Who Else Besides Can-Am Reinforces Hitches?

[switz]

Click on "images" below my avatar. There is a picture of the underside of my 2007 Mercedes ML 320 CDI after CanAm welded another piece of receiver tubing and an extension forward to reinforce the factory hitch. The hitch had been re welded because of a recall.

They also cut off 5 inches or so of the Hensley stinger and drilled a new locking bolt hole to move the latch so close to the rear bumber a crescent wrench was needed for the locking nuts as the Hensley wrench could not fit over the nut. They also bent the stinger slightly to preload the adjustment arms to get more transfer forward.

[Garfield]

Originally Posted by JCWDCW

However for uni-body vehicles that is a different matter and I've never actually seen what they do.. There is usually some extension frame for the bumpers but they must also add extra bracing to the uni-body panels to distribute forces rear to front when equalizers are taken up.

Here's how Andy did it on my Traverse....welded two right-angle pieces of steel from my Class III hitch to the underside of the body. They and to drop the spare tire in order to fit the supports. You can see the points of attachment from these photos...





The purpose of the extra supports is to reduce vertical and lateral torsion forces and spread them -- they aren't intended to take on extra weight (i.e. they stop the hitch from flexing). BTW, my unibody Traverse is stronger/more rigid than my old Yukon due to the way GM engineered the box construction and filled the gaps with a "metalized" foam filler. The Traverse has an incredibly strong body.

[jonnie3]

Thank you so much for the photos!