Anyone Experienced A Bent Shank Pin

[ROBERT CROSS]

David,

My belief...the "slop" was built in because too many were rusting in place and impossible to remove, one Winter up here and there stuck permanently.

The bolt should do fine as a temporary solution. You can see in the photo of our boat stinger I use a similar set-up for adjusting the drop. But the boat & trailer only weigh 2500lbs.

As I mentioned before, it may be time to replace the 13 yr old Ford receiver.
An after market class V would have a thicker wall on the square opening, made even more robust by the added thickness of the sleeve, and no oval holes.
Plus if the receiver has never been off you may be very surprised at it's condition and that of the mounting bolts.

POI...on our 95 Burb I removed the receiver every Fall, (8 bolts, pretty easy), cleaned all the mounts holes, oiled the threads and replaced the bolts.
The wiring & connector put in a grease filled baggie and tucked up away from the Winter salt.
10min re-install at Spring get-ready.

You learn the hard way here in WNY!

Oh, my "shin saver".....


Bob

[eheffa]

Originally Posted by dbj216

Okay, I purchased some .010 thick galvanized flashing material at the hardware store here in Bandon, OR. Nice resort town along the coast. Bullards Beach State Park is wonderful. Very privite campsites with full hookups.

I cut several 1.75 wide and 6.00 long shims. I stuffed 5 between the Propride and the reducer sleeve, and I stuffed 6 between the reducer sleeve and the Ford receiver. That is .110 filled of the .140 slop I measured between members. I did not shim either of the sides. The shims are about equal on both the top and the bottom of the square members. I had to pound it together with my rubber hammer.

Then I used a grade 8 5/8 dia by 4" long bolt with a nyloc nut on course threads. I tighten the nut "goot 'n tite", the standard torque spec in Minnesota.

The amount of slop, or free play in the assembly is greatly reduced. I probably have less than 1" rotatioinal play where before I had over 4". And the vertical movement is less than 1/2". Side to side freeplay is still present, but again reduced. There is still some freeplay in all directions. I note that I do have bolt threads in the receiver hole area on the threaded end.

Tightening the bolt squeezed the Ford receiver some. I feel I have a much more solid hitch connection to the receiver now. The trouble is I won't be taking it off the truck during this trip as it takes way too much time to assemble. I'll be whacking my shins on it. Ouch!

The ultimate solution is a 2.5" drawbar that fits snugly to the Ford receiver. I'll contact Propride. Maybe I have an oversized Ford receiver square hole?

Can anyone think of a reason I should not tow with a grade 8 bolt tightened down with a lock nut as a shank pin? The grade 8 ain't gonna bend. Did the designers build all this slop in the assembly to allow the hitch forces to find the most resistance naturally? Aircraft wings flex for a reason. The spring clips we use to hold the shank pin in place don't vibrate loose like a nut might.

I'm on the road again next Tuesday. Hyway 101 is bumpy and curvy. It will be a good test as all the towing forces would be in play. I'll inspect the bolt after a day's run and report to you any distress. (I will replace the nut with new after I take it off.) Thanks for all your input in this thread.

David

Try this maybe?

Hitch tightener: no wobble, anti rattle stabilizer device for hitch accessories

This has worked really well to settle my previously loose system.

-evan

[dbj216]

My Super Duty is a 2013 with 9000 towing miles on it. It's my retirement truck, my first and last pick up! The receiver is new as supplied by Ford. The square measures about 2.57 giving .07 slop both up and down and side to side. There may be receiver weldments out there that are closer to 2.50 square. Why Ford built in so much slop I don't know. They may not have considered heavy no sway hitches with rock tamers hanging on them.

Thanks for the advice on the clamp. My problem is a bent shank pin that did not look happy and I feared may break. I'm trying to transfer some of the towing forces from the shank pin to the square receiver. Especially those that rotate, or twist the hitch in the receiver. The no sway hitch is pretty rigid as it "projects" the pivit point forward. My Reese allowed the towing forces to relax around the ball and coupler joint, and allowed the trailer to sway at it's own free will. My P3 prevents this freedom and "locks" the trailer to the truck.

Correct me if I am wrong on this thinking.

David

[eheffa]

Originally Posted by dbj216

My Super Duty is a 2013 with 9000 towing miles on it. It's my retirement truck, my first and last pick up! The receiver is new as supplied by Ford. The square measures about 2.57 giving .07 slop both up and down and side to side. There may be receiver weldments out there that are closer to 2.50 square. Why Ford built in so much slop I don't know. They may not have considered heavy no sway hitches with rock tamers hanging on them.

