I was washing the Ex today and noticed that my hitch is cracked on 3 sides of the 2" square? I have never towed over 11k and the hitch itself is rated for 12,500 lbs? Anyone have this problem? Where is a good place to purchase a new hitch??

 

scott,

Tongue weight and in particular the 'dynamic' loads associated with towing such a heavy trailer over time (i.e. fatigue failure) is likely what you are seeing...you can be within the 'max' trailer weight but exceeding the 'max' tongue weight...this is what I suspect caused your problem...do you have an accurate scale measurement of your tongue weight?

Towing an 11,000# trailer with minimum 10% tongue weight would put 1100#'s of tongue weight...I load my trailer to ~13% tongue weight for a stable towing experience and to give myself some margin with shifting loads on a trip to trip basis and stay above the 10% figure...if your trailer is loaded to 13% tongue weight you are at 1430#'s on the tongue and if you load to 15% 1650 on the tongue...so it really depends on how much tongue weight (statically measured of course) you really have...

As far as a new hitch...you really have 3 options that I know of since Ford markets this hitch as the 'blocker beam' to stop small ferrin cars from driving under the backs of our Ex's...no aftermaket hitch mfg wants to enter that liability arena...

1) Contact your Ford dealer directly
2) Eckert hitches in Southern California...BUT they have to install the hitch themselves (again because of liability issues I believe)
3) Purchase a Pull-Rite hitch from Pulliam industries in Elkhart Indiana...this option gets you a PREMIUM anti-sway hitch (also at a $2500 price tag)...but it is an amazing hitch...also it gets you a 2000# tongue weight rating...it installs BELOW your factory hitch so you lose some ground clearance...

If you have never heard of the Pull-Rite...you may want to do some research...

Other than this...you may find a wrecked Ex on ebay that is being parted out but removal of the rear receiver requires dropping the fuel tank and there are a few 'shear' bolts (i.e. rivets) that must be grinded out...Ford really didn't want us removing this receiver...

However if the cause of the issue was high tongue weight...the factory receiver replacement option will likely fail over time again...

Hope this helps?

If not let me know.

Joe.

 

Was that 11k with or without a WD hitch?

 

Your other option is to grind out the damaged area and re weld it. however if you don't do welding yourself or have a buddy that knows how to weld properly! then you will have a tough time getting a commercial shop to weld it due to the liability issues... try putting a weldling request ad on craigslist...

 

11K is WITH a WDH...I happen to know scott uses one too...

Joe.

 

I have considered a heavy duty bumper from Reunel (www.reunel.com). They weld in a receiver to the bumper and rate it at 25,000 pounds and a 6,000 pound tongue weight. Obviously other components in our trucks don't have that rating however.

 

You gotta be kidding? The fuel tank has to be dropped to get the factory hitch out? That really sucks!! I have been looking on the web and found a
15K /1500 pound tongue weight heavy duty hitch that looks pretty beefy for $350.........

Hemi,
Now, I am wondering if my setup was correct as far as tongue weight? I messed with my Ex for quite a while to get things just right and it took like 3 trips to finally get it just right! If I took any tongue weight off it always wanders and get pretty white knuckle! I think a scale would be the best idea, I will load it up and set the hauler at the ride height that I tow it at and place a scale under the front of the hauler jack, jeez I hope it isn't more that 1250 pounds!!!!................

 

They make awesome bumpers.... I'll second that recommendation. there is a great pic of a tricked out excursion bumper under their rear bumper pics

 

I'm not sure the tank actually has to come out, but tank definitely has to be loosened up so you can move around, making room for access to mounting bolts/rivets for hitch.

 

Scott,

Get your setup to where you feel it is the 'most' stable in a towing sense and then get a good tongue weight reading per the scales...that is the only way to know for sure...then you know what you are working with for sure...if it is over 1250#'s...you know just changing the receiver will likely result in the same issues down the road somewhere if you stick with an OEM style receiver...

As far as completely dropping the tank...there may be ways to simply loosen the tank to drop it slightly to make room as cbradford eludes to...I'm not sure...it all depends on how much room you need/can make...but if you find you are more than (and significantly more than) 1250#'s on the tongue weight...then something other than a factory receiver will have to be found or you will just be back in this situation in the future.

Let us know what you find.

Good luck,
Joe.

 

I think there is something wrong with either your setup, the hitch had a defect or maybe a previous owner/yourself abused it. Even if you are a bit over 1250 it shouldn't be damaged in that manner. When they test these hitches there is a significant safety margin in the weight calculation.

I sold my 2004 Dodge dually last year with 293,000 miles on it. I used it for transporting cars and motorcycles. My tonge weight ranged from 4000-6000 pounds. I think the hitch was rated at 2500 pounds. I had to run my airbags at 110 psi to keep the truck close to level. I never had a problem with anything, my buddy did the same on his 2003 and he got rid of it with 400,000 miles.

I don't normally self disclose that kind of information but I see you blaming your failure on something I don't belive had anything to do with it.

I think it is more likely that your WDH is binding and putting some twisting force on the hitch. That or you have shock loaded it somehow ie pulling stumps out of the ground ect...

To fix it I would either get the bumper or (since I weld) weld up the cracks and then plate it with some 1/4 strap.

 

This thread would be better with PICS!

 

I think it was abused somehow and I would just have it welded back up.

 

Was this truck in a rear-end collision at some point?

 

Nope, this Ex has never been in an accident. I haven't pulled out any trees or shrubs with it either. Just towed the hauler with this hitch. It is cracked inside the 2" square on the lower left corner and up in the top left corner. I am going to talk to a hitch/welder guy here in Phoenix and see if it can be repaired and re-inforced... How do I load some pics onto FTE? My camera is a 10 mega pixel, will the files be too large?