Lurch in MN

Got the exact same vehicle with the exact same headache. I was looking at it more closely last night and after some thought, to me it looks like a possible/cheap solution would be to take out that stupid, bulky bolt and drill all the way to the rear of the hitch frame. Then replace the bolt with a stainless steal stove-bolt of the appropriate length and put a washer and a self locking nut on from the back. Wouldn't that provide adequate clearance? I'm going to sugest that to my dealership's service manager. It's still under warranty so I'd rather have one of their mechanics do the job. A standard pin with a clip fits just fine. But with all the theives in the world, I'd prefer to be able to use a lockng pin. Have you received any responses yourself as to possible work-arounds/solutions? NCVinVT's 2002 XLT has a different hitch. This one that's more problematic has been in used since 2006. I just got done talking to the salesman that I've been dealing with and have a service appointment set up for 3 days from now. Hopefully it'll be as easy to fix as it looks. Keep your fingers crossed for me.