F M J trailer hitch Info?

[slant six]

Does anyone have a frame hitch on their Volare/ aspen / Dippy / Gran Fury?

I want to put one on my 79 Aspen wagon.

I bought an NOS Algonquin mfg hitch ( prolly made in canada in the 80's) receiver for the wagon.. it's missing some parts so I wanted to see if anyone had one installed and could share some pics of the mounting points?
It also has a goofy 1 5/8" receiver tube that I am going to replace with a 2" tube.

Thanks for any help!

 

[MiradaMegacab]

The vertical uprights use one of the bolts that retain the bumper shock assembly (located behind the taillights)

The horizontal tabs use the big bolt that retains the rear bumpers shock (through the bottom of the frame rail). Simply remove the big bolt located to the left of the spring shackle (drivers side pictured for reference) and replace with a longer bolt.
I’d recommend drilling a 1/8” hole in the side of your frame rails (in line with said bolts) and spray RustBuster/ Liquid Wrench on the threads to aid in removal……

 

[slant six]

Got it thanks.

Thats kind of what I thought.

My hitch is missing the parts that bolt to the bumper shock in the frame above the leaf springs.
I will also have to reconfigure the tailpipe a bit too.

Some fab time with grinder / welder and cut offs are in my future.

Greg

 

[MiradaMegacab]

Some fab time with grinder / welder, beer / coffee and cut offs are in my future.

There, I fixed it for ya! Best luck on your project!!

 

[Sub03]

Some good info in this thread:

Anyone running a trailer hitch?

 

[slant six]

I hope to be soon. I Have 3 F bodies currently and Having the ability to haul a small trailer around with the current Classic MoPar is very handy. I Built a fairly Nice Frame Hitch With Minimal fuss out of a VW Golf Hitch for my '64 Dart. It turned out so well that I waned to do this with a few more of my cars. I hope to have a hitch for at least 2 of my F's sometime.

Here's A little Write up on my '64 Dart Hitch:

I got a Great Deal on a Hitch - Craigslist $tyle for $20.... It's catalogue application lists it for a VW golf. @ 39 Inches it was 3" too wide for the 'ol MoPar A body Frame rails... which are Dead on 36" Wide Centers.

This receiver hitch also had some mounting ears at different elevations... So I had to solve that as well.
No Before Pics, but Here is what CURT MFG says they look like new:

Designed to fit this Generation of the VW golf? MK VII Maybe?

So after Relocating the Mounting ears and Taking 1 1/2" out of each side of the tube to the uprights I Broke out the hot Glue Gun and stuck it all back together.
Some Test Fits for Marking Hole Locations:

Carriage bolts, Mount Plates and Fishwire is all that's needed here.. and they are home in the frame rails.

Bolt up / Mock Up required a re-do of the Battery shut off switch too.

Not a great Picture, But the Painted version came out nice - and it Towed the empty 800# ValianTrailer flawlessly.

Maybe it serves as a rear Tow Point for the Road Racing Track days too?

And towing my home made enclosed trailer through the mountains of VA and WV:

DSCN1416 by Hyperpack, on Flickr

DSCN1460 by Hyperpack, on Flickr

 

[Mikes5thAve]

There's a universal fit hitch out there. The ends slide into the center bar so you can adjust the width of it and you can adjust the height of the receiver by turning the center bar up or down. I have one but never tried test fitting it on an M.
Whatever the hitch is the car is still only rated to tow 2,000lb. The 80s ones anyway.

 

[slant six]

Sounds good.

I think some of the F's were rated for 5000# if they had the factory 360.... I will hafta to dig out my owners manual or service manual to confirm..
I bet with proper gearing and modern Engine Management, Good springs and Air Shocks, you could do that. Remember 3.21 Gears were prolly the steepest you could likely get from the factory in the late 70's -early 80's.

 

[Mikes5thAve]

Yeah my 79 was a 360 car with 6 leaf springs set up for towing but it only had a bumper hitch on it. The manual did say something about higher tow rating if properly equipped but that seemed to disappear after the 360s were gone.

I think this is the hitch I have.

 

[XfbodyX]

 

[slant six]

View attachment 48723

what year is that literature from?
Thanks for sharing.
Sharing is caring.

 

[XfbodyX]

Thats 76 but more or less is all the years of the light duty.

Here is some of the 78/79 info with the higher rates with the 3.23 and the frame mounted hitch like it looks like is planned.

 

[slant six]

Here is some work I did converting my hitch to a 2" receiver tube from the Odd sized 1 5/8" tube that was originally on there.

Next I hafta fab up the "ears" the bolt up to the Rear Bumper impact absorber

 

[armataz]

I built my own using parts I got from a trailer supply/repair shop.
they toss left over parts from kits into a scrap bin and I just test fitted different hangers, to find the ones I needed, mesured the distance between my bumper mounts and baught a piece of square tube .
dry fitted everything together, drilled and taped to bolt it all together.
once it was all set in place. I then took it all back to the shop to have everything welded up.
I also bought some load handler over load leaf spring braces while I was there.
I'm going to add 2X4 square tube to re enforce the body next.
I had a build file for it, but I cant find it.. sorry.

 

[armataz]

not the build but it shows the tow bar in the wagon and the before and after ride hight with the load handler braces.

 

[slant six]

@MiradaMegacab - Thank you for your pictures. Those were helpful in kicking off my project here!

Mock up in the car / under the rear bumper.
In my situation I found that it hit the tailpipe so I bent it down a bit to clear and not hit the hitch frame... more on that later.

In this picture you can see where it bolts to the Bumper Retention plate on the inside of the impact absorbers.

Another angle showing the plate and bolt location:

My hitch actually contacts the lower lip on the rear bumper... Mirada, Diplomat, Gran Fury, Caravelle, and '80 Aspen /Volare may be different somehow.

Stock 3/8" Bolt Removed from Rear plate - It's too short - Replaced it with a 1" or 1-1/4" Long Grade 8 Bolt with Washer.

Template for my "Ears"

Ears cut and installed for mock up.

Right Side Ear .. I added a New attachment point for the exhaust hanger.. To keep the tailpipe ~3/4" Lower

In the "Paint Booth"

I will bolt it all back in tomorrow and then add the flat 4 Wiring as needed.

 

[Mikes5thAve]

It would have been better to find a way to lower the whole bar. A big part of the strength is having the receiver sleeve right on the bar.
A simpler way to fab it up would be to forget the bar and make a bracket to bolt the receiver right on to the bumper.

 

[armataz]

It would have been better to find a way to lower the whole bar. A big part of the strength is having the receiver sleeve right on the bar.
A simpler way to fab it up would be to forget the bar and make a bracket to bolt the receiver right on to the bumper.

this is why I went to a trailer supply and rummaged their scrap bins to find the drop downs and other connectors I needed all 1/8 " pre welded stock also uses factory bumper mounts including the one behind the license plate.
since there is no direct mount kits available it's, much easier to mix and match the parts you need and also much cheaper then a factory kit, because it's just scrap metal to them.

 

[armataz]

this is why I went to a trailer supply and rummaged their scrap bins to find the drop downs and other connectors I needed all 1/8 " pre welded stock also uses factory bumper mounts including the one behind the license plate.
since there is no direct mount kits available it's, much easier to mix and match the parts you need and also much cheaper then a factory kit, because it's just scrap metal to them.

dont think it would be a good Idea to mount the ball direct to the bumper for towing.. since it is a safety bumper, unless you remove the shocks, by mocking up solid bumper mounts to replace them.

 

[MiradaMegacab]

A simpler way to fab it up would be to forget the bar and make a bracket to bolt the receiver right on to the bumper.