I have a 1986 F-350 Diesel Dually. It used to have a 5th wheel. I want to get a hitch for it. The rear bumper is the kind that is angled in as it goes down. It goes down pretty low on the truck. I want to get a hitch that when I install it the reciever is not behind the bumper.
First, I would look at the mfgr's plate on the bumper and see what it is capable of carrying, tongue weight and tow weight. Is this two horse or four horse? I'm not sure what the bumper looks like, does it have a reciever on it or is it just a step bumper with a hole for a pin or ball? If it's sufficient capacity just add a ball to the bumper. If it's a 4 horse you may want a weight distribution hitch and that would be incompatible with a ball on a step bumper.
Maybe instead of a plate, around the hitch/step area the specs may be stamped into the metal. I certainly wouldn't be able to tell just by looking. It's probably good for at least 500# tongue 5000# tow but I wouldn't assume any more than that.
If it's any kind of a factory-made bumper, you aren't gonna like it if you just put a ball on it, I'm betting. Most of 'em bolt to the sides of the frame rails, and CONSTANTLY work loose from the fore/aft force on them. My personal preference (on a 4x4) is an 8" drop bumper (a normal step bumper is a 6" drop) with a 2" drop reciever (a "straight" reciever is designed to fit under a normal 6" drop bumper) like Putnam's. Of course, this is on older Fords, the newer ones might need a 10"drop/4" drop reciever since they're a little taller. On my F-250, it's about the right height to use a regular 2" drop stinger, and with a straight clevis hitch it's about the same as a tractor drawbar for towing equipment. If yours is a 2 wheel drive, though, a standard reciever is probably more the correct height. I had a dually years back that the previous owner had cut a hole in the 10" drop bumper and let the reciever stick through it - it actually looked really slick. My personal opinion of bumpers is that they hold the license plate on and fill the gap between your tailgate and frame-mount reciever. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] I've seen too many of 'em ripped off to be very trustworthy.
The only info I found on the bumper is a tag on it that reads Westin Inc. St. James MN and the number is 56081. So if I get a hitch, I'm new at this, I should look for one that has a 8" drop, and then get a 2" drop receiver. Is this right. Or do I measure from the top of the frame rail down to the bottom of the bumper. And get a hitch that is those measurments in drop in inches?
It is 13 inches from the top of the frame rail to the bottom of my bumper. Will I need to cut through the bumper or can I get enough drop through the right hitch and reciever?
On my '99 the reciever hitch bolts to the bottom of the frame rail. Numbers that you see for hitch specs will reflect that. If you subtract the rail thickness from the number that you measured you should see what you need for a reciever hitch drop dimension.
Edited: The "drop dimension" that I mentioned is for the reciever hitch NOT a ball mount (the part that the ball bolts to).
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