My home made tow hitch

[dcso3009]

After a year of towing my Yukon behind the 4 wheeler and only 1 issue I built my own tow hitch system.  Cost me just $10 and works great!

I pulled the rope from the factory location and installed stainless eye-bolts with LARGE washers inside and out.  There is a jam nut on the outside to space the eye-bolts out a bit from the shack.  Then I attached steel snap clips to each eye-bolt.  The hand tow rope now has a bowline knot tied on each end for fast connection.  The Hitch is made from 2 pieces of conduit equal length with a rope run through.  There are washers at the end of the conduit, and bowline knots tied at each end to connect to the clips.  Then I tied a loop to drop onto the ball on the back of my wheeler.  I also have a large eye bolt at each end of the sled for tie-down purposes.  This makes a great place to hook up a tandem sled.  It will be put to the test next week.  I'll be fishing all week with it, and may need some refinements.  

Pictures to come later.

[SLABSLAMMER]

WHY YOU NEED ROPE ??IMG]

[SLABSLAMMER]

[trucker]

I like that idea were did you buy your pipe to make that with

[dcso3009]

WHY YOU NEED ROPE ??

It gives some shock absorption quality to the hitch. 

[thehopehouse]

that pipe he is using appearts to be 3/4 conduit.  Refered to a EMT not rigid.  It looks like he put it in a vise to squish the ends. 

VERY NICE JOB!

[fish24/7]

Nice job, I have a couple pieces if conduit that I wanted to use myself but I was having a hard time figuring out the best way to attach to the sled, this should be great. Thanks.

[trucker]

Nice job, I have a couple pieces if conduit that I wanted to use myself but I was having a hard time figuring out the best way to attach to the sled, this should be great. Thanks.

what is conduit what is it used for

[dcso3009]

To keep the sled from running into the back of the 4 wheeler.

[trucker]

To keep the sled from running into the back of the 4 wheeler.

Thanks I know what this whole system was for I wanted to know what conduit is

[Melbs7]

Thanks I know what this whole system was for I wanted to know what conduit is

Um.... Conduit is what electricians use to run wires in..... electrical conduit

[Knoodles]

nice work i will try this.

[trucker]

Um.... Conduit is what electricians use to run wires in..... electrical conduit

Thanks that is what i was looking for

[skulldugary]

I added a coupler for a 2" ball and 1/2" osb for rigidity....

[skulldugary]

Not quite finished with it yet.....I'll also be using snaplinks to attatch to eye bolts in the shack....

[Brigeton]

Good job on the hitch. I have 2 new clam pros for the wife & I. I have seen people pulling 2 shanties in a train. How do you attach the second shanty?

[dcso3009]

Good job on the hitch. I have 2 new clam pros for the wife & I. I have seen people pulling 2 shanties in a train. How do you attach the second shanty?

I have large eye bolts installed in the middle at both ends of my sled.  That makes a great place to attach the 2nd sled, as well as tie down points if you need to put the sled on a trailer, or hitch carrier.

[SLABSLAMMER]

(Image removed from quote.)

Not quite finished with it yet.....I'll also be using snaplinks to attatch to eye bolts in the shack....

thats a sweet looking hitch ! i thought about adding coupler but decided to remove ball and just use snaplinks , but a great design ya got there !

[deebsey]

Was just useing rope inside a piece of 1 1/2" pvc but now I am going to make one out of conduit.

[Doubles Shooter]

I just picked up the EMT and clips, today for mine.

[Doubles Shooter]

SLABSLAMMER,

I just got to try your hitch idea the last couple days. It worked great. I just cut the 10' length in half. Looking at it in the den, it looked too long but when hooked up it was prefect.

[Greg2ha]

You are very resourceful for not welding one together! Nice job!

[P Meyette]

thanks for the idea also did this works grrrreat

[pete/ny]

SLABSLAMMER,

I just got to try your hitch idea the last couple days. It worked great. I just cut the 10' length in half. Looking at it in the den, it looked too long but when hooked up it was prefect.

(Image removed from quote.)

        Nice job. What kind of hitch are you using on the back of the snowmobile?

[Doubles Shooter]

        Nice job. What kind of hitch are you using on the back of the snowmobile?

Right now I am just using a rope to hook the hitch to. I have one ordered from Cat that mounts to the rear grab bar. It should be here Tuesday.

[jon johnson]

I've got a piece of 1/2" emt.  Will that be enough for me towing a Kodiak with your system??

[KrappieKilla]

I made the exact same thing to tow my 3 man flipover portable.  Works awesome.  House tows perfectly behind my snowmobile.  I primed and painted mine...if I were to do it over I probably wouldn't because when I'm not towing it the hitch system sits int he back of my truck and has quite a few scratches on it already.

There is really no reason to spend $40-$60 on a professionally built one.  These work great.

I used 3/4" EMT for mine.  Not counting painting it probably took about an hour to make and install on the house.  I cut a 10' piece in half.  Pinched the ends together with a vice than ground them round with a grinder.  Punched some holes with the drill press and that part was done. 

[Doubles Shooter]

I've got a piece of 1/2" emt.  Will that be enough for me towing a Kodiak with your system??

It might work, but 3/4" would be better.