Receiver Hitch Used For More Than Towing Drivers' storage, tailgating issues spark inventions These aftermarket items designed by real people assist campers, tailgaters and even pets. Larry Edsall / Special to The Detroit News Who knew that 2-inch hitch receiver could be so useful? Steps for pets, bike racks and storage containers that connect to a trailer hitch are just the beginning. Now, there are toilets (offering a full-sized seat), special lifts (resembling a small crane) and grills (that move away from the vehicle while cooking food). Campers, tailgaters and just about anyone else looking for some extra storage have more options that any one truck or SUV could tow. A lot of these aftermarket devices were designed by people facing a specific problem -- a wife who wouldn't let her husband carry his tailgating grill in her new SUV, or another man who watched his father struggle to load a rowboat into a pickup. The problems these people encounter may be more common than you think. If you're someone who has wondered if there's a better way to install a camera on your bumper or needed a way to pack up a table and stools for your camping trip, turns out there is. The following is a sampling of what's available to make better use of your trailer hitch: Watch where you reverse It can be difficult to see what's behind your truck or SUV as you get ready to back out of the driveway. Hitch cam is a rear-view camera that locks into the trailer hitch. A cable connects the camera to a 3 1/2 -inch color monitor that can be mounted on the windshield near the central rearview mirror. Hitch cam is a product of ShowFX Inc., a Southern California company that creates special effects and stage equipment. The camera's idea came from David Mendoza, who noticed the rear-view camera mounted into the back of a client's vehicle but didn't like that a hole had been drilled through the vehicle's sheet metal. He asked his staff to find a better solution and it created a camera mount that fits into a hitch receiver. Price: Up to $800. Information: www.hitchcam.com or call (800) 924-4482. Drive and grill Scott Salter and his pals tailgate at San Diego Chargers football games, but when his wife bought a new SUV, she said he couldn't put his grill inside it. Instead of giving up, he devised a way to mount a grill onto a trailer hitch, and added a 180-degree swing arm so cooking doesn't interfere with tailgate operation or melt your license plate before the first quarter. Freedom Grill rides above the trailer hitch, and its attachment collar has a pass-through feature so you can still pull a trailer while the grill is mounted. Price: $899 for the Freedom Grill 100 or $299 for the smaller FG-50 model. Information: www.freedomgrill.com or call (866) 964-7455. Easy lifting Sure, you can carry an engine block or ATV in the back of your pickup truck, but how are you going to get something so heavy into the bed in the first place? You might try a Spitzlift, which can handle as much as 700 pounds. Spitzlift is made from structural aluminum and folds compactly to store under a pickup truck's rear seat. The unit looks like a little crane, complete with a winch and pivot arm, so you can lift an outboard motor or 18-point buck to the truck bed without breaking a sweat. Price: Less than $400, plus $185 for a special hitch receiver adapter. Information: www.spitzlift.com or call (866) 744-8054. Sport Activity Shade Want shade while you tailgate? Sport Activity Shade is a large (8-foot) umbrella that mounts onto a trailer hitch receiver. Norco, Calif., resident Ben Rudder saw wall-mounted umbrellas and figured there might be a market for a similar device attached to a vehicle. The umbrella weighs 18 pounds and fits into a storage bag. Price: $240. Information: www.shadetogo.com or call (951) 727-7302. Bike carrier Advantage SportsRack makes a variety of bicycle carriers for vehicles. Its glideAway Deluxe can handle as many as four bicycles of various design and locks into the hitch receiver, making it easier to load and unload bicycles and keeping from low-hanging tree branches or drive-thru window overhangs. Snowboard and ski mounts are available. Price: $260. Information: www.heininger.biz or call (888) 722-5240. Carry extra cargo Take so much stuff camping or tailgating that you barely have room inside the vehicle for people? The Tailgate Cargo Box plugs into the trailer hitch to provide more than 8 cubic feet of extra cargo capacity, and once you arrive at your destination, the four main panels convert into a pair of tables and the end pieces can be used as benches. Price: $399. Information: www.tailgatecargobox.com or call (864) 346-3644. Store even more Distributed by Cequent Towing Products of Plymouth the ROLA