I need a Class IV Hitch for a 2001 Tundra!

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Larry

Strange that Draw-Tite lists the 75105 as a class IV and every place selling it lists it as a class III. Guess I'll call. Thanks.

I doubt you are going to find a Class IV or V hitch that bolts on - it needs to be welded on to have any hope of long term survival. And especially with the special duty you plan to use it for, tell the hitch shop exactly what you are doing.

They can make a custom unit for you and beef up all the material thicknesses and spreader-plate dimensions, make sure the welds have really good penetration, etc. - even box the truck's framerail channels forward to the axle, all in an effort to make it as bomb- resistant as possible.(*) It does no good to make a heavy hitch, and then have the frame rails bend at the first real stress...

(* - There is NO SUCH THING in this world as "bombproof", the best you can shoot for is "bomb-resistant". Throwing around absolute terms like "foolproof" is seen by Mother Nature and Murphy as a direct challenge for all the fools out there to prove you wrong...) ;-)

What bothers me about the motorcycleramps.com carrier design is putting all that weight on one hitch slider, that's a WHOLE LOT of dynamic weight to deal with - both the vertical torsional loads when you hit a big bump, and the twisting torsional load when you hit a driveway at an angle and the vehicle twists to one side. That 2" tube and 5/8 pin has to transmit a lot of force to the motorcycle and carrier, and then damp the overtravel - the motorcycle on the carrier is a huge pendulum pivoting on that itty bitty tube.

It's not like a trailer hitch, where the shock loads are the same but there's also a ball and coupling there to remove much of the torsional aspects. If the trailer wants to twist, it can.

Unless you make the hitch out of 2" Solid Bar Stock and find 3/4" wall seamless tubing for the receiver socket, one point of attachment simply isn't going to take that much load if you hit a really huge dip or bump, or go off-roading (intentionally or accidentally)...

I'd feel a Whole Lot Better about having a motorcycle carrier designed semi-custom with /two/ drawbars connecting it to the vehicle, and a custom-built hitch receiver with three 2" sockets - two outboard near the truck's framerails to hold up the motorcycle, and a third in the middle for any hitch uses. The picture at the top of the page shows EXACTLY what I'm thinking (minus frame mounting flanges) -

And here's their two-socket motorcycle rack, which I found AFTER writing the framework of this reply - seems they don't like the idea of hanging it on one tube either! If you live in Los Angeles, go see Eckhart's Hitch and Welding. They can make anything you want, exactly the way you want (from scratch), at a competitive price. Or they can make it and send it to your local shop for installation. They'regood folks - I haven't been able to stump them yet, and I have tried. I keep threatening them I'll bring in my Corvair and have them make a modern Class II receiver for it (pickup the loads at the Unibody "framerail" webs under the bumper bracket mounting points) and get it painted "Fawn Beige Metallic" to match before installation. I don't like the cockamamie forty-year-old drawbar hitch that's on it now, hanging from the bumper with one little spreader T down-bar attached near the rear motor mount.

(But then I'd have to go get the whole faded car re-painted to match the hitch, inside and out. And finally redo the interior, rebuild the seats frame-up, the window sliders, new windshield mounting gasket... That'll be $4,000 before I blink twice, even if I help.) :-0

Oh, and when they make the receivers, here's a nifty trick: Have them punch a 5/8" hole in the bottom (between the open end and the hitch pin) and weld on a 1/2" NC nut. You can then take a 1/2"NC x 1" bolt, cone off the end of the threads with a grinder into a set-screw profile (or they /will/ mushroom and get stuck - DAMHIKT), and this "Slop Bolt" will keep the rack from rattling around in the receiver.

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