YY1
Well-Known Member
File under "best kept secrets"?
I recently bought a junkyard "reese" hitch for my 2000 Dakota.
Since measuring for it was fresh in my mind, a bell went off while I was under my 67 Belvedere wagon.
"self...that sure looks like the same bolt spacing on the "tie down" bracket".
Sure enough, with some VERY slight modifications it'll work.
The hitch is actually a U-Haul branded class III manufactured by Draw-Tite.
There is a heavy factory bracket with a hole in it mounted to each side of the rear frame horn on the 67. I think this was used to tie down the car during rail and truck shipments.
If you remove that bracket, 2 of the 3 holes on the Dak hitch line up perfectly.
In fact, with another slight mod, there are two different mounting locations.
The initial mods involve notching the hitch bracket on the driver's side to clear the fuel filler tube.
Simple cut to remove about a 1 inch square.
...and the bumper reinforcement comes off at a downward angle from the frame horn.
That could be slightly modified or the hitch could be notched in that area as well.
as I said before, a second mount location is possible if you hog out the holes, and slide the hitch more towards the front of the car. this would require more extreme clearancing of the filler tube interference area, but would eliminate the bumper reinforcement mod.
Also, as stated before, only two threaded holes exist for the shipping bracket.
There is a third hole that is very close to the third hole on the hitch, but the means to insert a nut would have to be developed- perhaps a slot in the frame.
It might be a good idea to have at least one "real" nut in there anyway.
I recently bought a junkyard "reese" hitch for my 2000 Dakota.
Since measuring for it was fresh in my mind, a bell went off while I was under my 67 Belvedere wagon.
"self...that sure looks like the same bolt spacing on the "tie down" bracket".
Sure enough, with some VERY slight modifications it'll work.
The hitch is actually a U-Haul branded class III manufactured by Draw-Tite.
There is a heavy factory bracket with a hole in it mounted to each side of the rear frame horn on the 67. I think this was used to tie down the car during rail and truck shipments.
If you remove that bracket, 2 of the 3 holes on the Dak hitch line up perfectly.
In fact, with another slight mod, there are two different mounting locations.
The initial mods involve notching the hitch bracket on the driver's side to clear the fuel filler tube.
Simple cut to remove about a 1 inch square.
...and the bumper reinforcement comes off at a downward angle from the frame horn.
That could be slightly modified or the hitch could be notched in that area as well.
as I said before, a second mount location is possible if you hog out the holes, and slide the hitch more towards the front of the car. this would require more extreme clearancing of the filler tube interference area, but would eliminate the bumper reinforcement mod.
Also, as stated before, only two threaded holes exist for the shipping bracket.
There is a third hole that is very close to the third hole on the hitch, but the means to insert a nut would have to be developed- perhaps a slot in the frame.
It might be a good idea to have at least one "real" nut in there anyway.
