Sunday, March 8, 2015

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.

8 comments:

  1. Good Job Once Again. do you have a little wagon to pull behind now. I bet you do or you wouldn't have bought the tow bar.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep I have an 8 ft utility trailer I use to haul yard debirs and my riding mower when it needs to go in for service...

      Delete
  2. Great job. Your ingenuity with regards to the bricks sounds like something I would do. lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I always say use what you have, I have old bricks here and there so it worked out great!! Today is the maiden voyage with this hitch...

      Delete
  3. That's great that the van already had the holes. I can see that a hitch to pull a utility trailer would be handy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You go girl! That's awesome. Woo hoo!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. You go girl! That's awesome. Woo hoo!!!

    ReplyDelete

Comments are appreciated, and reciprocated!
However I delete comments that contain links or instructions to visit a site unless it directly relates to content of the blog it is posted on. In other words DONT SPAM MY COMMENTS SECTION!!