trailer hitch receiver vise

[etbadger]

We have one of these in the front receiver of the van. A vice is one of the most useful tools, and I wish we had it much earlier, probably would have saved my knuckles many times over when cutting something with the hack-saw or drilling while on the trail. Had considered bolting a regular vice down to a bumper, but never got around to it due to bulk and not finding one that fit well. This is fairly small, and uses the vehicle as the bulk.

The jaws have what is essentially sand embedded in the faces for gripping, but this mars what you clamp. I made some soft-jaws out of AL angle and machined some V grooves for holding rods (think motorcycle fork legs, or the like). It can rotate 90deg for holding items vertically.

I'm not a fan of the wrench/handle with all the advertising cut into it. Rather uncomfortable, but it works and it is handy.

-e

[gatorgrizz27]

Pretty handy, but I wouldn't spend that much on such a rarely used item. Pretty sure you could do a lot of that stuff with a hi-lift?

[CUCV GRV]

Pretty handy, but I wouldn't spend that much on such a rarely used item. Pretty sure you could do a lot of that stuff with a hi-lift?

I caught a lot of **** from a friend when I bought one at the sand sport super show. Two years latter and I have to say it is one of the best purchases ever. I use it a lot. It is really well built. I like having the nut instead of the normal slide bar. I own a hi-lift also and will not detract from it's usefulness, but when you bend a tie rod, get a fiberglass flag on a quad mound stuck, or need to hold something to cut or weld nothing beats a good vice. Excellent product highly recommend it. I build my M1010 using that same vice mounted in the hitch saved time not having to run into the garage and back.

[mowerman]

that very cool, but I just drilled my winch bumper and mount a 3" vice on there as and when I need it

[Stumpalump]

I also made one for the front of the van. It came out so nice that a took a picture of it. Now I'm using an iPad so posting pictures is impossible. I think. Maybe somebody can tell me if it can be done? The van is in the driveway and it just a real handy place to have a vise. I built it with the front and rear in mind. I can turn it sideways and push it close to the bumper and have another hole in the shaft so I can pull it out for work. They are heavy to haul around but it's great in the driveway.

[Douglas S.]

Nice, then you can mount up your $40 POS Harbor Freight vise and hope that the casting isn't just crappy enough to crack on you as you put that last quarter turn on the handle trying to press in a u-joint cap in the middle of nowhere. It happened to me in a buddy's garage using one of their "too cheap to be true" bench vises, so for me it's not just a "what if?"

Full disclosure, I own the Mac's, but IMO it's was worth the extra few bucks for that peace of mind.

You could put whichever vice you wanted on it. A high quality used vice isn't expensive in the slightest.

[Chili]

Nice, then you can mount up your $40 POS Harbor Freight vise and hope that the casting isn't just crappy enough to crack on you as you put that last quarter turn on the handle trying to press in a u-joint cap in the middle of nowhere. It happened to me in a buddy's garage using one of their "too cheap to be true" bench vises, so for me it's not just a "what if?"

Full disclosure, I own the Mac's, but IMO it's was worth the extra few bucks for that peace of mind.

Or you can mount your quality bench vice from your home shop.. I don't use my bench vise enough that I don't even leave it permanantly mounted to my bench. In this case, I could just throw in it the rig when I head out and am only out an extra $20. Or $16 with the number of 20% off coupons I have.

[1stDeuce]

I saw this vise at a supplier show for custom car parts. Mac's guys were our neighbors in the booth farm. Really nice guys, and I can say from messing with it that I really want one of those vises! The jaws are some kind of rock crusher plate, and as described earlier, have a very rough surface. (A lot coarser than sand, actually.) The guys said that it doesn't wear off, and it grips stuff VERY well. (but it does leave bite marks...)

Good product, good company, good god I want one!!
Chris