to anything more than a small, lightweight utility trailer. You don't need anything bigger than that anyway - I think they are rated at 3500 pounds gross trailer wight and 300 pounds tongue weight.
We also beefed up the mounts a little. That's a good idea, too.
Even at that, I would not hook more that 1000 pounds gross trailer weight (total weight of trailer and cargo) onto a Delica, especially if you have an automatic and are traveling in the mountains. sure they will pull more, but the bumper mounts are not that strong, and even if you put on beefy hitch, you have to think about cooling and especially about braking(!!)
The bumper likely weighs 60 pounds. A little extra weight out the back.
Between that bit of extra weight, and the big tank of SVO mounted underneath at rear where the spare normally sits, down low, kept fairly full, it made a wonderful difference in the handling. Felt a lot more like my old rear engine Vanagon 2WD afterward!

We went for the more heavy duty Trailer Hitch. Not intending to haul anything huge, but i like the option of all the accessories designed for a 2inch reciever.
We're aiming for a "class III" design, although i know the delica won't do that kind of hauling.
For beefing up the mounts... did you just weld an extra piece of steel to them? making them thicker?
are there extra places to anchor the new 'bumper'?
Thanks for your response!

I had my hitch custom made on my L400 for 50 bucks and uses class III for same reason as yours but I kept rule of thumb for any car; pull no more than 3/4 of vehicle's weight that I have not tried and no more than 1/10th weight on the hitch which I already used for rear rack to keep height under max for BC ferries. There are hole made for hitch on L400 frame but not sure about L300.

Spade J wrote:I had my hitch custom made on my L400 for 50 bucks and uses class III for same reason as yours

Hi Spade 3,

Where did you have the hitch custom made? 50 bucks sure sounds good (maybe to good to be true?) I will need one eventually but will take it now if I can have it for 50 bucks!

Thanks,
phil

we have made ALOT of Delica trailer hitches and only do class 3 or higher, because no matter how much someone says they will tow, they always tow more, your hitch MUST be mounted at 3 points on each side , and preferably with angled steel with triangulated braces, on my last Royal L400 I put on a class 4 hitch, you could put a reciever in that hitch and and swing the van from a crane and swing it, Its not going to give at all.

If your going to make your own, your going to have to drill some holes in the frame work, make sure to paint the holes so rust wont start, and ONLY use Grade 8 nuts, bolts and washers.
a proper hitch takes us the better part of an afternoon, even just a class 3, $50 wont pay for the steel, or welding supplies , be very carefull about what you use for a hitch, you the owner is Liable if it fails and your trailer passes you on the highway looking for a place to stop...
This is a hitch I made for a Delica Pick up truck


This one was for an Isuzu MU from Japan, put on Hardened Steel spiderweb chain mounts and welded a nut on to put on a bolt to stop any sway from slop in the hitch



This is clearly also before it was finished and painted, but for the frame style of the vehicle, this was the best plan for a hitch,
Im not looking to build any hitches, but I wanted to post this to give some input about how to properly build a hitch. and for a $50 hitch, you get what you pay for...

Yeah 50 wont cover everything, just supplies and luck. I bought incomplete class 3 hitch kit (bolts and some parts are missing) from princess auto for 40 dollars and a metal plate. I used friend's plasma CNC to cut plates to make parts then assembled a hitch with hitch kit from princess auto. Now it fits on my L400 frames, it doesn't look perfect but useful for 50 dollars :)

But cost would be more if I don't have access to welding gear, CNC table, etc.. and they don't come cheap.

I'm hoping to have an l400 by end of summer and live in Winnipeg. I need the van to have class III hitch 2" reciever so this sounds like the right ticket for me. Can you give me your friends contact info or should I do this through you?
Rudy

That is why I said it would be "too good to be true" !!!

to be legal, I would recomend changing the grade 5 bolts to Grade 8's .
you can snap a grade 5 bolt with a wrench, they have no business being on a trailer hitch, might cost about $10. and no extra tools required,

Thanks, I will replace it with grade 8 before pulling any trailer.

one more week and a half and i'll be there having a hitch made. the people in winnipeg that might be interested, once it's built we could have a get together and i'll show mine off, you can decide if you want one, what changes you'd make , and what they're worth.
I'll post pics and info when i get there...
-Nathan

Hi Everyone!

I would like to ask you guys, if you have hitch measurements for L300 1993 ?

Thank you

This info is supposed to work I make no guarantees https://www.socialtext.net/delica/trail ... o_sway_bar

You may wish to just contact Maximum Overdrive and buy a bolt-on one