1.25" to 2" hitch adapter

[California]

Latest project -

An adapter to mount a small cargo rack on a small SUV that has a 1.25" receiver.

I welded HF's ATV Hitch Adapter to an extra 1.25" hitch stinger to make the needed 2" receiver. This was using INE flux-core in the HF MIG-180.

I'm not a pro, I know its not elegant. But I could see good penetration as I went along. Note the gouge in the 1.25" bar.



And an untended stress test for the adapter - I bottomed it hard coming out of a gas station. This was before I had painted it. The welds and the hitch overall showed no damage. It's a keeper.

 

[California]

I finally have some photos using the cargo rack mounted on the 1.25" to 2" hitch adapter that I welded up.

This is a light car, under 3k lbs, so I'm not putting heavy loads in the rack. All scrap cardboard this time, less than 40 lbs cargo on the 40 lb rack. No swerve effect at all.


And a photo of the adapter before it was painted.

 

[Gary Fowler]

A cleaner design would have been to just remove the 1.25 bar and weld it directly to the 2" receiver hitch. It would have used up a couple of cutoff wheels getting the plate weld removed, but then it would be much lighter. You could then install the 1.25 in the receiver, for measurement, tack the 2" as close as possible to the 1.25 bar . A lot more work, but much more compact.

 

[California]

A cleaner design would have been to just remove the 1.25 bar and weld it directly to the 2" receiver hitch. It would have used up a couple of cutoff wheels getting the plate weld removed, but then it would be much lighter. You could then install the 1.25 in the receiver, for measurement, tack the 2" as close as possible to the 1.25 bar . A lot more work, but much more compact.

Well yes and no. I started with some measuring, then a mockup using a c-clamp. I discovered the cargo rack's tongue couldn't slide far enough into the adapter because there's a strengthening plate beneath the car's receiver, that stopped the rack's tongue long before the holes for the pin line up.

So I needed the ball-mount bar to remain, as a spacer to get the adapter's 2" opening down below the interference. That looked ok so I tacked it and tried it. Everything cleared, barely. So I went ahead and welded it up.

Then I brought that load back home from the ranch and tried my adapter on the Subaru. It almost fit. Note the excess weld ground off in the later (painted) photo, to let the adapter shove slightly deeper into the car's receiver.

Now it fits both cars.