hitch

[cnewman425]

Hello, it is me again,

I am contemplating installing a receiver hitch to pull my little boat, and my
pintle hitch is welded to the bumper, Doe's anyone have any ideas? Installing a ball hitch, that is

[IAN_M715]

i fabricated a custom hitch that is attached to the frame using 2 x 2 steel angles, some bar stock, and a piece of tube steel. took about 4 hours. i haul my 24' boat with it so a little boat will not be a problem.

[IAN_M715]

i can get more shots showing how i installed it to the frame this weekend. you will also want to make sure that the ball is at 17" above the ground. this is standard for pretty much all trailer hitches.

[BCOWANWHEELS]

look at the modified section and see my trailer hitch modification post. it might be more than you need though. i like h/d.
bob

[Binford]

BTW, your pintle hitch probably is not actually welded on. I had thought mine was too, until another Zoner put a pipe on it and twisted it...and it turned! The weld you see I think is for the sleeve through the crossmember through which the pintle hitch shaft passes.

As others have mentioned, there are some other posts about installing a receiver hitch. You can do a Google search of the M715 Zone by following Administrator Hammer's instructions:

Fast example, in the google search, to search for lug pattern, put in:
lug pattern site:m715zone.com
That will make google only search the zone.

Doing this search on google will bring back results like this:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...=Google+Search

Also note, you can use Advanved Features for your google search.
Using the above example, here is what it should look like in the advanced search:
http://www.google.com/advanced_searc...&hl=en&safe=on

[IAN_M715]

i was going to go bob's route with the design but around here there gets to be alot of salt and sand build up on the underside of the bracket. we have seen them rust from the back side. i opted for the less surface area route, easy to wash down, also i can take mine off-bolted in 4 places, good for seasonal towing.

[wrecker]

Cnewman, what you're referring to as the rear bumper is actually the crossmember. The bumperettes are the actual bumpers. This crossmember is very stout and I welded a reciever hitch tube directly to the bottom of it and a heavy plate license plate frame that I welded directly over the ugly hole where my pintle hook should have been. This has been very adeqaute for towing heavy loads. Since you prolly don't want to chop out your pintle, you could buy the tube, and weld it to the under side of the crossmember using some other form of bracing. Make sure to allow for accessing the spare tire bolt if your truck still has the carrier. Mounting it high, then using a drop hitch will allow for not losing ground clearance w/o having to remove the whole hitch. Also, be careful when dropping the tailgate all the way when the hitch is in the reciever. It might hit and ding it depending on how far from the rear of the truck it extends.

[kwai]

Also, be careful when dropping the tailgate all the way when the hitch is in the reciever. It might hit and ding it depending on how far from the rear of the truck it extends.

That would be another instance of the "dent". That is so common on m715 tailgates.

[Binford]

No, the official dent has to be offset to one side. Usually the driver's side.

[EastCoastKaiser]

"BTW, your pintle hitch probably is not actually welded on. I had thought mine was too, until another Zoner put a pipe on it and twisted it...and it turned! The weld you see I think is for the sleeve through the crossmember through which the pintle hitch shaft passes"

Its little Gems like these that make this site so valuable. I always assumed mine was welded too. Figured once they were installed they tacked it in place to keep it from spinning. After reading this I double checked and sure enough it spins.

That would be another instance of the "dent". That is so common on m715 tailgates.

Both of my trucks have two dents. They are from dropping the tail gate all the way without the chains attached. The rubber bumpers on the gate sit on the bumperettes. So if you back into something it puts all the load on the small surface area of the rubber bumper and presto, you get a nice set of dents. And if you push hard enough you add a nice warp to it.
The blue tailgate on Ian's truck was one of mine but he did a hell of a lot of work to straighten it out. Wanna come back and fix mine too? I tossed mine under the truck with the dents up and ran it over but for some reason my restoration doesn't look nearly as nice.