A few months back, I was able to snag a OEM receiver hitch at the junkyard for my 97 Ranger. Now that its warm again, I'd like to get it installed. When I mocked it up, I quickly saw that its not simply going to bolt on and will need holes drilled. Does anyone have a pic of how the factory receiver mounts to the frame? I know the receiver should be roughly flush with the rear bumper, but I'd like to see how the factory did it. At best, I'm going to need to drill two holes per side and enlarge a third hole, so I want to be sure I get it right.

 

What year did u snag it off of? my 01's you reuse the bumper bolts.

 

Honestly, I don't remember. I'm sure I would have pulled it off a truck within 3 or 4 years of my own, but am not sure what it was.

 

cuz i looked at like a 96 rangers hitch as im looking for a better one for my 01's and it was totally different. Id imagine 98+ have a slightly different frame.

 

I'm sure you're right. It probably was a slightly newer truck I pulled it off of. I can work with it though. Everything fits nice... it just doesn't have the holes. If I can find a pic of how the factory mounted one, I can do any drilling/welding modifications I need to do in order for it to work.

 

I can take a pic of my 09 in a bit, I can verify the 1998-2011 are the same. My buddy has a 99 and our hitches were the same.

 

On my 94, which should be the same setup as your 97, I mounted the hitch using the two existing holes. I then drilled the other two holes in the frame using the hitch as the template. Since the frame/bumper bracket is curved, I put square washers between the frame and hitch where the holes were drilled. Curt hitches fit 83-2012 rangers so you should be ok.

 

Apexkeeper, if you could provide a pic, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks in advance!

 

Sorry, these aren't great but best I could do at the moment.

you can at least see how it basically mounts directly with the bumper brackets.

 

Perfect! Thanks so much Apexkeeper. That should do the trick!