67 trailer hitch

[Mike Shevlin]

I noticed in the accessory manual that there was a GM trailer hitch
available as a dealer installed item. Does anyone have any info in this?
Do they have any markings to distinguish them (i.e. year, GM emblem, ?). I
saw one on ebay recently and it was said to me marked 63-67 corvette. It
looked like the front part attached under the bumper and the rear part
through holes drilled in the sides of the bumper near the license plate. Is
this correct? Also, it said that the spare is accessible with the hitch in
place. Does anyone have a picture of the correct hitch?

Thanks,

Mike

[Ed Jennings]

Re: 67 trailer hitch

If you can find an old Eckler's catalog, they used to sell those things.

[Mike M.]

Re: 67 trailer hitch

the best trailer hitches for midyears were engineered such that one could attach it to the C2 without drilling holes thru the rear bumpers. They came with a new plate that replaced the original plate that clamps the rear spring to the differential. the long draw bar pivitd at the replacement plate allowing the spare to be removed(one has to jack the car up a good bit to allow the spare to exit the tire tub) it also came with brackets that utilized existing rear bumper fastening bolts, hence no need to drill holes in the rear bumpers like other aftermarket hitches for C2 required. these hiches can be found at carlisle and usually go for 50 bucks. they are real heavy duty pieces. we trailered a l000 pound trailer to the Bend national conv in l989 from the east coast without any problems(see front cover of Restorer an issue or 2 after the bend convention- toer was the maroon 67 coupe; towee was the trailer mounted Coke cooler)

[Tom Merkel]

Re: 67 trailer hitch

Mike - I had a heavy duty trailer hitch on my '67 for a year or so, and pulled a small boat trailer. It was the heavy duty kind, the one that was attached to the under side of the diff. It required no drilling of any sort, and provided easy access to the spare tire. The car took to pulling with this hitch with no problem.

It wasn't a GM procured part. It came from a dealer who specialized in hitches, although he may have gotten it from GM anyhow. Whatever.

I removed it from the car because even tho I could pull the trailer, I had no room inside for any of the required necessities for sailing. So, I took it off, and bought a bigger car.

It's collecting dust, and available. E-mail me off-line for details.

Tom

[Mike Cobine]

Re: 67 trailer hitch -possible problem

The trailer hitch that attaches to the spring mount can have a possible bad side effect. The forward-rearward thrust may break the bolts or the differential cover as they were never designed for a fore-aft pressure. I've heard of people who claim this has happened, but have never seen it personally.

However, it is a much better design than the bumper only hitch.

I would suppose that a bar bolted to the frame and to the spring mount bolts would stablize that to prevent it if you are worried about that happening but then you'd introduce frame vibration since the diff is isolated normally through the rubber mounts.

I would imagine also that those that broke, if any really did and it isn't just legend, may have been towing something a lot larger than recommended.

Mike

[Mike M.]

Re: 67 trailer hitch -possible problem

AGREE WITH MIKE'S CONCERNS REGARDING BREAKING DIFF HOUSING AS I'VE HAD THEM BREAK WITHOUT TRAILERING(BIG BLOCKS/BIG TIRES AND FOOLS(ME) behind the wheel. I think something about l000 lb trailer and a sane person driving would have no probles with heavy duty hich. mike mccagh

[Jim T.]

Re: 67 trailer hitch

Put one of this type of hitch on my 64 convertible in 1969. Pulled a small U-Haul trailor from Coronado,CA to Dallas,TX with no problems. I also bought some spring reinforcements. They can be described pretty much as a thick single leaf spring. They attached to spring near the differential and again outboard with provided a pretty much unlowered rear stance with the trailor stationary and going down the highway.

[Mike McKown]

Re: 67 trailer hitch

A guy showed up at the Bloomington meet about twenty years ago with a late C-3 pulling a very large tri-axle trailer loaded with parts. The trailer had three or four almost complete wrecked Vettes on it with parts stacked all over them. If this guy wasn't towing 10,000 lbs. he wasn't towing an ounce! I remember he had come from several hundred miles away. Said he had no problems. He must have known something.

[Peter M.]

[Warren S.]

Re: 67 trailer hitch

I had a trailer hitch on my 64 just as you described you had on your 67. I bought mine from a Chevy dealer in the early 70's. I still have the hitch and the installation instruction sheet. There is no GM logo on the sheet, but it does say that it's Model No. 6502 and it's application is for a 1963 through 1973 Chevrolet Corvette. The gross load is 2000 lbs. maximum trailer weight and 200 lbs. maximum tongue weight. Easy installation with no drilling into bumpers, drop bar allows for easy access to the spare tire, and it does pull real well.

[Bill Stephenson]

Re: 67 trailer hitch

------Wow,Mike!You remember that too.I was just telling somebody about that idiot last week at Vettefest.At first,a couple of aisles over,I could only see the trailer moving along.It looked for all the world like it was under its own power until a couple of seconds passed and there was a gap thru which we spotted a badly overstressed Corvette...............Bill S

[Mike M.]

Re: 67 trailer hitch

bill----good to see you're participating in the NCRS tech discs.mike

[Mike McKown]

Re: 67 trailer hitch

Bill:

I don't remember any STEAM coming out of his radiator either. Do you?

Mike

[Bill Stephenson]

Re: 67 trailer hitch

------I think you are right,Mike,but the thing that struck me was that the guy looked as though he lived under that trailer year around.......Bill S