so ya this may be a retarded question but just throwin it out there cuz im curious.. Could a rear bumper be made by flipping the hitch upsidedown and removing the bumper and the extending the sides or something like that I dont even have the tow package so I have no idea if this is possible or if the shape hinders it or anything.

 

do you mean like raising the receiver in the place of the bumper? i think marlin sells a rear bush bumper with a receiver built in

 

What year/model do you have?

 

What vehicle are you talking about?

 

Ya if raising it would acomplish the same as flipping it that was the idea and its a 98 runner

 

you could def use the mounts as brackets to fab from.

 

ok but i was thinking of actually using the hitch as the base for the bumper and extending the sides

 

the more i think about it the more i like this idea so i would appreciate any knowledge you guys have

 

It wouldn't work unless you do some fabbing. It would be way too high. It would work if you mounted the hitch right side up, though.

 

Sure, I know the Montero folks do something similar. If it is the right height, then extend the sides out with some square tubing.

 

thanks for the input if it is too high would extending the mount points down weaken it too much?

 

If you mean putting some sort of adapter in place or something, that would weaken it. Why are you so set on flipping it upside down? Even without raising it from the stock height, an OEM trailer hitch is plenty high enough to serve as a bumper and not get in the way offroad.

 

Not sure how the 3rd gen hitches attach, but if they are similar to the Tacomas (below) then you might try drilling new holes in the brackets to raise the hitch:



http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/...tml#RearBumper

 

doesnt have to be flipped just thought that would raise it up close to the spot where the stock bumper used to be if it was removed