I'm new to towing and I am slowly setting up my truck to pull a small trailer. (I actually did quite a bit of towing in the military, but we used pretty high speed stuff like air brakes, pintle hooks and stuff like that. My usual tow vehicle was a deuce and a half and I usually pulled a 400 gallon water buffalo.)

Anyways, I bought a kit from Wal-Mart last night. It has the drawbar with the ball pre-mounted and a locking hitch pin. The whole combo is rated 500/5000. It is made by Reese and since they are owned by the same parent company as Hidden Hitch and Draw-Tite I assume the stuff is all the same other than the name.

The kit is the proper height for the trailer.

My questions are:

1) The hitch pin is not a tight fit in the hole. Is this going to cause a lot of vibration and wear down the road?

2) Is a locking pin a good idea or a bad one? I can't imagine it surviving bad weather.

3) Should I buy something else? Money isn't an issue. There is a local hitch/trailer store but they are so busy they don't have time to answer questions.

4) How far should the drawbar stick out from the receiver? I've seen several different lengths that are otherwise the same.

5) Is there a FAQ for all this?



Thanks!

 

My locking hitch pin, I forget brand(Starts with an F), has worked fine thru almost 10 years of towing my 8,000# trailer. The pin is snug but has a little wiggle in the reciever. I don't notice any vibration etc. I suppose if it was really loose you might have a problem, but more with shear stress, ie you might cut the pin.

This pin has the usual key style lock and some O rings around the the lock which seal against the shaft. I drove for about 6 years in wet Oregon conditions with snow etc. Now I drive in So Cal. I usually spray the inside of the lock a couple times per year with some lubricant. I think I use Liquid Wrench spray lube. In winter I might clean it out with brake cleaner etc and spray with graphite, but in So Cal, that is no longer an issue.

Assuming you have proper clearance so the trailer can turn, you want as short a stinger as you can get. Simple physics involved. The longer the drawbar, the more torque applied downwardsand causing more twisting stress on the reciever.

Don't know if there is a FAQ, might look at UHaul or JC Whitney or some of the manufacturers.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

ihad a masterlock hitch pin. it lasted one winter and was destroyed even with it's built in rubber cover. i had to beat it off with a hammer and chisle not easy on an expedition.

 

I'm going to go even simpler with this:

• How loose should a drawbar fit? Should it be shimmed with tape or something?
• How do you get a hitch pin that doesn't rattle?
• If the drawbar is loose and the hitch pin rattles, is something going to catch on fire?
• I have the factory tow package hitch, and it seems like the hole (singular) for the hitch pin is in a different spot than in most other hitches I have seen. Does this sound plausible?

I feel stupid for asking these questions but I want to make sure that what I am doing is safe and that it is not going to damage anything.

Thanks!

 

Don't know if it is right or wrong, but All of the 3 or 4 drawbars I have owned and used on two different recievers had some slack in them. Eyeball guess is maybe a tenth of an inch maximum in the two dimensions. If you try to shake the drawbar by hand they all rattled a bit. Shimming is probably not a good idea and tape will certainly wear out right away if there is too much slack.

You could custom make a hitch pin that doesn't rattle, but I suspect that due to manufacturing tolerances and temperature differences, the manufacturers build in a certain amount of slop so all pins will fit all drawbars and recievers etc. If you mass produced a snug pin, it would probaly not work in many other brands of drawbar. My hitch pin was a bit expensive, I think maybe $20+ and it is chrome plated. It doesn't have any serious wear and the chrome plating has not bee cut or damaged after many years of use. It is snugger than those cheap L shaped pins that use a big cotter pin to "lock" it down. I also suspect that my expensive pin is stronger and has a harder surface than the cheap ones so maybe that is the difference.

I suppose in some wild chance, if the hitch pin or drawbar are loose enough you might get a little spark now and then, but normally when the trailer is mounted, the tongue weight keeps the parts pretty tightly mated. Only on extremely rough roads would I expect any serious movement of these parts. I have towed my trailer for probably 10 to 20,000 miles, many of them over dirt or snow roads and my components show no serious signs of sliding wear or hole deformation, which is what I would expect with any serious looseness or rattling.

Don't know the answer to your factory reciever hole. I would assume if the drawbar and hitch pin mount properly in the reciever holes, then it is OK. Without looking I can't say whether your hole is in a strange spot or not but it certainly is plausible.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

I've had two masterlock hitch pin locks and both have withstood lots of torture and many thousands of miles without a single problem.

A little wiggle is fine, lots might require a little bit of electrical tape, but its not a big thing.

 

• How loose should a drawbar fit? Should it be shimmed with tape or something?

Fit is not critical. They usually are loose enough to rattle.

• How do you get a hitch pin that doesn't rattle?

Not necessary. I've heard of guys putting a setscrew in place to take slack out but I would not do that. It won't rattle when you have a trailer in place. It will be forced down. I think it's important to take the drawbar out of the hitch when not in use. That's the only time it will rattle, and that rattle will just wear the receiver, pin, pin holes, and drawbar needlessly. Take it out and store it when not in use. Then rattle won't be an issue for you.

• If the drawbar is loose and the hitch pin rattles, is something going to catch on fire?

No.

• I have the factory tow package hitch, and it seems like the hole (singular) for the hitch pin is in a different spot than in most other hitches I have seen. Does this sound plausible?

Hard to say without seeing it, but if it's OEM it should be okay.

 

Well, those responses clear that issue up. I appreciate the help!

 

Xyzzy Check this links:

http://www.cabelas.com/prod-1/0009871520365a.shtml

http://www.epinions.com/content_245358300804

http://www.etrailer.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=E&Category_Cod e=ar