Travel Trailer receiver hitch hook up

I saw a Crown Victoria,pulling a Scamp fifth wheel. It appeared that they had adapted the fifth wheel pin, and extended it down to a ball tow hitch. It was going the opposite direction from me, so I only got a short look at the stoplight.
Yankee ingenuity I guess. But frighting.

OutdoorPhotographer wrote:

Terryallan wrote:
Like as not. In the time before receiver hitches, and believe it or not. That wasn't that long ago. Most trailers were towed with a Step bumper hitch, Not a bumper hitch, a step bumper hitch. MOST Step bumper hitches were rated for 500lb weight carrying tongues weight, and 5000lb weight carrying trailer weight, AND they still are. Is it safe to tow with the step bumper? Of course it is, as long as you don't go over the weight capacity of the bumper.

To use a WDH, you had to have a special made for your TV hitch installed. Trucks did NOT come with a hitch of any kind. They did NOT even come with a rear bumper. Bumpers were an option as late as the early 90s. No light wiring kit, no brake control kits. All of it was add on.

So for us. The step bumper was the hitch. Any thing we wanted to tow was hooked to the step bumper hitch, Boats, whatever. The only thing that got a special hitch was a TT.

So when you see a step bumper with a drop hitch on it. Get over it.

Yep, no bumper. Painted was one price and chrome much higher. I think if you go back further, the chrome bumper was standard.

Your posts reminded me, my 1985 Chevy S10 had a bumper like this too. I put a ball on it and towed 2 different pop-up campers. Never had any problems.

Terryallan wrote:
Like as not. In the time before receiver hitches, and believe it or not. That wasn't that long ago. Most trailers were towed with a Step bumper hitch, Not a bumper hitch, a step bumper hitch. MOST Step bumper hitches were rated for 500lb weight carrying tongues weight, and 5000lb weight carrying trailer weight, AND they still are. Is it safe to tow with the step bumper? Of course it is, as long as you don't go over the weight capacity of the bumper.

To use a WDH, you had to have a special made for your TV hitch installed. Trucks did NOT come with a hitch of any kind. They did NOT even come with a rear bumper. Bumpers were an option as late as the early 90s. No light wiring kit, no brake control kits. All of it was add on.

So for us. The step bumper was the hitch. Any thing we wanted to tow was hooked to the step bumper hitch, Boats, whatever. The only thing that got a special hitch was a TT.

So when you see a step bumper with a drop hitch on it. Get over it.

Yep, no bumper. Painted was one price and chrome much higher. I think if you go back further, the chrome bumper was standard.

The downward force on the ball creates an upward lever action at the fulcrum thereby counteracting any weight on the rear axle. Genius! :W

Now he can slide a seat on the end for tailgating or a BBQ extra step to get in the bed

Like as not. In the time before receiver hitches, and believe it or not. That wasn't that long ago. Most trailers were towed with a Step bumper hitch, Not a bumper hitch, a step bumper hitch. MOST Step bumper hitches were rated for 500lb weight carrying tongues weight, and 5000lb weight carrying trailer weight, AND they still are. Is it safe to tow with the step bumper? Of course it is, as long as you don't go over the weight capacity of the bumper.

To use a WDH, you had to have a special made for your TV hitch installed. Trucks did NOT come with a hitch of any kind. They did NOT even come with a rear bumper. Bumpers were an option as late as the early 90s. No light wiring kit, no brake control kits. All of it was add on.

So for us. The step bumper was the hitch. Any thing we wanted to tow was hooked to the step bumper hitch, Boats, whatever. The only thing that got a special hitch was a TT.

So when you see a step bumper with a drop hitch on it. Get over it.

I don't see any thing wrong. It gives me some new ideas.

djgarcia wrote:
The hitch needs to be attached to the truck frame NOT bumber::(

Dad had an early '80's Chevy half ton. IIRR it had 3 holes in the bumper and stamped into the bumper was the rating - 4000#, 400# tongue weight.

DW did it so the DH trips over it when he comes home late .

Actually, I don't thinks it's stupid at all. More than likely, he has a very low profile, lightweight utility trailer, something with very small diameter wheels, like 13 inches or smaller. If he put the ball directly on bumper through the hole, the trailer end would probably drag the ground. He creatively attached a step-down hitch and put a ball on it.

Now, it's quite obvious he hasn't used that hitch in a while because the ball is both rusty and obviously not greased in a LONG while. Notice also, the bumper is not bent or anything. So whatever he towed was pretty light.

It's possible he just might tow log splitter or a construction type generator on wheels. My log splitter has a hitch coupler on it. If I tried raising that thing as high as my bumper on my truck, the end of the log splitter would drag the ground.

So more than likely, he's not towing a trailer at all. More likely some kind of portable construction equipment or farm equipment, like a hay wagon or something.

Whatever he is towing does not require lights or turn signals. There's no plug (I see). So quite obvious, he probably uses it for towing a generator.