Thanks for the advice on the clamp. My problem is a bent shank pin that did not look happy and I feared may break. I'm trying to transfer some of the towing forces from the shank pin to the square receiver. Especially those that rotate, or twist the hitch in the receiver. The no sway hitch is pretty rigid as it "projects" the pivit point forward. My Reese allowed the towing forces to relax around the ball and coupler joint, and allowed the trailer to sway at it's own free will. My P3 prevents this freedom and "locks" the trailer to the truck.

Correct me if I am wrong on this thinking.

David

I understand your issue. The extra space allows for a lot of movement and even some momentum to increase the force against the draw pin.

My receiver has a fair bit of slop to it too allowing the hitch to rattle, tilt & twist freely with an audible clunk when passing over bumps & turns etc.

The hitch rider clamp has eliminated all this extra movement & locks the whole assembly down quite nicely.( I previously played with some home made shims & whatnot without much success. ) The clamp seems to be working well. Interestingly, the bolts on the Hitch-rider show some distortion now suggesting that it is being subjected to significant force as it does its job.



You might try something like this to reduce the force being applied to your draw pin.

- evan

[dbj216]

Thanks for the referral and pictures Evan. Robert uses a similar clamp on his boat trailer hitch. I'm going with the grade 8 bolt and shims during the rest of my trip, unless I find something to change my mind.

David

[eheffa]

Originally Posted by dbj216

Thanks for the referral and pictures Evan. Robert uses a similar clamp on his boat trailer hitch. I'm going with the grade 8 bolt and shims during the rest of my trip, unless I find something to change my mind.

David

Thanks.

Good luck & have a good remainder of your trip.

We're off to the Rockies for 3 weeks ... Very soon. :-D

- evan

[ROBERT CROSS]

David,

I've been assuming again....thought your TV was a 2000 Ford 350. (in your profile)

Safe travels, keep us posted on the results.

Bob

[dbj216]

Ops! We traded the old E350 van for a new F350 Super Duty. Nice truck and I like the way it pulls the Airstream effortlessly.

Robert: I will get my profile updated.

David

[dbj216]

I've pulled with my grade 8 bolt as a hitch pin since Crescent City Redwoods, maybe 1000 miles. Our run accross Calif, Nevada, and Utah was nice and uneventful. The Propride helps in the strong winds we encountered in eastern Calif. We are now in Tiger Run Resort in Frisco, Colorado, just north of Breckenridge. It is beautiful here.

I removed the bolt and took a look. It is straight, and shows the same wear marks that the low grade steel hitch pins were showing. However, we know the grade 8 bolt material is three, maybe four times as strong. I'm more confident with the grade 8 bolt holding my Airstream to the Super Duty.

Thanks again everyone for your help.

David

[dznf0g]

I now have my stinger off. I noted the with just hand pressure, while tilting the adapter as hard as I can in the vertical plane, the pin is free to rotate freely. There should be no vertical force on the pin, I am convinced. The wear on my 4 year old pin is MUCH less than on your Grade 8 bolt, and is from pulling load only, I believe.

[dbj216]

Hello dezFOg,

Thanks for posting the results of your experiment. Yes, I agree the towing forces ought to be taken by the square members of our draw bar and receiver. On my tow vehicle, I have too much slop, and the pin gets a lot of the load. When I hand lift my stringer, my pin does not rotate. When I twist my stringer, the pin does not rotate.

I will get a 2.5 inch square draw bar from Propride eliminating the sloppy reducer sleeve. And I will shim or clamp the draw bar to the receiver eliminating as much free play as possible. And I might make a precision hitch pin out of tool steel that is about .660 in diameter taking further slop out of my hitch assembly.

I want the square members to take the load.

I read with interest the thread about the swaying car dolly in this forum and all the movement noted in the hitch. These things are built sloppy.

David

[dbj216]

We just made our first trip since I modified my hitch drawbar. I was concerned about the loads on my hitch pin. My pin that came with my tow vehicle was bent quite a bit. I attributed this deflection to all the slop in my Cat V 2.5" square receiver to my 2" square drawbar.

Last winter I welded the reducer sleeve to my ProPride drawbar (shank?) (stinger?). The Curt reducer sleeve I used had a good 2.5" square measurement. Some of them measure smaller. The one from Ford certainly did.

Now there is much less slop when I insert the drawbar into the receiver. When I connect my Airstream and crank up the WD bars, I can still move the hitch pin. Almost all the vertical and rotational movements are absorbed by the squares, not the pin.

This gives me much more confidence as I enter ramped driveways from an angle and put a bunch of load on my receiver. I got here in Denver with very little witness marks on my new pin.

Problem solved. Those Airstreamers who have Cat V 2.5" receivers on their trucks ought to be cautious with vertical and rotational slop with a reducer sleeve and 2" drawbar pined to the receiver.

David