Ain't Supposed to Happen

[Kingfisher]

Why is the bottom of the ball thread stud bent? Or is it just the pic?

 

[JMJ Farms]

Why is the bottom of the ball thread stud bent? Or is it just the pic?

My guess would be that when the hitch broke, the safety chain looks to have enough slack that the tongue probably hit the pavement. Real hard.

 

[ddd75]

i use the same size to haul my 4x8 trailer with my quad........

 

[greybeard]

That sure could have ended badly. The way that hitch is milled down to recess the ball must have made the hitch a little to thin. Seems like a design flaw. I'm glad no one got hurt.

The shallow (1/8" ? ) depth of that stamping or milling shouldn't have been enough to weaken it to the point of complete failure. There's more to it than just the absence of thickness in that area.
IF, the hole for the ball stud was punched instead of drilled, it could weakened it enough, but seems like every one they built that way would have failed.

 

[ohiosteve]

That sure could have ended badly. The way that hitch is milled down to recess the ball must have made the hitch a little to thin. Seems like a design flaw. I'm glad no one got hurt.

The shallow (1/8" ? ) depth of that stamping or milling shouldn't have been enough to weaken it to the point of complete failure. There's more to it than just the absence of thickness in that area.
IF, the hole for the ball stud was punched instead of drilled, it could weakened it enough, but seems like every one they built that way would have failed.

If I take a piece of flat stock and drill an hole in the middle of it and then try to bend it, it will bend at the hole every time. If I grind each side of the hole it will bend at the hole even easier. That's all I'm saying.

 

[Nesikep]

It may have been unduly stressed a long time ago, not with this trailer.. lets say they had a trailer on and the trailer flopped on its side, or that hitch was in an accident at some point.. some stress fractures and then repeated loading later spread them.
without taking a close look at the break it's hard to tell.

For hauling my 14K trailer I have a forged hitch

 

[wbvs58]

Lucky that safety chain held, look at the twist in it.

Ken

 

[elkwc]

My guess tongue weight got it. I think those regular duty ones are 5000#

Was just looking at them yesterday at the farm store and bought one. The light duty was 5,000# and the heavy 7,500#. I agree that tongue weight got it and it might of been overloaded before and which causes metal fatigue. I've had a lot of schooling on metal fatigue. The damage caused by it can show up later.

 

[Bright Raven]

The way that hitch is milled down to recess the ball must have made the hitch a little to thin. Seems like a design flaw.

I agree. Never seen one milled down like that. Is this common practice?

Reese makes them to accommodate a ball that they also sell which has a corresponding hex shape at the base, eliminating the need to have a pipe wrench or vise to hold the ball while tightening.

Five bucks says it's stamped China.

The Reese Brand hitches and accessories I have looked at all say Made In China.

 

[True Grit Farms]

It doesn't matter where it's made as long as it's made right. A solid shank with the ball welded is the best hitch. I'm not a big fan on bolting things together when it comes to hitches and balls.

 

[Bright Raven]

It doesn't matter where it's made as long as it's made right. A solid shank with the ball welded is the best hitch. I'm not a big fan on bolting things together when it comes to hitches and balls.

Thanks.

 

[jltrent]

These are hard to beat. You have a ball for everything and solid shank.

https://www.harborfreight.com/triple-ba ... 61914.html

 

[Silver]

That sure could have ended badly. The way that hitch is milled down to recess the ball must have made the hitch a little to thin. Seems like a design flaw. I'm glad no one got hurt.

The shallow (1/8" ? ) depth of that stamping or milling shouldn't have been enough to weaken it to the point of complete failure. There's more to it than just the absence of thickness in that area.
IF, the hole for the ball stud was punched instead of drilled, it could weakened it enough, but seems like every one they built that way would have failed.

If I take a piece of flat stock and drill an hole in the middle of it and then try to bend it, it will bend at the hole every time. If I grind each side of the hole it will bend at the hole even easier. That's all I'm saying.

But if you put a bolt through that holes and snugged a nut up tight it would now be the strongest part of that flat stock.
Which makes me wonder: had the ball come loose?

 

[skyhightree1]

These are hard to beat. You have a ball for everything and solid shank.

https://www.harborfreight.com/triple-ba ... 61914.html

Those are good but sometimes depending on truck height if you try to level the trailer you need drop or rise and those sometimes don't do it.

 

[ohiosteve]

The shallow (1/8" ? ) depth of that stamping or milling shouldn't have been enough to weaken it to the point of complete failure. There's more to it than just the absence of thickness in that area.
IF, the hole for the ball stud was punched instead of drilled, it could weakened it enough, but seems like every one they built that way would have failed.

If I take a piece of flat stock and drill an hole in the middle of it and then try to bend it, it will bend at the hole every time. If I grind each side of the hole it will bend at the hole even easier. That's all I'm saying.

But if you put a bolt through that holes and snugged a nut up tight it would now be the strongest part of that flat stock.
Which makes me wonder: had the ball come loose?

Great point

 

[JMJ Farms]

More than likely it was a combination of several factors.
1) tongue weight could have exceeded hitch rating.
2) may have been a cheap hitch
3) and most likely is that those adapters that adapt a 2" hitch to a 2.5" or 3" receiver have play in them which allows the hitch to bounce up and down too much. Adds extra stress.

Combine several small failures and you could have a big failure. Good safety chains on that trailer though.

 

[Nesikep]

By some coincidence, this just came up in my facebook feed.. looks like this isn't the only occurrence.. I'd find out the manufacturer on that ASAP! This warrants a recall.