Adventure System is a cargo box that fits into the standard trailer hitch and can be equipped with a swing-out arm, a lockable storage pod with 13.5 cubic feet of capacity. It can hold up to 250 pounds of cargo. Price: $664 with swing-away arm and locking pod. Information: www.rolaproducts.com or call (734) 656-3000. Carry a canoe Pickup truck beds come in long and short lengths, but sometimes neither is long enough to carry your canoe nor other long objects. Extend-A-Truck II is an L-shaped metal device that can be used to either extend your carrying capacity or lift an object up to rooftop level. Larry Darby of Falls, Pa., created the device after his father's rowboat slid out the back of his pickup truck's bed. Price: $129. Information: www.darbyindustries.com or call (800) 344-2472. Petmate cargo ramp Seattle-area residents Bill Schlicht and Marie Lincolnstarted Nu-Tech Designs to produce and market Flip-Step, a flip-down step that plugs into a trailer hitch to make it easier to reach the roof of an SUV. The latest twist on their invention is the Petmate cargo ramp that mounts into the receiver so a dog can walk up the ramp into the vehicle, or so a person can roll up to 300 pounds of cargo up and into an SUV or minivan. Price: Less than $150. Information: www.trekdog.comor call (425) 681-0938. Golf club carrier Don't have room in your trunk for your golf bag? Feat First Inc. of Wilmington, N.C., makes Autolinx, a hard-shell golf bag that attaches as many as four sets of club to a trailer hitch. Feat First founder Ron Hesmer came up with the idea when he wanted to use his wife's small convertible to carry their clubs. Price: $295 for a single bag. Information: www.drivelikeapro. com or call (877) 545-3277. Rest stop ahead This is no joke, and there really is an Uncle Booger. The Bumper Dumper is a toilet seat mounted on a base that fits into a hitch receiver and can be used in conjunction with either a disposable plastic bag or five-gallon bucket. Uncle Booger was answering the call of nature at the old fishing hole one day when he bumped his backside into a cactus. While visiting him in the hospital, his nephew and a friend came up with the idea for a toilet seat the attaches to a trailer hitch and Steps Enterprises Inc. was founded. Price: $60. Information: www.bumperdumper.com or call (281) 277-3309. Web source: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051123/AUTO03/511230334/1149/AUTO01
I have also seen a picknick table with chairs that atatch to your hitch. And harbor freight has a electric lift gate that atatches to your hitch.
we were up kinda late last night, and I was admittedly pretty inebriated... But, on that TV show "I want That!" I could've sworn I saw a basketball goal that mounts on your rig through the 2" mount. extends from 4' to regulation height, and folds up to travel down the road. If I was a basketball fan, I prolly woulda paid more attention.
Hmm, I've got lots of things that mount to the receiver, including receivers mounted in the shop. 1) Winch mount that can theoretically be used on the back of my tow rig, or front and rear of my K5 and truggy AND on the trailer. But still need to rig up some "extension cords" to get it working in some of those cases, plus the trailer doesn't have a receiver *yet* (ran out of tube). 2) Adjustable drop hitch/step for any location. Took a bent C3 hitch off the back of a K5 I parted and cut the "wings" off leaving the main cross bar and receiver. Welded a piece of receiver tube vertically on the back side and gusseted in. I can then use my 2" square "L" tube (adapter to go from vertical to horizontal receiver) to mount it in a receiver. It can then be adjusted up/down as needed. In the front, it provides a welcome platform for standing on when working on a lifted truck. I also use it in the front of my K5 to maneuver my trailer into places nearly impossible to back into (like my storage area). I wouldn't really want to tow with it since the leverage would be kinda bad on the "L" which was not made for that purpose, though it could be reinforced. 3) Using one of several "adapters", I can mount my vice, tubing bender, bar/strap bender, beader, a table, and other tools to any receiver hitch on a vehicle or in my shop. 4) I've thought about using an old FF spindle and hub to make an adapter to mount my cherry picker vertical on the back of my tow rig. Wouldn't be a good idea to lift too much due to leverage, but it sure would help with getting axles, transfer cases, and other heavy stuff in and out. Also would have helped this week end bringing home a 500 lb industrial "cart" (with 1/2 plate and 0.188 frame on 8" 2k rated industrial casters) I'm retargeting as a mobile welding/fab table/cart. My back still hurts...
