Homemade 2inch Hitch | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Homemade 2inch Hitch

Lefy

Well-Known Member
Joined
December 13, 2002
Messages
734
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2
City, State
Westchester, NY
Year, Model & Trim Level
98 Sport 4x4 4.0 SOHC
ok I needed a 2inch reciever for a Bike rack I wanted to use on my truck.
I already have a solid recover tow point on the back of my explorer.
Since I'm not gonna be towing anything with the explorer.
This 2inch hitch was just for carrying a bike rack and 2 dh bikes maybe like 160 pounds at most.
Since I have a bodylift, I didn't want to buy a hitch that would take away ground clearance/departure angle under the rear bumper.
As it is I drag my rear bumper on everything.
So I went to the local truck equipment hitch place and got one of these fabrication hitch pieces

http://www.drawtite-hitches.com/images/design_images/2850.gif
http://www.drawtite-hitches.com/fabrication.htm
It cost me about 20 bucks and was 1 foot long.

With my 33s I had no use for my factory spare tire. so that got chucked
and I fabbed up a way to mount the 2inch hitch
I trimmed the bumper step plate so the hitch would fit tight then tack welded it.

I mounted a angle iron across both frame rails and extended the hitch piece enough to brace it up.

DSC00448.jpg


DSC00449.jpg


Alittle spraypaint and a cover and here is what you see
100_0603.jpg


And here it is in use.
check out how much clearance I have under the bike rack
plenty for back country excursions or shuttle runs in the good old explorer
n216700406_30442361_2093.jpg
 






Very nicely done :thumbsup: :thumbsup: The bumper cut out is a nice touch instead of hanging below the bumper.. Why didn't you use a shorter section of the 2" receiver stock to save some space in the spare tire area? I am assuming its because you bought the longer receiver and fab'd it up as the job progressed. (nice welds btw)
 






yeah I was thinking about shortening the the 2inch stock in the spair tire area but the way the frame rails were closer to the rear, it wouldn't have been as nice to weld to. and I wanted to make sure the angle iron wouldn't hit the leaf springs or shackles.
thanks
 












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