Hidden Hitch for 73-87's?

[SCOTI]

ECE sells a hidden hitch kit for 67-72's. Does anyone offer something similar for 73-87 2wd trucks? I can prob make ECE's work but if something is already available for the same price, it's a no-brainer.

Let me know . . ....

[bigblock73]

Summit Racing at one time sold them, still might.

[SCOTI]

I'll look into that.

[lolife99]

SCOTI,... I've used the 73-87 hitches on the 67-72 trucks. I would think that the ECE one would work on the 73-87 trucks. I think maybe Brothers has one in the 73-87 catelog. I can't find mine right now,... and my "dial-up" is killing me. Good luck!

[bigblock73]

Scoti, looks like summit doesn't carry them any more. I did find this place.

http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/se...20C10%20Pickup

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by bigblock73

Scoti, looks like summit doesn't carry them any more.

Actually, Summit does list one for trucks w/roll-pans. P/N G10-1200 is a low-profile Class-3 hitch that looks alot like ECE's & is $149.95.

I've purchased the hidden set-up from ECE so I'll take some measurements to verify & prob get the 'kit' from them.

[kevinr1970]

Originally Posted by bigblock73

Scoti, looks like summit doesn't carry them any more. I did find this place.

http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/se...20C10%20Pickup

I think those are brand name "hidden hitch". They all look like normal receiver hitches.

I bought a used one not so long ago and it has what looks like "SM" cut into the flange. I assumed its a Sir Micheal's. You might try them?

[gchemist]

Behind the roll pan hitches are hard to find. I'm looking for one too.

[boxrodz]

As far as I know, Sir Michael's still sells 'hidden' hitches for these trucks. The only 'hitch' is that they have gone up in price... over 200 bones.
Sir Michaels Class 3 hidden hitch:
(http://www.sirmichaels.com/display_part/119.php)

G-
That hitch may work with your roll pan.

[SCOTI]

FYI . . .... I googled a little while @ work this morning. Most of the one's I found were Class III (5,000lb); the ECE is listed as a Class IV (10,000lb).

Not sure how they determine the load ratings.

[OJOE]

try styling concepts , i think they still have them

[BLE 'BURBAN]

www.truckin-store.com has listings for them as well for $100.00 + frt

[jdmaffeo]

Scotti I just got a Sir Michaels last week. I am in the process of installing it an other goodies that I picked up too. I will post up some pictures when I get to my computer later tonight or tomorrow. Not all of the holes lined up with the rear frame so I will have to drill a few into the frame.

[LOHRTBT]

www.mar-k.com They are a site sponsor I believe? They have them.

[jdmaffeo]

Here are some pictures of the hitch from Sir Michael's.

[jdmaffeo]

Here are a few more....

[bigblock73]

Hitch looks great, but it looks like it is installed upside down (based on the stickers on the hitch). If indeed it is, that might help the holes not lining up situation.

[jdmaffeo]

I talked to Michael at Sir Michael's and the hitch is installed from the bottom as I did in the pictures. Yes the stickers are upside down. He used a long bed for the mock up of the hitch. I have a short bed and some issues like the holes not lining up. I guess there is a difference from year to year and the distance from the end of the frame rails to the rear cross sill for the bed. If it was flipped to the other side then I would have to notch the rear cross sill and the lisense plate box on the roll pan wouldn't line up either. I am waiting for another roll pan to come as the original one wouldn't work with the hitch. The hitch stuck out too far and I couldn't mount the license plate. It will hopefully be her this week and I will post up some more progress pictures. So far working with them has been great. I just wish it all worked out of the box, but that's what happens when you start customizing something.

[SCOTI]

Well I've been doing homework & haven't given up.

The Sir Michaels 'roll-pan' hidden hitch looked the most promising @ first glance, but the more you looked, the worse it was. The main problem is their hitch is designed for a roll pan application so there's no worry about bumper brackets gettin' in the way of the hitch brackets mounting on the side of the frame. But, I'm using a bumper & the brackets are a concern.

Problem #2 is the height. Since the hitch is designed to hide behind the license plate box (LPB) of the roll pan, it's positioned about 1.5 - 2" higher than the LPB of a GM sport bumper. This would have required spacing the hitch down to center it properly w/the LPB. Spacing a hitch to center it where you want isn't a good option IMO so back to square one . . ....

I dropped the ECE hitch from my 68 & w/a little 'creativity', it will work. In fact, I feel it's close enough that I'm sending an installation 'write-up' to ECE for consideration to slightly modify their current hitch & expanding to the 73-87 market. We'll see how it goes once I get the new hitch early next week.

[SCOTI]

Recently, I needed to set up my 74 to ‘shuttle’ my trailer back & forth. I wanted a hitch that could not be seen (similar to the ECE set-up I have on my 68). The problem I encountered was the availability of ‘hidden-hitches’ for 73 & later trucks.

Sir-Michaels advertise a ‘hidden-hitch’ that works w/their roll pans, but my measurements indicated it would most likely position the ‘ball-mount’ too high in relation to the license plate & LP box. It also appeared that the mounting points of the SM hitch were on the side of the frame which would directly interfere w/my factory sport bumper brackets.

I called ECE & spoke w/Mark about the possibility of using the 67-72 Hidden-Hitch on my 74. Mark indicated they wanted to try their hitch on a later model truck but had done no evaluations @ this time so he couldn’t give me a definitive answer. I knew the frame widths were the same so I yanked the ECE hitch off of my 68 to see if it would work.

What I found was that 67-72 leaf spring trucks are different vs. 73 & later trucks because the 73 & later trucks use a support bracket that triangulates the rear leaf hanger w/the frame. This bracket is right in the way of the mounting flange of the ECE hitch. After some measuring, I came up w/the solution to simply notch the hitch flange to clear the support bracket. This required relocating the center mounting hole of the hitch toward the front of the truck 2” vs. where ECE had intended. I felt this was close enough to not compromise the quality/safety of the hitch so I ordered one of their kits for a 67-72 ‘truck’ & got started.

The cuts & clearance grinding took about 2hrs total; about 1.5hrs for the first side & less than 30mins for the second. That should be the ‘worst-case’ scenario to make the cuts & clean-up the edges. Most of the time was spent trimming as little as possible on the first side so I had to repeat the process a couple of times. Once I had the first side done, the second side was just a measure, drill, cut & grind deal.

Here’s the kit from ECE. It was $209 (+ $46 to ship) & included everything required for installation (the bolts supplied w/the kit didn't appear to be GRADE-8 so I went to the hardware store & purchased some just for piece-of-mind). It comes powder coated in semi-gloss black. Drilling, cutting, & grinding are going to mess that up so you'll need to either get it re-coated or touch-up the areas effected w/some satin black paint. I did the rattle-can thing for now but might get it PC'd again in the future.

[SCOTI]

Here are the drivers-side cut lines laid out. I used the large hole already in the hitch flange to determine the edges of my cut lines. I drilled holes to prevent sharp corners where stress related cracks can develop. The pass side was done the same way. . ….

[SCOTI]

The drivers side w/the cuts made. Notice between the edge of the cut line & the farthest hole back, I've drilled the new mounting hole (.500" dia.). I placed them there because there is a hole in the frame from the factory that I used to scribe where to drill on the hitch flange.

[SCOTI]

Drivers side w/the cut material removed. . ….

[SCOTI]

Close-up of the drivers side cut measurements. . ….

[SCOTI]

Pass side material removed & measurements. . ….