Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong

[Btown]

They should get rid of 1 7/8" and just make 2" the standard. Too many people assume it's 2" and bad things happen. One time there was a guy towing a portable air compressor with pointless hitch set up on the compressor. The truck had a 2" ball. Needles to say when he was going down the highway he hit a bump and the compressor went off the ball and rolled over. Oh well. He should have known better. You could see all the dents in the back bumper when he would stop the pintle would slide up the hitch and hit the bumper. Then go back down on the ball. He was lucky no one got hurt.

 

[DavesTractor]

They should get rid of 1 7/8" and just make 2" the standard. Too many people assume it's 2" and bad things happen. One time there was a guy towing a portable air compressor with pointless hitch set up on the compressor. The truck had a 2" ball. Needles to say when he was going down the highway he hit a bump and the compressor went off the ball and rolled over. Oh well. He should have known better. You could see all the dents in the back bumper when he would stop the pintle would slide up the hitch and hit the bumper. Then go back down on the ball. He was lucky no one got hurt.

To which I would say, they should get rid of all 2" balls and make 2-5/16" the standard. By the way, who decided the 5/16" part?

Interestingly, there are 2-5/16" balls that are rated way down at about 6000 lbs and then some at 20,000 lbs. If you are hauling a decent size trailer, it pays to check that rating.

 

[ultrarunner]

Balls... I've got all of them.

I have two 1" balls for my SINGLE WHEEL camping tent trailer... a product of the 1950's.

.

Then there is a 1 3/4 ball on a 1930's utility trailer...

Several 1 7/8, 2" and several 2 5/16

I converted almost all of the 1 7/8 to 2"... it just made life simpler.

Lost a trailer once... it was a empty box trailer on the freeway... hit a pot hole the 1 7/8, 2000# ball shank snapped.

It had a single safety chain as this is all that is required here to be legal...

Problem is when the ball snapped the trailer tongue hit a uplifted concrete section of the road bed and bent the tongue like spaghetti snapping the chain... lucky for me the trailer bounced off onto the shoulder... I was going about 50 in the slow lane...

Since then I have converted to double chains even though not required for lightweight trailers and 2" balls

 

[IslandTractor]

To which I would say, they should get rid of all 2" balls and make 2-5/16" the standard. By the way, who decided the 5/16" part?

Interestingly, there are 2-5/16" balls that are rated way down at about 6000 lbs and then some at 20,000 lbs. If you are hauling a decent size trailer, it pays to check that rating.

Nah, get rid of all of the receiver hitches and go to the European solid permanently mounted system. One size fits all. No muss no fuss.

 

[lilranch2001]

Typical.....
Go and do what the Europeans do.....

 

[IslandTractor]

Typical.....
Go and do what the Europeans do.....

Yep. Metric all the way. We're the last country on earth to hold on to the antiquated (and European) SAE system. We're probably the only country (?Canada) that uses the two part non standardized receiver hitch system too.

And, you might recall that we got most of our industrial standards from the Europeans anyway so what's the big deal. They copy from our better ideas too.

 

[Spanner]

We, also and Australia too I suspect, have a dual towball size.
The old 1&7/8" from days past and the European 50mm.
50mm is approx. 2 inches but not quite.
We have fixed size towballs or a 'quick-change' which has a 'post/peg' on the towbar and the two different balls so you can swap as necessary with a lever clip.
The trailer coupling has its size cast/stamped on it.
Some couplings are even dual size so you should always be able to be correctly fitted.
Then there's the lighting cable connector. We have both flat 7-pin and round 7-pin connectors and round-to-flat and flat-to-round adaptor harnesses.
Nightmare stuff!

 

[BigBlue1]

Yep. Metric all the way. We're the last country on earth to hold on to the antiquated (and European) SAE system. We're probably the only country (?Canada) that uses the two part non standardized receiver hitch system too.

And, you might recall that we got most of our industrial standards from the Europeans anyway so what's the big deal. They copy from our better ideas too.View attachment 518277

Ugly part! Like a lot of Euro items. No thanks. And I'll stick with our good old SAE stuff. Other than the "me too" aspect there is zero material benefit to moving to the metric system. It doesn't do anything better, just different. And if someone says "well, it's easier to work with the numbers in base 10 than fractions" then I guess they're a product of new math. Fractions aren't that difficult. Embrace our differences, don't scorn them!

Rob

 

[IslandTractor]

Ugly part! Like a lot of Euro items. No thanks. And I'll stick with our good old SAE stuff. Other than the "me too" aspect there is zero material benefit to moving to the metric system. It doesn't do anything better, just different. And if someone says "well, it's easier to work with the numbers in base 10 than fractions" then I guess they're a product of new math. Fractions aren't that difficult. Embrace our differences, don't scorn them!

Rob

The metric ball does one very important thing: it eliminates the confusion and potentially catastrophic consequences of putting a 2" hitch on a 1+7/8" ball.

Think about any well engineered safety system. It would never have two nearly identical but incompatible parts where the wrong choice could lead to a severe accident.

Looks take some getting used to but imo it's actually less of a visual eyesore than a 2x2 receiver hitch.

 

[dragoneggs]

Balls... I've got all of them.

I have two 1" balls for my SINGLE WHEEL camping tent trailer... a product of the 1950's.

.View attachment 518274View attachment 518275

Then there is a 1 3/4 ball on a 1930's utility trailer...

Several 1 7/8, 2" and several 2 5/16

I converted almost all of the 1 7/8 to 2"... it just made life simpler.

Lost a trailer once... it was a empty box trailer on the freeway... hit a pot hole the 1 7/8, 2000# ball shank snapped.

It had a single safety chain as this is all that is required here to be legal...

Problem is when the ball snapped the trailer tongue hit a uplifted concrete section of the road bed and bent the tongue like spaghetti snapping the chain... lucky for me the trailer bounced off onto the shoulder... I was going about 50 in the slow lane...

Since then I have converted to double chains even though not required for lightweight trailers and 2" balls

Glad to see you have bigger balls now. Sounds like you have grown up and your balls even dropped.