Hitch head deformation - Eaz-Lift

[SSquared]

I have an Eaz-Lift Elite round bar hitch with 1400 pound bars on my 25FB. I'm now at about 22,000 miles on the combination. When I turned over the hitch to clean it recently, I saw that the round holes for the bars had been stretched out of shape a little. They are now about 1.5 mm longer in one direction. Also, the flat plate on the bottom of the hitch is pushed up at the edge of the hole.

Inside the hole, there is a channel about half an inch from the opening. That channel is obliterated on the side where the hole has stretched.

Is this normal? Is it going to keep getting worse? How will I know when it is too much? Is there a point where the bars will be at risk of dropping out?

Finally, do other brands that use curved bars (even Hensley) exhibit this deformation?

[Overloaded]

Yes the Hensley can experience this. Not really sure how long it takes to egg out, but Hensley has a replaceable bushing the bars reside in.

[rmkrum]

Ditto ProPride. The bar mounts bolt to the head.

[slowmover]

Your wear is more rapid than it should be. Maybe at 60-80k miles some deformation to be seen.

As hard as you have that hitch cranked is going to the rapidity. There may be other as well. Hitch head tilt, for one c

On your three-pass set of scale tickets, is the one with WD slack, how is the FF/RR weight bias as a percentage? And how much do you have in the bed versus solo?

TV tire pressure is where I'd start. Inside vehicle manufacturer guidelines (door sticker), but otherwise close to pressure according to load. Test that for pressure rise from cold. 1.5-hours steady state. 5-7% rise is the norm.

Find the low end by testing. Stick with that while trying lower WD settings. Try to find some comps among other owners with your TV.

I'd also upgrade to KONI or BILSTEIN shocks. You get what you pay for with shocks.

.

[ROBERT CROSS]

You will be shopping for a new hitch? Looks like there is a bushing in there.

Before Hensley.....

I had good luck with the Reese, 1000lb taper bars. The bars didn't need bushings, and could easily be kept lubricated.

Bob

[SSquared]

Originally Posted by slowmover

Your wear is more rapid than it should be. Maybe at 60-80k miles some deformation to be seen.

As hard as you have that hitch cranked is going to the rapidity. There may be other as well. Hitch head tilt, for one c

On your three-pass set of scale tickets, is the one with WD slack, how is the FF/RR weight bias as a percentage? And how much do you have in the bed versus solo?

TV tire pressure is where I'd start. Inside vehicle manufacturer guidelines (door sticker), but otherwise close to pressure according to load. Test that for pressure rise from cold. 1.5-hours steady state. 5-7% rise is the norm.

Find the low end by testing. Stick with that while trying lower WD settings. Try to find some comps among other owners with your TV.

I'd also upgrade to KONI or BILSTEIN shocks. You get what you pay for with shocks.

.

Thanks for the ideas.

I run my tire pressure a few pounds above door sticker because my last set of tires had the very edges get worn away. The new tires (different brand) are wearing well.

The combination does porpoise badly on bad concrete roads.

My last scale weights were:
Solo: 3060 front, 3300 rear
With WD: 3200 Front, 3920 rear, 5980 trailer axles
I don't have a "WD slack" value to go with those number, unfortunately.

When the car is empty except for me and my spouse, the values are 3060 front, 2880, so 320 pounds of stuff in the back.

Our experience shows that if we relax the WD to where the front axle is back to its unhitched weight, the combination feels uncomfortably loose.

The tow vehicle is a GMC Yukon (Denali trim with electronic shocks and rear auto leveling).