While I have my rear bumper apart, I'm thinking I might fabricate a
square-receiver hitch. Don't want to do any serious hauling - mostly for a
hitch-mount bicycle carrier and maybe tow a small cargo or boat trailer. I
plan to just span the stock brackets with some square tube and either
project through the bumper or drop below the bumper. I think a
through-bumper install would be slick.

I've seen the tow eye mounted hitches and I think I recall that they are
rated class I for about 1000#. Can anyone tell me if this rating is with the
stock bracket mounts? I was just looking at a photo of a South African hitch
that seems to have much longer brackets and presumably additional mounting
bolts. I don't want to overload the stock brackets but I figure that if the
class I tow eye hitch works, my proposed install should be even sturdier.
Opinions? Knowledge?

cheers,

mordo