Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Anonymous
For the nerdy:
When the pin is holding the hitch together, is it one case of double shear, or two cases of single shear? Can see it both ways.
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It's one case of double shear; with a little bit of bending mixed in because of the side clearance between parts. Running a few numbers:
double shear area of 5/8" pin = .613 in2
Assuming 1018 mild steel cold drawn, the ultimate tensile strength = 63,800 psi
Shear strength is around 57% of ultimate so it's about 36,000 psi.
So the pin should break at about 22,000 lbs.
A wise traveler should have a safety factor of at least 2 or 3.
So the allowable load would be 7000-11,000 lbs.
Better pin material (like an alloy steel) would bump those numbers up a lot.
Eric