Trailer Hitch for 73 Hearse

[emberglow65]

I just picked up a 73 Miller Meteor with plans of using for camping or towing my other small cars to car shows. Nothing over 2000lbs. I see a towing package was an option for the 73 commercial chassis but i have never seen one in person or even photos of it. This car has rear leaf springs under the frame so something like what is on my 69 Caddy will not work since it has coil spring. Does anyone have photos of a trailer hitch on 73 leaf spring commercial chassis so i can come up with plans on how to fabricate one? Kevin Norfolk VA emberglow_65@hotmail.com

[60Crown]

Hey Kevin, welcome to the NHAA. Clean coach you acquired.

I used to collect micro/minicars. Which brands do you own?

[pyro]

Atti, good to see your up and about. Been trying to contact you. How about giving me a shout.

[cupcake]

Leaf or coils have nothing to do with mounting a hitch. Any decent hitch fabrication shop can make on for it. I made mine from a truck hitch. Trick is finding one wider than you need and narrow it to fit.

[emberglow65]

Found out one of my friends locally who has been welding for 20 years has a BBQ trailer fabrication shop he runs on the side and says for him to make a hitch is easy. Using the 2 bumper bolt holes on the frame on each side and the 2 holes already in the rear cross member as the mounting locations. Having spiderwebs between the receiver tube for the safety chains instead of just a plain square plate. I dont plan on pulling anything larger than a VW Bug or small utility trailer.

[emberglow65]

Hitch Install Complete

I completed my installation of a trailer hitch on my 73MM. My buddy who is a welder in the Navy with 20+ years experience built me one from the drawings i gave him. It far exceeded my expectation and fit perfect exactly to the dimensions i gave him. I have no concerns about it's strength. He even made the spiderweb design where the safety chains hook on. Advise for anyone else doing this is don't drill the mounting holes until last what you fit the hitch in place and can then make the marks if you have existing holes on the frame which you are using to mount it. The car might not be as perfect or square as the hitch. Good thing i was thinking ahead and did this. The cross member which i was also mounting to was warped upward possibly from prior unknown damage. Now its stronger with the hitch bolted to it.
Now for my next project of wiring a harness for trailer lights and looking for an old set or fender mount RV towing mirrors. Already have the back up camera installed. If you install a back up camera you may discover when driving around some home surveillance cameras use the same frequency when you start seeing things not behind you.

[hotroddwayne]

Very nice trailer hitch project! Nice clean welds and it looks good installed. Another huge plus is your frame rails were solid enough to trust mounting a hitch to!