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Trailer hitch options


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I am looking to add a receiver style trailer hitch to my Monte and am having a difficult time locating anything that is bolt on and finding a welding place willing to tackle the job. I was wondering if anyone has a hitch on their Monte, where they got it, who manufactured it, etc. Is it a pipe dream to think anything on the market today would be a bolt on option for our cars? 

 

I still have a few local places to ask but am almost afraid of the cost of a made from scratch receiver style hitch. 

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1 minute ago, cbolt said:

I am looking to add a receiver style trailer hitch to my Monte and am having a difficult time locating anything that is bolt on and finding a welding place willing to tackle the job. I was wondering if anyone has a hitch on their Monte, where they got it, who manufactured it, etc. Is it a pipe dream to think anything on the market today would be a bolt on option for our cars? 

 

I still have a few local places to ask but am almost afraid of the cost of a made from scratch receiver style hitch. 

Gm made a hitch for the Monte. But I think it’s a bumper bolt on. Can’t haul the horse trailer with that 

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Boy. That’s f up’ed contraption. I guess it works though. One of gm’s better ideas. Towing with that would definitely make your “Heartbeat “. Lol. Sorry couldn’t resist. 

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I remember two bolts through the bottom of the read bumper, under the plate and two through the trunk floor pan, I think there was a brace there also the bolts went through. I still have the holes, should fix that some day. Pulled my 1973 Artic Cat Panther snowmobile on a trailer with it and a 63 Triumph TR-3B on a 4 wheel trailer. Good thing I had Air Shocks! (Probably way over the weight limit I bet.)

 

82_06_11.jpg

Edited by stangeba
Added pic from 1982 when I removed it.
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9 minutes ago, stangeba said:

I remember two bolts through the bottom of the read bumper, under the plate and two through the trunk floor pan, 

 

My car had holes in the same spots, behind the plate & the trunk floor, but the hitch was gone. Filled the ones in the bumper up when it was re-chromed.

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Yep. bumper holes filled by the chrome shop on mine also. Tri City Plating in Tn. did the work in 2007.

 

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I have Bruce's old hitch, I put it on mine and had it on for several years. I towed a utility trailer for my camping stuff (back when I was tent camping) I just took it off last year but still have it. I can get a picture of it when I get back home. It's a class 1 hitch I believe made by draw-tite

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None of those are receiver style hitches though. My intention is to put a cargo rack on the back so i can haul extra stuff on long trips. Im not looking to pull a trailer. 

 

I had an identical hitch to the one in the picture on a 1972 Olds i had several years ago. 

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So I went on the UHaul site and after filling in the fields regarding year, make, model vehicle the message I got back was that UHaul would, at no charge to me, create a custom hitch for my car and warrantee it for life IF I would be willing to drop the car at their research and development facility in Tempe, AZ. and leave it for 2-3 days. So if anyone is close to Tempe, AZ and wants a free receiver style hitch for their Monte I suggest they go to the official UHaul site and see what happens. For me, it is just a bit too far a drive for a free hitch. 

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The receiver type with the small square tube would be the way to go, they tuck right up and under and are mostly out of sight. Had one on my mercury and worked great, that was also a draw-tite. I used to sell them very good quality hitches. But unfortunately they dont list them for our cars.

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I have one on the back of my 70 El Camino that I'm going junk soon. Let me know if that might work. Don't know if it original or not. Looks like it is original to the car.

20210620_113936.jpg

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Thanks Mike, but i think that won't work. I have been scouring the internet and found that the frame for a chevelle of the same year is virtually identical in the back as the Monte frame, with the exception of the station wagon or pickup version of the Chevelle, which are 1 1/8" lower at the very aft end. I have also found that UHaul has a receiver style hitch for a 1972 Chevelle 2DR, and that should work. I will call UHaul tomorrow to confirm the hitch is designed for a 1972 Chevelle coupe and they can manufacture one for me in time for the western meet. 

 

I havent jumped through this many hoops since my days with Ringling Bros...... 

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  • 8 months later...

After making the plates, I made a wooden mockup… 

Today we welded the hitch … The wooden mock up was really helpful….. The precut steel wedged in perfectly… 

Ed C

 

steel 

IMG_2388.thumb.jpeg.3d7ce338f7fc595314e70fd135d93301.jpegIMG_2392.thumb.jpeg.4479c2e92e8d09fe06377ae2630ac808.jpeg … The … 

Ed C 

IMG_2389.jpeg

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I pulled two of the three bolts on each plate and let the hitch drop down so we could weld the top and weld the receiver , steel reinforcement,,, and the chain holder …

Note.. I placed the chain holder on top so it's hidden …  When welded the hitch was easy to swing back to it's original position and we replaced the Grade A bolts… The center bolt are 9/16ths … end bolts are 1/2 inch ...

Ed C. 

 

IMG_2405.thumb.jpeg.5bab9b2f305ff94257bcb99bc5dc1f05.jpegIMG_2338.thumb.JPG.1f2d9ae11b2efa35773b7ee64da5f999.JPG

 

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I'm over all happy with the results…

As an extra safety measure , we added gussets to the end plates and the main bar… I doubt this hitch will fail unless I tow my big trailer  (Shown below)  … …. This hitch will easily handle 150 lbs of tongue weight and a gross trailer weight of 2500lbs … 392705_278346778877910_1638064631_n.jpg.55fa98e08972bdb236bcd0b82f276988.jpg

647358980_IMG_2407copy.thumb.jpeg.32962975e9dd4099c66e0091af729ac5.jpeg

Quote

 

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On 6/19/2021 at 4:49 PM, jft69z said:

My car had holes in the same spots, behind the plate & the trunk floor, but the hitch was gone. Filled the ones in the bumper up when it was re-chromed.

Same here,   not safe

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