Trailer hitch installation recommendations near St. Louis?

[Orey10m]

On 3/19/2022 at 11:08 PM, fishinwrench said:

Bed extenders are way overkill for just a canoe/kayak.  I have one for my short-bed truck, and honestly the extender weighs more than 2 canoe's do.   

I've toyed with building something a little more reasonable.  Wouldn't take much.

Yeah this is an interesting point. 

My short bed truck is 4ft, with another 2 ft with the tailgate down. So a total of 6ft. 

The canoe is 13ft, so more than half of it hangs out the back if just strapped in. 

My goal was to support it, as lightly as possible, by using something like this

https://www.harborfreight.com/truck-bed-extender-69650.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=12144811130&campaignid=12144811130&utm_content=117789305278&adsetid=117789305278&product=69650&store=78&gclid=CjwKCAjw_tWRBhAwEiwALxFPoZwNB2yn5B7h6UPoj3rXgdNFCMZQMNmmTJgDcb3XsEfMEhaCS2UVDhoCGjgQAvD_BwE

I would transport the canoe upside down on that.

Speaking of being young and strong etc...I am, but the whole reason I'm wanting to transport this in the truck bed instead of on top of the vehicle is because it's a pain to get it on top of the truck by myself. Just picking it up a few feet and sliding it in the truck bed sounds much nicer physics-wise. I know how to do the one man car top load thing, where you angle one end on the top of the truck and then dead lift the other end, and rotate it on top.   but still...

[Orey10m]

10 hours ago, JP_in_STL said:

UHaul will be the cheapest.  Not sure if you just want to bolt a 2in receiver onto the bottom of your existing step bumper?  Or a full blown receiver hitch assembly that bolts to the frame?  Neither one is terribly hard to do.  The full blown receiver would have a higher towing capacity for a trailer?  But for haul canoes, bike rack, etc might be overkill for your needs.

Chasing threads to clean out the rust will likely be the hardest part of either getting installed.

A ladder rack works really well for hauling canoes.  You can get them that drop/bolt into the stake pockets on the bed or clamp to the top of the bed rail.

I was not aware I could "bolt a 2" receiver on to the bottom of my existing step bumper." That indeed sounds ideal (not overkill, not hard, light easy etc). 

Can you tell me more how that would be done? and if the resulting bed extender I'd plug into it could likely support 7ft of canoe?

 

[Orey10m]

2 minutes ago, Orey10m said:

I was not aware I could "bolt a 2" receiver on to the bottom of my existing step bumper." That indeed sounds ideal (not overkill, not hard, light easy etc). 

Can you tell me more how that would be done? and if the resulting bed extender I'd plug into it could likely support 7ft of canoe?

 

Oh like this?!

https://www.harborfreight.com/5000-lb-step-bumper-receiver-69670.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=12144811130&campaignid=12144811130&utm_content=117789305438&adsetid=117789305438&product=69670&store=78&gclid=Cj0KCQjw_4-SBhCgARIsAAlegrWQ2cbcRisc4_FysUH-Q24mzNkNFhhj13-OADfR-qG9_3XeaCgnSoMaAl6BEALw_wcB

Frick how did I not see this earlier...

[fshndoug]

I just love some of these conversations .Doesn't anyone know how to do anything.

[Orey10m]

1 hour ago, fshndoug said:

I just love some of these conversations .Doesn't anyone know how to do anything.

K.

[Orey10m]

This is what the underside of my bumper looks like.

And this is what the receiver looks like.

Seems like I'll need to remove the trailer ball to get it out of the way

[MrGiggles]

27 minutes ago, Orey10m said:

This is what the underside of my bumper looks like.

And this is what the receiver looks like.

Seems like I'll need to remove the trailer ball to get it out of the way

If you're gonna be crawling around on the ground drilling holes you might as well do it right and get a proper receiver hitch. It's not hard at all, most trucks are already drilled for them. 

Modern bumpers are good as a step and for hanging a license plate on, that's about it. Doesn't take much at all to tweak them, especially when you've got a 4ft lever hanging off of it.

[JP_in_STL]

On 3/30/2022 at 12:00 PM, Orey10m said:

This is what the underside of my bumper looks like.

And this is what the receiver looks like.

Seems like I'll need to remove the trailer ball to get it out of the way

Yes remove the ball.  Probably a rubber trim plate that snaps into those slots on either side of the ball mount that you will need to remove as well.  Then that add on receiver should bolt down in place.  Just know that it is only rate for whatever your bumper is when it comes to towing.  Plus that hitch extender is a really long lever so don't overload and keep things reasonable.

[Orey10m]

Well, I tried out something with a friend of mine and it didn’t work. 
 

we removed the ball and attached a 2”reciever made for ATVs in its place. Looked perfect. 12 bucks. 

 

we got it on there, slid the Truck Bed Extender in to it, and my bumper just bent like crazy. It could hardly hold the torque of just the weight of the truck bed extender itself. 

we tried this because after looking at the bottom of my bumper, it didn’t seem like there was room to try one of the “proper” Step Bumper Recievers, like the 3500lb or 5000lb rated ones I discussed earlier in the thread  

but nope, that bumper is freaking WEAK! So I returned everything and I’m back to square one. That would have been about a $12 fix to a $200+ problem.   (Good lesson to learn…there ARENT ANY $12 fixes to two hundred dollar problems!) 

As we suspected here, I’m going to need to get a real trailer hitch installed if I want to extend my truck bed properly, and that will run me about $225 at uhaul I think. Not sure I’m that invested in this right now so probably won’t do anything about it  

 

 

[Orey10m]

1 minute ago, Orey10m said:

Well, I tried out something with a friend of mine and it didn’t work. 
 

we removed the ball and attached a 2”reciever made for ATVs in its place. Looked perfect. 12 bucks. 

 

we got it on there, slid the Truck Bed Extender in to it, and my bumper just bent like crazy. It could hardly hold the torque of just the weight of the truck bed extender itself. 

we tried this because after looking at the bottom of my bumper, it didn’t seem like there was room to try one of the “proper” Step Bumper Recievers, like the 3500lb or 5000lb rated ones I discussed earlier in the thread  

but nope, that bumper is freaking WEAK! So I returned everything and I’m back to square one. That would have been about a $12 fix to a $200+ problem.   (Good lesson to learn…there ARENT ANY $12 fixes to two hundred dollar problems!) 

As we suspected here, I’m going to need to get a real trailer hitch installed if I want to extend my truck bed properly, and that will run me about $225 at uhaul I think. Not sure I’m that invested in this right now so probably won’t do anything about it  

 

 

Anyone know of a real small, lightweight, and narrow trailer I could look for on the used market? I don’t really want to get into the trailer towing world again, and dealing with lights and wheel bearings etc, but might be worth a shot to keep my eyes out for since I do have a garage and would make transporting this boat a lot easier. 
here’s the canoe: