I know a lot of guys on here build elaborate heavy duty receiver hitches, and that's all cool if that's what you want. I didn't see any reason why I needed to spend the time and money to build something for my Grizzly that could pull any load my truck could handle. Not to mention the extra weight. So, I decided to do something simpler and cheaper that would still perform the function I need, and be a lot lighter.
I didn't have any 2" i.d. square tubing and there's no metal supply shop that I know of close by, so I needed something to start with.I started with this, a 2.5" to 2" reducer sleeve which is basically the sleeve from a 2" receiver without anything else attached. It cost about $20 at Auto Zone.
I welded a cross bar made from a piece of scrap angle iron I had, and drilled some holes for U-bolts. Then I welded a bolt to the bottom the same size as the shank of a trailer ball. The cross bar attaches to the frame by the U-bolts and the bolt mounts to the factory hitch.
Here it is all mounted up. It may not be as heavy duty as some, but I think it'll handle any load a Grizzly will handle, and then some.
Notice I was too impatient to wait for the paint to dry good. The Griz is a little dirty too. I put a hitch in it and bounced up and down on it. My 240 lbs. didn't faze it any.
i like it too. might be stealing the idea. its not so much that i need to haul more than the stock location can, but the stock location is so far forward, its easy to jackknife a trailer that a SRA machine would have no problem with.
I didn't really need it for hauling more weight. I put a clevis on my home made rear bumper, and it is in the way with the stock hitch. The latch on the trailer hits the mount and won't go on the ball. So, I made this to put the ball a little farther back. Plus, it's stronger this way and more convenient, because I can use 2" accessories on it now.
Pretty sweet. I jumped the gun and bought a receiver at walmart last year on an impulse without having ever giving it any though. Works ok I guess, but has no support brackets so the thing spins on the bolt under any stress rather staying aligned straight. May have to get someone who can weld to rig me up something similar to how yours mounts with the u-bolts in the future.
If you're current hitch location works for you other than it rotating on the bolt, there is a pretty easy fix. Find a spot on the flange of the receiver that sits on the stock hitch tab with plenty of room for a bolt adjacent to the main hitch bolt. Drill down through the 2" hitch flange and through the stock plate. You will only need a 5/16 or 3/* bolt at the biggest. If you ant extra insurance, buy a grade 8 bolt, and a ny-lock nut. Put your new bolt thru both flanges, tighten the nylock nut onto the bolt, presto! no more spinning. We have done this with both my brother in law rigs and it works like a champ.
I looked for one of those at Wal-Mart. I was going to like you said, but they didn't have them when I went to get one, so I got the adapter I started with. They did have those at Wal-Mart, but not when I went to get one. So, I went to Auto Zone. Same price.
just a heads up for everyone... harbor freight has a 1.25" to 2" coupler adapter... for 14.99... could easily cut that in half and use the 2" part ... if no one can find the above mentioned parts...
I saw those at Wal-Mart too. I don't remember the price. I think they were $20 bucks or so there. But, if you got a Harbor Freight near by, you could save $5 going that route.
hey guys. figured id post this here. i decided to copy spaceman78s idea, and modify it for my 700. im real happy with the outcome. i went the harbor freight route just because i was there and i saw the reducer and figured what the heck.
the only difference between the design for the 660 and the 700 was that, i had to flip my angle steel and run the ubolts in the opposite direction. i couldnt slide the reciever in past the frame far enough to get the angle behind it. i also ended up using a bunch of washers to rais up the whole thing. the ball sits at about the same height it did before.
the 2 big reasons i did this mod was because 1 i have no rack space left over with my boxes. i should be able to use this to haul a deer out of the woods, assuming no steep inclines...
but most importantly. the stock location is way too far forward, and id constantly be jackknifing our firewood trailer. this moved it back a good distance. real happy with it. and its super solid.
in any event. maybe this will help someone who is looking to do this on a 700. not much to it.
ohh, i think my quad wins in the dirty competition.
Love the ideas, think I'm going to make one up as well, just a quick question for you guys. Did you just weld a the bolt head to the receiver and what bolt size?
@idiggplants, @spaceman78, this was a great thread when it was put together. sticky worthy IMO. photobucket pics are now gone though. any way either of you could put pics back up?
absolutely. what is everyones opinion on the best replacement photo hosting website?
i have a paid google drive account. i wonder if that would work.
ohh, and this might help in other places where the authors dont respond and you really wanna see the pics... there is a chrome extension/add-on called "photobucket embed fix" that lets you see the photos like you could before they pulled the bitch move. idk if it will work forever, but it has been working for me.
Let me know if I can be of assistance editing this thread too. Another option would to add your pictures into your gallery (GC or Google) and then I could edit this thread and attach those pictures. That way, this thread will always have the pictures available in the event the "next" photo hosting site does a PB.
ugh. of course i cant even edit my post to update the photos.
why? for the same reason that photobucket did what they did. this website wants complete control over everything you submit. information=money.
why bother. if you want the pics, pm me your email address. this is exactly why i haven't been active around here anymore. love the community, hate the company that runs the website. i refuse to contribute to them.
That's interesting, cause I can go into my account on the Honda atv forums and edit my posts no matter how old they are, even back to 2012. Site is owned by same owners. My guess is that limitation here got carried over from original owner. @VS_Goose here's a suggestion for you. Especially with the photobucket fiasco, being able to go back and edit old posts would be very helpful to many.
pm me your email address and you are welcome to em.
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