NATO Hitch
Sunday, June 5th, 2005
OK, so we know I didn’t get things done as planned on Thursday. Not everything went swimmingly this weekend either, though I achieved a fair bit.Whilst waiting (with bated breath) for the crane to turn up, I got on with the NATO hitch. Some of you have been helping me out with my enquires as to how it attaches to a civ x-member. Marslands were less helpful, just saying that they advise against it. One or two of you gave remarks that were consistent with the diagrams in the Parts Catalogue.
The guys at Blanchards also gave the same advice on how NATO hitches were fitted to military SIIIs with civ x-members.Unfortunately, this meant fitting the hitch to the plate, and then the plate to the x-member. This means that the 4 1/2″ bolts passing through the hitch itself do not go through my x-member, so I guess I won’t be using it with Kinetic Energy Rope recoveries!. The plate itself showed witness marks (the paint!) of this installation having been correct. On the bassis that the re-inforcing scrolls inside my rear x-member were positioned where the hitch bolt holes would have been drilled (making that method of attachment impossible anyway), and that the non though-bolt method was sufficient for the MoD, I have gone along with it.
The old drop plate was removed. This had an aftermarket twin step just below the x-member at quite a useful height. This step (after painting) has been attached directly to the x-member, just below the new hitch. This new position, combined with the new suspension config (1-ton chassis and shackles with HD parabolics) means that the step will be 4 or 5″ higher than before. Might need to carry a llittle step box in the back now!
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