118" Trailer Hitch Install

I may have remembered wrong. I think my latest rethink (circa. 2011) was to use the step bracket as the 90 degree bracket. Instead of using those large 90s, use the same part from the step bumper.
It may not have as good of weight capacity, but it is what I would do next time.
I cut those off the step bracket and used the hitch 90s. It pushed the hitch 90 out 1/4" to where I had to redrill the holes wider in the hitch 90. This required a drill press and a lot of effort.

Holy crap! where do you find that thing? I ended up buying a used one form a wrecker in Wisconsin. Cost me about $200 all said and done. Bolted right up and looks great. I don’t have the step bumper though.

Cheers!

Greg

ECU.
I went the route of keeping both the hitch bracket and the bumper bracket where they form an L. The problem as you described is that they both occupy the same space.

I removed the arm runners past where they form the L shape and cut the bracket off completely near where it passes the outer body. Next about .5" of 3/16 material was added to lengthen the arm. Back gouged and welded it up so there was full penetration on the butt weld.

Drilled the side holes in the bumper bracket. Elongated the slots where the bumper fits to the body.

Lap welded one side and fitted it to the body for test fit. Lap welded the other side after fit-up. Primer and paint. Not pretty by any means but there will be no loss of capacity for tongue weight and I feel confident with having weight on the step bumper also.

Gdict. 200 dollars is really good in my opinion. I was looking at around 500-600 dollars to have a hitch fabricated after going to about 3 different hitch fitter/crafters. One of the hitch crafting places (Costa Mesa) would only certify their hitch to 3500 lb. after seeing that I had the 118 WB. Operator there called it the baby sprinter. I found this hitch after scouring everywhere I could think of. Ended up finding it on EBay for $293 shipped give or take a dollar but after factoring in the time it took to procure the hitch....