PhoTow: A Transformer PhotoRig

[BroncoHauler]

Originally Posted by Otter

Gee, I was just about to spring for parts to build a hanging table when I remembered my roll up camp table. I already knew it was too tall on its regular legs, but discovered I can pop it on top of my dog's kennel, which is almost always in the van. Turns out, it's a perfect fit and height and takes up nearly no room when rolled.

Guess the fancy new table can wait a bit longer. I just hate it when I don't get to blow a bunch of money on new stuff and wind up using something I already had...

And, thanks to 1der's seat swivels, we now have a party room!



REI Camp Roll Table:.

Looks like a great place for a Scooby Snak.

[larrie]

Great solution.

[Otter]

Originally Posted by BroncoHauler

Looks like a great place for a Scooby Snak.

Hahaha! Took me a minute. I'll let my pup know, she'll like that.

[Otter]

Originally Posted by larrie

Great solution.

Thanks, Larrie. Sometimes simple is best, right? Especially when the van is constantly "in transition".

BTW, you're gonna love that swivel seat from Jsweezy. It takes a little brute to get it past the door, steering wheel, etc., but I'm getting used to it now.

[Otter]

Because I've always had various boats and trailers to move around in tight places, I like to keep a front trailer hitch on my vehicle. It really makes it so much easier to move something around when you're looking right at it. Also, when we're hauling the trailer for camping, we often bring bikes and it's handy to put them up front. Finally, I also move boats up top and have a load-assist that can go in either the front or back hitch. So, I was really happy to get the front hitch on the van.

Had a great time over at JSweezy's place putting in the hitch and other improvements. I can't say how much I appreciate his willingness to help and teach an old dog new tricks. And thanks to extra hands from Brian and MG. Oh, and the real dog, Sylvie, supervised everything.

-----------------

This is a DrawTite front hitch, made to fit the E350. This one fits my needs well for the light trailers I push around, but if you need stronger line-pull or greater tongue weight, you can spend a bit more money and get that. Installation requires only three modifications: a slight widening of one of the frame bolt holes, a notch cut in the front black trim, and small pieces cut off the plastic side pieces that help direct air toward the engine. We removed the black plastic protective shroud underneath for the install and decided to leave it off instead of going through the hassle of cutting it to fit around the hitch. The whole thing took about 45-60 minutes, and that was with resorting to hand tools for cutting because the power went out for a bit. The hitch looks great and fits like a glove.


Draw-Tite Front Mount Trailer Hitch Receiver - Custom Fit - 2" Draw-Tite Front Hitch 65053


One more thing: The hitch fits right where the license plate holder would normally go, so you need to relocate it. I didn't like the idea of it sitting off to the side... somehow seemed visually disturbing. Was going to drill a couple of holes in the bumper to put it above, then decided on this. It's kind of laughably overkill (the thing is a beast, 7 pounds of steel) for a license plate, but thought it could come in handy for when someone decides to back into me, so decided to keep it:


Curt Front Mount Trailer Hitch License Plate Holder Curt Hitch Accessories C31002





The hitch:





It was easier to just remove the bumper and shroud than to lower it per the instructions:





Cutting the trim:





Fitting it up:





Bolted on to the frame:






In:





Barely know it's there:






Sylvie the supervisor:



.

[Gh0ztkid21]

i see that you had to remove that plastic piece my question is could you reattach it at all or not possible?

[Otter]

GhOztkid21, if you mean the plastic shroud underneath... Yeah, we looked at it and decided putting it back wasn't worth the trouble of altering it. You can do it; we decided it wasn't that important.

[Gh0ztkid21]

Got ya yeah I was thinking the same thing. What is that plastic shroud for anyways?

[Otter]

Well, it appears to be "protection" orf sorts from debris that could fly up from the road toward the radiator, etc. so, it's probably a good idea to have it but, seriously, we would have had to cut all kinds of notches and what not in it, so said, what the heck, and tossed it. I think it'll be fine. You don't even see it on a lot of conversions.

[boywonder]

Originally Posted by Otter

Well, it appears to be "protection" orf sorts from debris that could fly up from the road toward the radiator, etc. so, it's probably a good idea to have it but, seriously, we would have had to cut all kinds of notches and what not in it, so said, what the heck, and tossed it. I think it'll be fine. You don't even see it on a lot of conversions.

I think that plastic also helps direct air that comes in through the front of the bumper toward the radiator.....and perhaps lowers wind drag under the van a smidgen.

Lots of vans don't have them..so no worries there. I reinstalled mine after installing a front Aluminess bumper....bolted right back up and clipped on the the bumper.

It may be jettisoned again when I install a front hitch....