The Road to Drag Week 2016 - Old School Style

[cjshaker]

Heo, the temps outside have been about 90*, but with 80+ percent humidity and full sun. The garage acts like an oven when it's like that. It doesn't cool off much till about 2 hours before sunset, so I work in short stretches until then, and keep a water hose handy  The old barn needs some work to really be usable for anything other than storage, but I can't even find the time to finish the inside of my garage. Ugh! I'm sure the bats in it wouldn't mind the company though...lol!! I actually thought about using the trailer as it was, for a sleeping quarters during drag week, but then everything would have to sit out, and I'm not so sure both my Son and I could fit in it.

Tonight I actually weighed what I cut off the trailer and it was only 85 lbs. But that's still a pretty significant amount and should make it much easier on the hitch. I still have 6' from ball to axle, so I don't think that will be an issue. Plenty of guys are using smaller and shorter trailers on Drag Week. After coming to some final design ideas tonight, I think my plan for the hitch will work out pretty well. Nobody ever accused me of being a fast worker, but I try to do quality work. Mostly because I hate doing something twice!

[Rory428]

Back in the late 70s, I owned a 70 Mach 1 that was equipped with a trailer hitch. It was fairly light duty looking, it had a large H shaped bracket that attatched to the rear bumper with 1 bolt per side, and a middle  member that held the hitch ball, and ran under the gas tank, and up to the floor pan between the rear shock upper mounts, ahead of the gas tank. I recall seeing a fair number of similar  hitches on Mustangs around that time. Pretty light duty, but I did tow a utility trailer with a 428 I had bought, in it thru a few towns without incident. You will be towing much further, but likely with much less weight. Does your Mustang have a fold down rear seat? For years I drove my street/strip 69 & 70 Mustangs to and from the dragstrip with 1 slick on the fold down seat, with other in the trunk (8 1/2x26-15, or 10 x28-15), and a tool box and small floor jack in the trunk.

[cjshaker]

Rory, I do have the fold down seat, and I considered just packing everything in the car like Kevin did in his Shelby last year, but I'll have my Son with me, and I'll admit to not wanting to scuff up my interior panels trying to stuff big tires and parts in there.

I originally was going to use the bumper as a support, but Mustang bumpers are so flimsy and thin that I just didn't feel confident that it would hold up to 1000 miles of road use in one week. And I do understand that it will take a small beating with the short trailer. I went through a few ideas before coming up with something that I feel confident in. I'll post some pictures tonight of how it's going to be made.

[mike7570]

Back in the late 70s, I owned a 70 Mach 1 that was equipped with a trailer hitch. It was fairly light duty looking, it had a large H shaped bracket that attatched to the rear bumper with 1 bolt per side, and a middle  member that held the hitch ball, and ran under the gas tank, and up to the floor pan between the rear shock upper mounts, ahead of the gas tank. I recall seeing a fair number of similar  hitches on Mustangs around that time. Pretty light duty, but I did tow a utility trailer with a 428 I had bought, in it thru a few towns without incident. You will be towing much further, but likely with much less weight. Does your Mustang have a fold down rear seat? For years I drove my street/strip 69 & 70 Mustangs to and from the dragstrip with 1 slick on the fold down seat, with other in the trunk (8 1/2x26-15, or 10 x28-15), and a tool box and small floor jack in the trunk.

My brother had one of those on his '69 Shelby, we put it on to tow our 18' jet boat to the river. The Shelby would get rubber shifting to 2nd while towing the boat, LOL.
We would routinely run it up to 100mph crossing the desert while towing the boat. It did have a good tandem axle trailer. (Things we did when we were young) 

[cjshaker]

Nothing much to report, the pictures are pretty self explanatory. Still waiting on the 4.30 gears, which should be here Saturday or Monday. I think I'll be switching to QA-1 rear shocks as well, to pick up some travel. The Calverts bottom out on anything but a mild bump.



I just need to brace the part that goes up under the body, so it won't flex, then finish welding it and the hitch will be done. I think I'll be able to tow my car hauler with this set-up

[Nightmist66]

I didn't see it in the picture, but you may want to think about adding a drain hole in the bottom of your housing while the third member is out. Just a couple minutes with a drill and tap. I made mine 3/8" NPT and epoxied a strong magnet to the pipe plug. You could also buy a weld bung and go that route too. The drain is VERY convenient.

Just food for thought. Keep up the nice work.

[Bolted to Floor]

Car hauler  that could be a little optimistic.  :: Looks good though. And the bumper still fits? Did ya remove the exhaust just to have a little more work space?

[cjshaker]

Jared, I've been thinking about adding one. I was stupid for not putting it in when I got the rear. I hate trying to weld overhead though, so your idea of a thread in unit might be a good idea.

John, yes, I removed the exhaust for easy working. It comes out really easy since I used the band style clamps. And the bumper will mount over the bar, just as it normally would be. It will just be spaced out a 1/2". It might look a bit goofy that way, but with this set-up I didn't have to modify or drill any holes in the car and it's easily removable.

[AlanCasida]

I just use a 1/8" NPT hole the housings on my cars. It doesn't drain as fast but you get more threads in the housing. My routine is once it's up in the air I remove the drain plug first and by the time I get the tires off and the axles pulled it's all drained out.

[cjshaker]

That's a good idea, Alan and Jared. I think I may just go that route. Thanks.

[Heo]

You can also use a...."rivet nut" its like a poprivet but a nut
just smear a Little epoxy on it before you rivet it to be sure it
not leak

[cjshaker]

I know this is boring compared to what the other guys are doing, but hey, at least I'm making the effort to go to Drag Week
I finally finished the hitch up and got it mounted. I braced the rear area that bolts to the trunk floor so that it couldn't flex. It's pretty tight between the gas tank and rear valance, so any flex there wasn't going to cut it. I didn't have to modify the car or drill any holes anywhere, so I'm happy with it and have complete confidence that it'll hold up to anything I throw at it. I put another plate inside the trunk so it's pretty darn strong. I also got the drain hole drilled and tapped for the rear. Still waiting on the gears though, and the QA-1 rear shocks.

In keeping with the "old school" format, the hitch is actually a vintage Draw Tite unit that was made for a '65 Ford Galaxie station wagon . It's even stamped on the unit. The drawback to the whole thing is that it's heavy, to the tune of 25 lbs. I just look at it as ballast for traction...lol

[Pentroof]

I like the clean installation. 

[Joe-JDC]

Congratulations.  That is a neat install.  I towed a U-Haul trailer with my '66 Mustang back in '67 when I was going to my first PCS move in the USAF.  They had a clamp-on contraption that hooked over the bumper near the attaching bolts and it was a harrowing experience.  I think I bent my bumper like a pretzel because the tongue weight caused the clamps to rotate and twist the bumper.  Something like you have built would have been much stronger.  Good luck during drag week.  Joe-JDC

[turbohunter]

Yes, nice little install.
As clean as the rest of your car.
Will be following closely.
Best of luck.