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Old 02 Mar 2004, 11:59 pm
Hudd Hudd is offline
Fresh Cruiser
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Springfield, IL., USA.
Posts: 39
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Remember, you ask for this. It's long. I bought the Cal. Custom rear bumper cover with dual exhaust. Don't buy it. Had a bitch of a time because it has no support all the way across the rear of the car. Had to construct my own to keep it level. Took a 2x4 and held it under the removed stock bumper cover and drew the curvature onto the wood. Cut it on a band saw and filed to fit the curvature of the car. Painted and clear coated it for protection. Used screws that are wood on one end and bolt type on the other. Screwed wood end into wood where the slots are through the body. Put washers and nuts on to hold the wood to the body. Then mounted the Cal. Custom and it lays flat on the wood. Had to do some adjusting. Didn't leave installed yet. Cut a square hole in the area where the license plate mounts in order to see where the receiver would come out. Bought the $109.95 Hidden Hitch. Can't remember from who but several places have it. Mounted it and set the bumper cover up in place to see where the receiver was in relation to the license plate area. It was to low. The receiver was welded to the bottom of the cross bar. Took it to a welding shop and had them cut the receiver off of the crossbar. Mounted the receiver on top of the crossbar and welded it in place. Held the assembly up as close as possible to where it would mount. It was hitting the actual metal bumper. We cut a notch in it to allow the receiver to move up far enough to mount the assembly where it was supposed to be. Wasn't concerned about weakening the bumper. Notch not that big and if anyone runs into the car, God forbid, they will get a surprise when they hit the receiver. It's mounted to the side frame rails and is stronger than the bumper. It was a perfect line up. Got a thin piece of Stainless Steel from a metal junk yard and had it cut to fit into the recessed area for the plate. Marked where the receiver was and had that area milled out to allow the hitch/ball tube to go through and into the receiver. Had to have the tube extended and a hole drilled for the pin in order to reach clear to where the hole in the receiver was. Also had a hole cut where I wanted to mount the wiring connection. Mounted the plate to the cover. Went to the junk yard and bought a flip up/down (depending on how you mount it) license plate holder. Mounted it over the plate and bolted through the cover. Mounted the plate. When I want to tow my trailer, I lift the plate and slide the hitch/ball tube into the receiver. Have to get under the car to put the pin in. Pain in the butt, however worth it to me. Then the bottom of the plate rests on the top of the hitch which I had extended a little to keep the plate from hitting on the top of the trailer part of the hitch. When the plate is down it has a nice shiny trim around the edges from the Stainless plate. Looks good to me. If you have any questions or want me to take more pictures, let me know. Or if you are going to be in Tempe, Az. this month for the show I'll be there. I also added two pictures in my album to show a little detail. Thanks for the compliment Gary. I E-mailed you this message with the pictures. Ernie Ball here in Springfield, IL. did the paint. He's been in 86 magazines. Does an enormous amount of Harleys.
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