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Hitch ideas needed

Garthbmn7

NAXJA Member #524
Location
St. Paul, MN
Just got off the phone with 3 hitch places who all said the same thing. Had to take my hitch off to put the skid row gas tank skid knowing that it was wider than the hitch. Asked the hitch places if they could modify the hitch to make it 1/2 inch wider. All said no as that would mess with liability issues. One place said to contact a professional welding shop they might be able to do something.
Anyone have any ideas? I thought maybe cutting the attachment brackets off the main body of the hitch and adding in two 1/4 inch plates and then welding the side plates back on would be the easiest and cheapest way to do this.
The other option is to buy someones rear bumper with 2inch receiver and
shackles on it. I need to do something soon as wife is going to get upset
about spending money on a trailer that we can't use now.
Ideas? Thoughts about rear bumpers with receivers and shackles other than Tomken, BPI and Bulletproof? Would make my own but have no welding experience
Thanks all
 
What are you talking about here? You have an XJ and want a rear hitch? What is this talk about a gas tank? Just go put any hitch on. Brand doesn't matter since they all rust out anyway.

Curt
 
Id give Skid row a call and see what they have to say.My OEM skid bolts up perfectly with my receiver!
 
confused

I'm confused. I have an '01 with a Mopar gas tank skid and a Hidden Hitch receiver hitch. I might have had to take the gas tank skid off in the process of putting the hitch on, but the skid then goes back on with no problems.

Do you have a custom gas tank skid? Or maybe one from another manufacturer like Kilby?
 
clearing the confusion

I had no skid plate for my gas tank but did have a hidden hitch to pull trailers and attach a d ring to get pulled out. Local club rules say I had to have a gas tank skid plate. I called every jeep dealer and upull around. The only mopar skid I could find was in New Hampshire and they wanted $250 plus shipping for it.
So I started calling around and doing research on skid plates. A lot of people on here have dissed Rustys and Tomken and I liked the beefiness of the Skid Row. So I gave them a call. They warned me that the width of their skid plate may interfere with some brands of hitches. The hitch arms need to be 34 1/4 inches apart I think it was. Mine is 33 3/4. I needed the skid plate for an upcoming trail ride so figureed I could get something to work. Now am looking for ideas on fabbing the thing to make it work. The consensus right now is to cut the attachment arms off the main body of the hitch, weld in 2 1/4 steel plates and reattach the arms. This should give me the width I need to go back around the skid plate and still attach to the frame rails. I had checked with several hitch places in town and no one would touch that for liability issues but said if I knew someone who welded That it should be fairly easy to do. The other option that I didn't think of and was suggested last night is to put the hitch on and then put the skid plate on over it and modify the skid plate. So this weekend I think I havea friend lined up who welds and we are going to take a look at the options and see what we can come up with.
Sorry for the confusion.
 
I have a factory skid plate for my tank and a tow hitch.
Curt
 
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