Asheville / Florida Relief Efforts

[nikitis]

So I'll be going to Asheville NC this weekend to help clear roads. I got put on a team that is going to be allowed by Authorities to go in. As you know there has been a lot of denials allowing people to go in for safety reasons, but the authorities are starting to allow teams of civilians in if they come organized with equipment. Our team is made up of 5 individuals as a part of relief efforts and we've already made arrangement with the authorities to go in. They had to have our names to be put on a list and will be checked when we arrive and allowed in.

I know FL was just hit too, but there are still people in Asheville who may be running out of food and drinkable water and still don't have power and are still stuck and becoming a larger problem. When the storm hit there was only one way into Asheville that wasn't blocked. The task was to open up more roads into Asheville so trucks can go in from other areas, and people can come out, while also clearing downed trees and moving them out of the way for linemen to come and restore power. We have another team going in to do Muck work which I'm told is defined as going through flooded homes that are salvageable and to help clean them up or clear them of bodies.

There's still over 1500 people missing I've been told by the authorities. Some of which may have evacuated, but some unaccounted for. I'm prepared to see anything.

I feel blessed to be asked to go help those people, and to have the means to do so and that my own home was mostly spared from Helene (My fence was the only casualty).

I wanted to buy a trailer hitch to attach to my BUS as I have a trailer and a Mini-excavator to bring but sadly I've called everywhere and cannot find a hitch in time for this weekend. Anything that anyone can order won't come till Monday at the earliest. And the bus would of pulled it easily.

My team may be going down to Florida in a week or two to help there, and I may can have it ready for that. (I was planning to come down with the bus to Demac's anyway), but I may be combining two agendas now.

Does anyone have any ideas how I could get a hitch that is compatible with my bus for this weekend?

I've seen the curt 14082 works for most buses, and the heavier duty 15302 also works. Are there any other class 4 or 5 hitches known to work?

 

[fo4imtippin]

Curt 15924 or the other variations. They should work on any bus. I welded my vertical plates in the right place and then cut the top shorter. Then I drilled holes through them to mount in the middle of the frame rather than out on the flanges. Much stronger and your welds aren't what's holding all the weight from the tow.

 

[nikitis]

Curt 15924 or the other variations. They should work on any bus. I welded my vertical plates in the right place and then cut the top shorter. Then I drilled holes through them to mount in the middle of the frame rather than out on the flanges. Much stronger and your welds aren't what's holding all the weight from the tow.

Thanks for that info. so I measured my C-Channel frame and bolt points would be 31 inches apart and the 15924 is 44 inches. if I welded that to the sides it would likely be 33 inches apart so that one will not fit.

I'm starting to wonder if if the 14082 everyone gets will fit my bus because it states it fits a silverado 1500, and I went under my silverado 1500 and it's 39 inches apart from the bolting pattern.

Apparently I have really narrow C-Channels on my 3Box.

 

[nikitis]

So I called Curt directly to find one. They smallest one they sell is a 33 inch, which is the outer width of my C-Channels, but the side attachment plates that come on it are front to back, not up and down so it can't be bolted onto the C-Channel from the outside.

I could buy it however and make an adapter plate which would also allow me to control the height of the hitch depending on how large my plate is.

But if I'm going to go that route, I may as well just order metal and build my own trailer hitch and weld it together honestly, and I could do it cheaper and weld some triangles in places a pre-made one would never have to make it carry far more than 10k lbs.

I think this is what I'm going to do. New project for this next week!

 

[fo4imtippin]

Thanks for that info. so I measured my C-Channel frame and bolt points would be 31 inches apart and the 15924 is 44 inches. if I welded that to the sides it would likely be 33 inches apart so that one will not fit.

I'm starting to wonder if if the 14082 everyone gets will fit my bus because it states it fits a silverado 1500, and I went under my silverado 1500 and it's 39 inches apart from the bolting pattern.

Apparently I have really narrow C-Channels on my 3Box.

I don't understand how a 44in max width wouldnt fit your bus.. you weld the width to what you want and bolt to the 10in part of the frame rails.. I got a 72in one and made outriggers for my crane.

 

[nikitis]

I don't understand how a 44in max width wouldnt fit your bus.. you weld the width to what you want and bolt to the 10in part of the frame rails.. I got a 72in one and made outriggers for my crane.

Well if the width of the mounting points on the "bought and paid" for 44in unit is wider than my C-Channels there will be nothing to mount to. I cannot mount to air.

I can buy a piece of 2.5inch square tube steel, 72 inches long. Cut it to 33 inches, then weld some mounting plates that will mount to the outside of the C-Channels on both ends then weld on the square tube for the hitch.

Take the other half of the 72 inches left over, and weld it inside from C-Channel to C-Channel inside to give it more strength, then weld a small piece from square tube to square tube so it becomes one piece, and adds strength as well.

And it'll only cost me $50 vs $260

 

[La Camioneta]

CURT 13042 is a class 3 - I put on my bus. 600/6k 1000/10k weight distributing.

https://a.co/d/eNNZZE7

Mounts were not welded to center tube, took bumper off and drilled side plates to match bumper holes and sandwiched the plates between the frame and bumper brackets, no worries. IIRC was 1/2" bolts, had to step drill the plates.

 

[nikitis]

CURT 13042 is a class 3 - I put on my bus. 600/6k 1000/10k weight distributing.

https://a.co/d/eNNZZE7

Mounts were not welded to center tube, took bumper off and drilled side plates to match bumper holes and sandwiched the plates between the frame and bumper brackets, no worries. IIRC was 1/2" bolts, had to step drill the plates.

So that one is 39 inches Still too wide for my bus. I don't know why my C-Channels are so close together compared to other buses.

It says it fits silverado 1500, but I own a silverado 1500, and I happen to have a curt hitch on it and it's 39 inches. There's simply no way that thing will fit on my bus.

So I'm just gonna have to fabricate a hitch up. I bought the 2x2in square tubing and will weld them to plates to fit my bus, and I'll drill the holes where they need to.

I'll even reinforce all of the edges with triangles so it can haul way more weight than one of those pre-made Curts as well, and since I'm going that far into it, I might as well make some slide plates so I can adjust the height of it too for different applications.