Adding a "normal" towing ball to an MB

[David V]

Several times recently I've regretted not being able to fix my mountainbike carrier onto the back of my MB - it just clips on to a normal towing ball.
Obviously this is not possible with a pintle hook.
Has anyone found or invented a way of adding one of these discretely on a jeep ?
Or does anyone make a tow ball that would fit in place of the pintle hook but won't look out of place ?

Cheers

David V

[HQ327]

see: http://www.g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=173579&hilit=trailer+hitch

JG

[David V]

Thanks for the link. I couldn't remember what you called these things. Tow hitch.

Some of the solutions look pretty bulky though. This will be a little more complicated than I thought.
I liked Reg's idea of hiding the extra hitch with a rope.

David V

[Mike C]

I have a piece of 5" angle iron that is drilled to match the pintle. It bolts between the pintle and the jeep frame and the "L" part is underneath the pintel sticking towards the rear. Then I have a 5" long 2" receiver welded to the "L" directly below the pintle. This lets you run any sort of 2" receiver accessory including a ball mount. I actually use mine on occassion for a rear-mount winch.

It's obviously plenty strong for carrying just about anything. I looked for a pic of just the hitch but couldn't find one. Here is it in use. Jeep has a Lock-Right in the rear and has driven through here hundreds of times. Inspection after stuck revealed a broken right rear axle shaft left it with only one wheel drive in the rear.

[Mike C]

Here is the one I built for my A1. It is not as strong as the angle iron version on the MB, but works great for a light trailer or another 2" accessory.