custom receiver hitch for lite ace

[aswanson]

I wanted a receiver hitch for my 1992 lite ace 4x4 diesel, but none are commercially available so I made my own. Sharing here in case somebody else is in the same boat. Guessing this would fit the US vanwagons but have no way to check. My design replaces the brackets for mounting the bumper, so it leaves the stock bumper intact except for a cut-out where the receiver tube protrudes. The only other permanent modification is I cut out some sheet metal so the receiver tube can penetrate the body, and I had to trim a little metal inside the stock bumper. The lateral piece is 1.5" square tubular steel with a 3/16" wall thickness and the end pieces are from a scrap of 4" angle iron with 1/4" thickness. It's bolted to the tow hook mounts, with 2 additional bolts attaching it to the body. The additional bolts were handy for holding things in place while getting everything sized but don't add a lot of strength. It's a 2" receiver tube but I'm not planning on towing much with it - mostly using it for a bike rack.

[bikerjosh]

Nice, clean design. Good work.

[Ace MM]

Nice. I want to do the same thing under the F bumper.

Is the pin easy to access?

[aswanson]

Nice. I want to do the same thing under the F bumper.

Is the pin easy to access?

The pin isn't hard to get at since it's only an inch above the bottom lip of the bumper. I plan to make a full bumper for the front to give a little more impact protection. Haven't looked at that yet.

[Hammervan]

Looks nice and tucked away. I don't imagine this would fit on the U.S. vans, the bumpers are much larger and stick out a lot more (part of the DOT requirements for getting the van sold in this country vs. the rest of the world) and there is almost no space between the bumper and the body. The hitch I built had to fit beneath the bumper, which causes my bike rack or trailer to drag on steep transitions.

[oli larsen]

this is really nice! I have a similar hitch but it hangs down just below the super sadly. much prefer the look of this. I bet you could even put a table leg bung in it to hide it even more! your van looks very similar to mine! got any more pics?

[Andywear]

Hey guys,

How far off are the mounting locations from the US version to the JDM?
Outside of me taking bumper off and taking pics and measurements and posting them?

Has anyone used this U-Haul receiver hitch?

https://www.uhaul.com/Trailer-Hitches/

[scotty]

Good job. Any pics of the underside?

[zanda37]

I just did a similar hitch install after getting inspo from you. My design is largely similar with a cross tube (I used a 2" tube with 0.125" wall thickness) spanning the stock brackets originally holding up the sheet metal in the bumper.

welded hitch.jpg

Welding the cross tube to the stock brackets:

bracket to tube.jpg

I then 3D printed out a gasket for around the bumper cutout for the hitch.

printed gasket.jpg

Here's the final result! It's been in use for about 6 months now.

van with bike.jpg

[hessticles]

that's a clean setup! thanks for sharing