Ever had a hitch pin or lock fail?

[JDgreen227]

Spend a period this afternoon wire brushing both of the stainless steel dog bone type hitch bar locks I use, and lubing the lock cylinder and screw-in threads. They are at least ten years old, and aside from surface discoloration and the scuffing of the shank where it connects the receiver hitch and bar, both still look good.

Has anyone ever experienced a failure of a hitch pin or lock because of age....(horizontal shearing)? Someone told me that he replaces his hitch pins every 5 years because he does a lot of class 3 towing and he worries about metal fatigue.

 

[devildog1]

All I can say is I tow a 34 ' TT @ about 10,000 lbs, class 5 towing. I have towed Across the country a few times and local ( within 500 miles) for the last 6 years on same hitch lock pin. If that would be the case how many years would the hitch be good for?
DevilDog

 

[jejeosborne]

No need to worry about metal fatigue because there is no flexing of the metal. Your friend who replaces his is throwing money out the window. Does he replace every fastener on his vehicle like his lug bolts too? The receiver tube will fail sooner than the pin.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I have the same hitch pin since 1986. I bet it has 250,000 miles on it pulling everything from a log splitter to a 16,000# boat. If you look up the break point of 5/8" steel it's north of 50,000#. I have seen 4 hitches fail, one ball, and about 10 draw bars but never a hitch pin.

Chris

 

[dstig1]

Not to mention the pin is in double shear, which is just about the strongest mechanical mode something made out of steel can be put into... The pin would be the least of my worries...unless it was a Horror Fright or worse version... Even then a failure is highly unlikely..

 

[jwstewar]

I have a locking hitch pin, dog bone style. It isn't close to breaking, but I am noticing a little bit of wear right where it rides on the receiver. I haven't replaced it yet because I haven't found the same style to replace it with and I don't like the locking pin I bought for use with our Suburban...When I find this style again I will probably buy 3 or 4 of them.

 

[Iowachild]

Found the attached on RV forum. It is from the Draw-Tite catalog and shows their 5/8" dog bone type locking pin rated at 31,000 lbs. shear strength.:thumbsup:

View attachment trailerhitchesandaccessories.pdf

 

[jwstewar]

Found the attached on RV forum. It is from the Draw-Tite catalog and shows their 5/8" dog bone type locking pin rated at 31,000 lbs. shear strength.:thumbsup:

View attachment 368111

Thanks, that is the style I have and I've really liked it. I might have to look one of those up and order some. At this point it hadn't bubbled to the top of the search list, but it is getting there

 

[JDgreen227]

Found the attached on RV forum. It is from the Draw-Tite catalog and shows their 5/8" dog bone type locking pin rated at 31,000 lbs. shear strength.:thumbsup:

View attachment 368111

That's EXACTLY what I have...ordered mine from Camping World back in May of '99....they cost me $11.67 each with my Presidents Club discount...probably be about $30 each today.

 

[RalphVa]

I've had them be jerked out (by twigs, etc.) but not sheared.

Even had an oil dipstick be jerked out.

Ralph

 

[Texasmark]

Had a friend with a truck-pup rock hauler setup. The pup attached to the rear of the truck with what I call a pintle hitch attached to the truck frame, the hitch had a curved bottom part with a flat top that lifted to allow for coupling.

Have no idea as to how many miles were on his truck but the pup carried 10 yards of whatever plus the weight of it....probably about 40k# loaded or thereabouts. Several hundred thousand is probably an accurate number. He came home one day without his pup. So I mosied over there for a little socializing and was curious anyway.

He showed me what was left of his hitch. It sheared between the hitch part and the flange part that touches the truck. It is a casting, and I have noticed castings and some parts made from powdered steel (ball bearing races) will just disintegrate if hit repeatedly for a time. His safety chains saved what could have been a tragic mess. The pup and the truck were constantly banging against one another so this hitch got a lot of serious pounding over it's life.

So, I suppose it is not a bad idea periodically to replace one if it gets a lot of serious banging on it.

Mark