Custom Reciever Hitch Construction Help!

jerem0621 · 12-16-2009, 08:01 PM

I love this site and have learned a lot about RVing and Airstreaming in general. I have an unconventional question.

I am going to have a custom class 3 hitch built for my 2002 Chevy Impala. This hitch will be similar to the hitches that CanAm Rv builds for their customers. If I lived closer to them I would just go there and have my hitch work done and not worry about it. Living in Tennessee there is nobody that I know of that specializes in setting up unconventional tow vehicles. This vehicle is in perfect mechanical shape and paid for so I want to use it to tow. I do not currently own an Airstream, I own a small pop up camper that weighs 650 lbs. I know I could just spend $200.00 bucks and put on a class 2 and be done but I want to look towards the future when I upgrade from a Pop up to an Airstream. I want to way overbuild my car to tow. I'm in the process of getting the tranny cooler, current Pop up has no brakes so the brake controller can wait a little while.
I'm sorry this is so wordy, I've had a lot of caffeine this evening.
Ok, I have said all that to ask this question

I want to build a custom class 3 hitch for my car like this one

untitled

For My 2002 Impala. I have a welder/fabricator lined up who can do the job. However, he isn't a towing specialist. How can we fabricate the "h" pattern receiver around the spare tire well? I want the receiver to be as close to the back bumper as I can. Do I just angle the receiver tube down to clear the well? I am worried about clearance under the spare wheel well. Here is a pic of the underside

Again, I am sorry for the long post I want to make sure we fabricate this correctly. He probably already has a plan in his head. I just want to understand where the connection points should be and how to get around the spare tire well.

Thanks!

Jerem0621

Airstream01 · 12-16-2009, 08:15 PM

I'm fairly certain your car is of unibody construction. While I do think it is possible to build a custom reciever, you need to ensure you spread the load out along the unibody's "frame rails" as good as possible. Failure to do so could result in significant damage to the vehicle and/or loss of trailer.

I've fabricated more than a few reciever hitches, but all were on Jeeps or trucks that had true frames. If you have any specific questions feel free to pm me.

Happycampers · 12-17-2009, 03:40 AM

Hello and welcome to the forum. You could call Andy Tompson at Can-Am RV and he would talk to you about this, he is a very nice and helpful person, also take a look at "silvertwinkie" post here on the forum, he towed with a Impala for years and I am sure he would help you with the setup.

Marvin