45 degree receiver? Why?

[xtremjeepn]

I have been restoring/restomodding an old Crew Crew cab. It came with a gooseneck hitch in the bed and a receiver mounted in the back at 45 degrees. ?? (this truck has had some VERY oddball stuff on it).





Was there ever a reason to do something like this? Or is this just another random crazy thing with this old truck?



Here are a couple of pictures....





First one you can just make it out with the D-Ring hanging off of it with the bed off the truck.




Here it is out of the garage for the first day. (yes it will get paint). You can see I stuck a receiver mount winch up in the receiver so you can see the location and angle.

[Toolmaster]

Looks like thats all they had and didn't want to spend $$$ for the proper hitch. They most likely had the hitch fabbed up to sit level under the bumper.
How well is it mounted ?  (welded or bolted)  On a 45 like that with a winch pulling it could do some twisting and might even break off.

[xtremjeepn]

I doubt it is going anywhere. The ENTIRE rear cross member is the receiver system. It is built pretty stout into the truck. (thus the reason I have not removed it yet)

[Dragon]

Did the previous owner have it raised at any point???  Local Shops have been known to do that, so that there wasn't much of a setup sitting below the rear, when a truck has been lifted in any way....  Basically it gave you an ability to still tow with an adjusted ball mount, but when removed, not much was sitting too far below the rear bumper...

[zieg85]

I had a Grand Prix with that type of hide-away hitch.  I am sure they fashioned it for ground clearance issues.  My $.02