After considering several options, decided upon a factory hitch for our 'new' 97 SR.
I was lucky enough to find an unlucky ex Monty owner who rolled his 99 before he could install his factory hitch and wiring harness, so got a good deal.
The factory hitch is built for a tank! Weighs 45 lb, Class III, rated for 5,000 lb tow, 500 lb tongue weight. Bolts both to the frame and to the pintle plate behind the stock haul ring.

For those interested, here are some part numbers:

Hitch: Mitsubishi AMR5YH1X01, $203.12 list, $146.24 discount.
Wiring Harness: Mitsubishi AMR6YH1X02, $69.95 list, $50.36 discount.

Discount prices quoted are Renton Mitsubishi's site:

MitsubishiParts.com

The hitch is actually made by Valley Industries, Valley Part number 81110. Valley hitches are getting hard to find: the best local quote I could get is $165.

According to the Valley site, it fits Gen II Montys from 95 through 2000. The OEM Mitsu instruction sheet was dated August 1995. Don't know why it would not fit 92-94 Gen IIs, but, apparently not.

A diagram of the hitch is on Valley's web site:

Valley hitch 81110

Next step will be to replace the 4 pole flat connector on the factory harness with a combo 7-pole round RV/4-pole flat unit. The 7-pole will add a pole for the backup lights, one for 12v power, and one for electric brakes. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Nice. I just put a DrawTite on my 97SR, uses 6 bolts but doesn't connect to the plate like the Valley. Thanks for the wiring harness part#, I needed that!

How does that wiring harness splice in? I thought there was no plug-in connector for trailer lights on these trucks?

The factory harness is an easy plug-in. The solid state module plugs between the connectors to the left tail light and fits into a slot inside the tail light housing. The wire bundle goes along the frame cross member and another jack plugs between the connectors to the right tail light. Just remove the two screws to each tail light housing, pull them out (straight back), unplug the tail light wires, plug in the connectors and replace the tail lights.

On my rig I had to loosen the bumper bolts to get enough room on the left side between the body and bumper to run the wire loom and right-side connectors. Without that it would have been a simple 10-minute job. As it was, 15 minutes. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Easy, that's what I wanted to hear!

Thanks again,
David

Here's a pic of the Mitsu Factory hitch on the '97 SR:

Factory hitch

Note the Hoppy 47185 connector. It takes both flat 4-pin and RV 7-pin trailer plugs. It plugs directly into the flat 4-pin connector on the factory wiring kit. Easy & sweet <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />
See: Hoppy 47185