Glad you and the Excursion frame are ok.

Why do you not want the larger bolts and hitch? An extra 2k lbs of room would be nice IMO.

Cliffs on above: Robert traded his excursion for something with Soul. A Kia.

 

Should have worded that different...hoping they can't find the 10k ones and are forced to go with the 12k ones...

 

I don't think the 10k ones are still available, if I recall they were superceeded by the larger 12k bolts with the same part number. Glad to hear there is no frame damage.

Where abouts in PA did you grow up 'Soulman'?

 

I was in a similar dilemma with my '01 when someone decided to rear end it October 2008.

If the hitch was damaged, I had the option of getting the newer Class V super duty hitch rated for 12,500 pounds.

It wasn't damaged so the class IV hitch stayed, but my '05 Excursion has a class V.

 

Or worse... that you are having thoughts about your manhood

 

I was born in Sugarcreek up in Venango County...my dad was a coal miner so we moved around a lot...Somerset, Ligonier, Connelsville, New Kensington...that area.

 

Bad post.........

 

First King-David made a comment about leaving drawbars in the hitch when not towing in PA being an issue. (That's a little state back East for those that don't have maps. )
Then I made a comment in reply to K-D's post about having lived in PA all of my life and never having heard of the issue.
Then Robert_L_Ross commented in reply (below)that he also grew up in PA and was unaware of said issue, for some reason the forum wouldn't let me quote these earlier posts along with the following.

My father was from Schuylkill County's, Anthracite Coal region and some of my siblings still call the area home, I have lived in the SouthEast corner of the state all my life.

"So" What Brent? You are familiar with the concept of a conversation aren't you? We are having one here on a related topic (as unrelated to the original post as it is....). Your reply was odd as the first part had nothing whatever to do with the conversation. And the second part is curious also, why would a drawbar set like his be illegal? And what makes it "weird"?

 

You missed part of that lol.

 

It's very odd looking. I would be more embarrassed about that than the loaner car.
I did miss the "where you live part" I will admit.

 

I would assume it's illegal for the same reasons as leaving the tailgate down on a pickup when not hauling things. The main issue is the fact that it did what it did. People could and will argue that half the damage should have been done to his vehicle

 

I don't know of any state that I've towed in that has a law on the books about a hitch left in place being illegal. Same with the tailgate down thing. Now what they can get you for i obstructing the view of the rear plate, but usually they will have another reason to pop you...

 

I have found no codes in the CA vehicle code specifically forbidding keeping your hitch on your vehicle:
http://www.eyer****ch.com/california-towing-laws.html

The only law - that I can find - that specifically addresses anything regarding hitches is that they can't block the numbers on your plate. I've seen multiple posts on various boards of people who had put a ball on their bumper and then been cited for blocking the plate...this baffles me as this was how some vehicles are designed - with a hole in the bumper to allow for a ball to tow light trailers.

I will admit, my hitch in it's day to day configuration does actually obscure some of the numbers on my plate.

That being said, this is the 2nd time someone has rear-ended me with that hitch in...both times a LEO (PD/CHP) was summoned to the scene since the other vehicle was damn near totaled and both times I wasn't cited for having the ball in, for it blocking the plate, for too long of an extension past the bumper - nothing. Not even a casual "hey, you should probably remove that".

There is an obscure CA law about bumpers:

V C Section 28071 Passenger Vehicle Bumper Requirements
Passenger Vehicle Bumper Requirements

28071. Every passenger vehicle registered in this state shall be equipped with a front bumper and with a rear bumper. As used in this section, "bumper" means any device designed and intended by a manufacturer to prevent the front or rear of the body of the vehicle from coming into contact with any other motor vehicle. This section shall not apply to any passenger vehicle that is required to be equipped with an energy absorption system pursuant to either state or federal law, or to any passenger vehicle which was not equipped with a front or rear bumper, or both, at the time that it was first sold and registered under the laws of this or any other state or foreign jurisdiction.

Now, this being said, if you look directly down on your Ex bumper, the receiver extends beyond the bumper, so the bumper is no longer the preventing the body from touching another vehicle - the receiver is. I also don't think the rear bumper of our Excursions have any "energy absorption system"...from my understanding, those are the 5mph bumpers that are actually 'springy' with those shock-absorber looking things.

I also know AAA tried to get a law passed in CA that spells out that the ball must be removed from the receiver when not in use - and the law cannot make it beyond committee. Believe it or not, CA - CALIFORNIA - can't seem to do it. that sounds unbelievable to me.

I (and I would beg to say at least 1 CHP officer, 1 Sacramento PD officer and three insurance companies) disagree.

The way I see it, without that hitch there is a good chance she'd have made it far enough in to push the bumper into the rear quarter panels and damaged them. THAT would have put significant damage to both vehicles, maybe even so much that an insurance company wouldn't want to pay to have an out-of-production truck like an Excursion to be fixed - writing it off instead.

In this scenario (and one other I've been in), she was at fault, and her car suffered the entire damage (other than my hitch). Why should we both have significant damage and for me to suffer a loss because SHE rear-ended me? If rather than splitting up the $ worth of damage between both of us, I'm going to choose to put the entire $ of damage on whoever decides to hit my rig.

 

This goes to that concept I often speak of that dictates everyone can have an opinion.

Thank you SO much for sharing your valuable opinion with all of us...now we know what NOT to get you for Christmas this year.

 

Not one of those "hitches" for sure