Just What I Needed!

I have made progress on my house makeover, but have been very lax about taking photos to share...so here is a project I've been hoping to get done for a long while..and just in time so I clean up the pine limbs that fell in the ice and snow storms..(Hooray, ain't I lucky) .ALL my neighbors have had their chain saws running this weekend so Im behind--Before I sold my wooded acreage I used to just drag my limbs into the woods and let nature takes its course... and enrich the soil...but now I have to take them to the dump...  my son still has the Blazer...I normally use it to haul my utility trailer...

                     SO I ordered from Curt, a hitch to fit the Dixxleand Express...aka my van

it's a class III hitch...photo from online..

It arrived the day of the ice storm actually so it sat on the porch for like 2 weeks waiting for the weather to dry up before I could even see if it was the correct size ---had my fingers crossed...

I opened up the hardware pack and the screws were NOT the right size...Dang--

I found an old bolt in my many coffee cans of accumulated "this n that's" that did fit so went to Lowe's and got 6 of those...(7/16"-14  2 inches long) Turns out my van had threaded holes already in place...

I measured to see if the holes would line up and YEA got the right hitch. SO first things first...rip the box up so I can lay on it!

                  

Next get out my tool kit and find the right socket to fit 

GOT BRICKS? Well I have some old ones laying around so I got a wheel barrow of bricks! The hitch was not any heavier than a big bag of dog food but there is no way I can bench press 42 lbs...So I kept stacking bricks on each end and raising it 4 inches at a time till I had it high enough..

I sprayed the mounting holes with a copious amount of WD 40 prior to trying the new bolts since there was a lot of rust in there.  I needed the ratchet extension in order to get clearance to tighten the bolt...see that shadow?  That means finally a sunny DAY!  Here it is all lined up...3 holes each side.

Then the bolts go in one at a time and I have learned best when doing something like this don't tighten all the way up till every bolt has been started and is turned a few threads...in case you have to jiggle it to make all line up..then tighten...this is where I had to rest many times whew...but I had all day--and the sun was shining!

Here it is attached!

and here is the drop down ball thingy, I already had this part you buy it separately

And I sold the hardware & instructions that came with the hitch that didn't fit on Ebay!

its on the way to make someone else's life better!

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.