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THE LOBBY A gathering place. Introductions, sports, showin' off your ride, birthday-anniversary-milestone, achievements, family oriented humor. |
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#1
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Tow a trailer? this could have been bad.
A buddy had his son tow a car in a enclosed trailer back home. Just before getting on the highway, at 30 ish mph. The hitch broke, dug into the pavement. As did the jack.
Trailer full was at 6k lbs. Hitch ball is rated at 6k.. The hitch mount is NOT forged, its a cast steel. It is 20 years old and was just used on a 2,600 mile trip. Note some rust under the label, but ... this is scary. This could have been really bad at speed. Pics below.
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"The Future Belongs to those who are STILL Willing to get their Hands Dirty" .. my Grandfather |
#2
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D
A M N just out of curiosity , what brand was it ? Glad it wasn't a complete catastrophe easily could have been |
#3
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Counterfeit Chi-com crap?
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"At no time did we exceed 175 mph.” Dan Gurney's truthful response to his and Brock Yate's winning of the first ever Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining Sea... Still have my 1st Firebird 7th Firebird 57 Starchief |
#4
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The rust under the label indicates there was a fracture. That compromise is all it takes for a complete failure. Think of it as scoring a line on glass. When enough pressure is applied it will fail or break at that point.
Personally, I wouldn't use anything rusty as a hitch component. |
#5
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I'm glad it didn't turn out badly. I had the hitch come loose on my little utility trailer while hauling my motorcycle once; fortunately the safety chains held, but it was pretty scary until I got slowed down and was able to stop. That sort of thing will cause some grey hairs for sure
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#6
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I had a ball brake while towing an empty utility trailer many years ago. The safety chains held and I wish they had NOT. It was on a 1965 Tempest wagon. The frame rails bent inward and the gas tank dropped down.
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#7
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Sorry that should have been "break". It's late at night here.
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#8
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I'll use a hitch like that with my open trailer, but with either of my enclosed ones (24 or 32ft), I use the weight distribution hitch for this exact reason.
I have also seen the ones with the depressed hex to hold the hex on the ball.....break across the hex area. Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
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Clutch Guys Matter _______________________________________ 53 Studebaker, 400P/th400/9" 64 F-85 72 4-4-2 Mondello's VO Twister II 84 Hurst/Olds #2449 87 Cutlass Salon 54 Olds 88 sedan |
#9
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Sucks it happened but at least at low speeds. Could have been bad at highway speeds.
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DragStarLeMans |
#10
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WOW
That could have been a disaster, glad it ended well.
That thing should have been scrapped a long time ago. I never leave my hitches in when, not in use and if any were to get that rusty I would toss it. Crossing the safety chains is a must to hopefully prevent the tongue from a full drop in these types of situations. Towing can be stressful enough this just adds to it.
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When I die, I want to go peacefully like my grandfather did, in his sleep. Not screaming like the passengers in his car. |
#11
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Quote:
Glad you were not hurt and it didnt turn into a tragedy. |
#12
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That is scary. That is NOT a cast part though. It's a piece of bent cold rolled steel welded to square tubing. There probably was a score in the metal from the bending process that caused a stress riser. The surface rust had NOTHING to do with this failure! It may have been fabricated with poor quality material. It was also very likely loaded well past it's rated weight. Glad it turned out ok. Definitely do NOT skimp on receiver hitch parts! I've seen many trailers with bent axles because people think the trailer should hold however much they can pile on it.
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#13
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An interesting story about chains. Many years ago, ~1974, I was riding with my dad pulling a 2 horse trailer. This trailer was much older I'm sure (I was about 10 so didn't know much) but I do know it didn't have chains. Nothing broke but the trailer "jumped" off the ball and the tongue dropped into the road and flipped over on it's side. Fortunately we were moving slow on a gravel road. The horses had a heck of ride! They scrambled out of the trailer and we pulled it back up on it's wheels. It was a surprise when our horses jumped back in the trailer to finish the trip, I guess they had plenty faith in us. When we got back to the shop the trailer had a pair of chains welded on. I don't know exactly what caused the trailer to become unattached. It had plenty of miles on it without problems. Maybe the latch wasn't engaged with the ball? Nothing actually broke as far as I remember.
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#14
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One hitch I had on smaller trailer had a round piece of steel like a washer but about 1/2" thick on a shaft.This would slide over under ball to latch. This 'washer' in time got a flat on it that would allow the hitch to become disconnected! Luckily the chains kept it in line.
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#15
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Good idea to cross the chains. Will do that from now on.
George
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"...out to my ol'55, I pulled away slowly, feeling so holy, god knows i was feeling alive"....written by Tom Wait from the Eagles' Live From The Forum |
#16
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I've cold bent a lot of cold rolled steel ..... sometimes it bends fine, other times it leaves fractures. No rhyme or reason that I can spot just looking at the metal before bending. That part looks like it was doomed the day it was made. My guess is they use some heat in the bending process and that piece wasn't heated enough. Typically cold rolled of that thickness will snap right off if bent in a radius like that when insufficiently heated.
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#17
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In case anyone misunderstood my post, I was only pointing out that the rust is indication that the part all ready had a fracture/weakness that led to the break. Not that the rust caused the break.
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#18
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That is a good point. The break wasn't sudden. I was referring to others that acted like the rust was significant to the failure cause.
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#19
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Just a thought but do not leave ball in receiver, rides next to spare tire when not in use. Suspect foam was part of towing package from factory.
+1 on crossed chains, Had a trailer tongue break once at speed on Interstate with a race car in tow. Chains kept nose off ground and was able to coast to stop safely. Then got to drive race car to the next exit. |
#20
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What was that hitch rated for like one like a 5000# how thick is the 2x2 area?
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