hein
Van Guru
I'm cleaning up the underside of the back of the van to make space for some tanks. I removed the spare tire and the supporting frame. I'll mount the spare on a pivoting arm supported off the hitch cross tube at some point. More on that later.
My van had a Curt hitch that fits with the factory step. The arms for the hitch go on the outside of the frame rail and the arms for the factory step support go on the inside. I designed new 3/8" thick arms that accommodates both the step support and the hitch cross tube.
I cut the arms off the Curt hitch and also cut the arms off the step support. Then, with help from my neighbor, tacked the hitch and step support onto my new arms while they were on the van. The new arms have a square hole for the hitch cross tube so nothing to fixture or clamp in place. Then I removed the assembly for the finish welds, cleaned it up, and rattled canned the whole thing to match the rest of the hitch. I'll likely be welding some supports for the tanks on the arms so not worth powder coating at this point.
My van had a Curt hitch that fits with the factory step. The arms for the hitch go on the outside of the frame rail and the arms for the factory step support go on the inside. I designed new 3/8" thick arms that accommodates both the step support and the hitch cross tube.
I cut the arms off the Curt hitch and also cut the arms off the step support. Then, with help from my neighbor, tacked the hitch and step support onto my new arms while they were on the van. The new arms have a square hole for the hitch cross tube so nothing to fixture or clamp in place. Then I removed the assembly for the finish welds, cleaned it up, and rattled canned the whole thing to match the rest of the hitch. I'll likely be welding some supports for the tanks on the arms so not worth powder coating at this point.
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