My new to me truck came with a class V hitch. The receiver will take a 2.5" shaft. I don't own any inserts that large and even my new weight distribution hitch is a 2" shaft. I hate the idea of losing my adapter and I really don't want to get in a position where I can't find it and need to tow something. I also don't want to drive around with a hitch lock holding the adapter in place.
My solution was to drill a hole in the bottom of the receiver and then tap it for a set screw. Without paying super close attention, I drilled out a 1/2" hole with a step bit then went to my tap set to find the right tap. My mistake was blindly drilling out the hole without looking at the requirements for each tap. A 1/2" hole is between a 9/16 x 12 and a 9/16 x 18. Being the genius that I am, I thought I could easily find a 9/16 bolt, so I tapped the hole to 9/16 x 12 course and set out to find hardware.
9/16 x 12 is not common... I should've drilled it for a 1/2" bolt as that would've been sufficient, and I didn't want to drill it out larger for a 5/8, so it stayed 9/16.
I finally located a bolt at Cal Ranch (best hardware selection around me by far) and returned home to test it out.
I ran the bolt into the hole and dropped a lock washer on it to check length, then cut it down to about the right size. It was too long for 1 lock washer but too short for 2. I dove into my spare hardware and located a flat washer that seemed to be just about right. I snugged it up, locking the adapter in place and checked to ensure I wasn't adversely affecting the adapter. All my hitches slid in and out easily. I pulled the bolt out and threw some red locktight on then snugged it up tight and rechecked the hitches. It's perfect.
I didn't think to take pics before hand, but here are the pics after.
Insert in semi permanent home.
The bolt holding it in place.
I'll keep an eye on it and paint mark it to see if it moves, but this hopefully allows for worry free use of all the hitch accessories I already own.
