Tow Hitch Ball

[miniteeg]

On my Dodge Ram 1500 2014, there is a hole in the middle of the rear bumper that is interconnected with the chassis. I failed to find the accessory that it is supposed to go in there although I have seen similar truck pics online with the accessory installed, so I have made a solid rock steel bar with a washer and a nut at the bottom of the shank and 2" tow hitch ball at the top (photo attached). The ball was close to the bumper surface so the trailer made pressure on the bumper and it caused a damage (photo attached). I then fixed the ball higher and now the trailer only sits on the ball without touching the bumper.

Is this the right thing to do or is there a different design for towing a trailer with my truck model?

 

[Random_Walk]

Umm, don't do that.

A basic Class III or Class IV receiver hitch can be had for not too much money (couple hundred bucks at the most in your case), you can bolt it in at home, and it'll be a whole lot safer that way. Doing it this way has the added bonus of you knowing exactly what your max tow is... which is pretty important.

On my 2017 (came with the truck chassis wiring/plugs already in place), I only needed to get a $60 Class III hitch, a cheap-but-reliable $120 brake controller, and a $20 hitch ball. max tow for the hitch (6,000 lbs) easily exceeds that of my truck (4430lbs).

The hitch is the one place you don't want to improvise, cut corners, or redneck-engineer, I promise. I did that once on a Jeep YJ-7 I owned (welded up my own hitch to the back of the frame from a salvaged receiver rig), and I was fortunate that I didn't hurt or kill anybody - it worked for a couple of years, until it popped in half one day on the little subdivision street I lived on at the time (and *not* on the highway...)

All that said: I found a decent (and to be honest, almost perfect) answer to your question here: https://www.etrailer.com/question-94699.html

 

[MADDOG]

I agree..don't rely on that modification. I'd suggest you get a Class III or Class IV receiver hitch, depending on the weight of what you will be towing, installed on your truck.

 

[Quyonmob]

Go buy this. Frame rails are already tied to gether right behind the bumper by a crossmember. This bolts to it and your bumper.

 

[Random_Walk]

Go buy this. Frame rails are already tied to gether right behind the bumper by a crossmember. This bolts to it and your bumper.

This is true on the newer ones, but I think the older 4th-gens may have been rigged differently, and he's got a 2014, so I get kinda lost when looking that far back.

PS: The hitch you pictured is the exact one I have bolted on. Forgot what kind of sale they had, but managed to get it for around $60. Took maybe 20 minutes to bolt the thing on (after 15 mintues of searching for, then dorking with the tire jack to drop the spare.)

 

[Quyonmob]

This is true on the newer ones, but I think the older 4th-gens may have been rigged differently, and he's got a 2014, so I get kinda lost when looking that far back.

PS: The hitch you pictured is the exact one I have bolted on. Forgot what kind of sale they had, but managed to get it for around $60. Took maybe 20 minutes to bolt the thing on (after 15 mintues of searching for, then dorking with the tire jack to drop the spare.)

Etrailer lists it as fitting a 2013 Ram.

Same product I put on mine too, super fast install with the fish wires. Handled a WD travel trailer hitch no prob.