Spot Welds on a Hitch Shank to Remove Play

[remphoto]

I use one of the cheap ratchet box wrenches from Harbor Freight and crank the bolts down equally to about as tight as I can with the relatively short wrench. I do have to retighten every day towing.

[m.hony]

Get a longer wrench or cheater and tighten once.


Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

[Larry C]

Originally Posted by SteveSueMac

I can't tell from the pics but was your factory hitch a 2.5" and your replacement a 2"?

They are both the same, 2". And the new Class 5 Curt is doing great. I've towed about 1500 miles with it so far.
Larry

[Bluto]

Larry,
It's pretty much a headache when things don't fit together the way they should. With 1500 miles on the combination, it looks like another problem solved, glad it all worked out.

[Larry C]

We are well into our summer trip. I'm very pleased with the new receiver, and especially the 34'er. It tows great and mileage is pretty much thE same as towing the 30'er that we sold.

Life is good

Larry

Originally Posted by Bluto

Larry,

It's pretty much a headache when things don't fit together the way they should. With 1500 miles on the combination, it looks like another problem solved, glad it all worked out.

[KJRitchie]

When using the Stowaway Hitch Tightener do you install it after you have hitched up and applied the weight distribution? I have up down and side by side play.

Kelvin

[ROBERT CROSS]

I would install before....


But...

With 1200lbs of TW on our Classic I've never had any movement or noise when hitched.

I only use the Stow-away on the boat where the light TW is very noisy and the stinger fits the receiver with a lot more play.

Bob

[Adiredneck]

My two upgrades for this year were a new '15 Ram 3500 and an Airsafe Class VI hitch, which came with a 12" bracket to mount my E-quil-izer WD hitch. The Airsafe has a 2" shank and the Ram came with a Class V hitch with a 2.5" receiver and 2' sleeve. The combination AirSafe/E-quil-izer bolted together is 18" long, not counting shank, and about 60 lbs. I found that, when inserted in the sleeve/receiver and pinned, I could grab the back of the hitch combo and move it 3-4" up-down and left-right. Very sloppy tolerances. As we were leaving for a 3000 mile trip I shivved it with some aluminum sheet metal and duct tape (of course!). It helped some, but still sloppy in my opinion. When my engineer son-in-law looked at it, he seemed to think that most of the slack was between the 2" (solid) hitch shank on the AirSafe and the Ram-supplied reducer sleeve. His proposed solution was a 1/4" bead weld front and back affixing the sleeve to the shank. It really is not load-bearing, so might be a bit of over engineering - but I'm always good with that. Besides the additional wear-and-tear caused by the sloppy fit, I also wonder if it negated the WD effect of the E-qual-izer by taking up so much of its forward torque in the slack, rather than transferring it (and the tongue weight) forward to the TV front axle.

Any thoughts? As always, I learn much from the expertise on this forum...

Tim

[ROBERT CROSS]

Tim,

FWIW...I noticed no difference in handling or the need to change WD settings after having the sleeve welded in our class five Tow-Beast. I used it on several trips before welding, (it still has about 1/2" play vert & horz), but my primary reason for welding was to keep the pin holes lined-up & keep it from falling out when we un hitched.

Bob

[dbj216]

Hello Adiredneck, My 13 Super Duty class V receiver was also quite sloppy when using the Ford supplied reducer sleeve. My ProPride shank with Rock Tamer flaps mounted on it would wiggle a bunch. This slop put a twist load on the 5/8" hitch pin which elongated the holes in the receiver and bent the hitch pin.

I found a reducer sleeve made by Curt Mfg. that fit tighter than the Ford one. I had it welded to my Propride 2" shank. We actually "sanded" the 2 1/2 inch reducer sleeve down a few thousandths as the welding made it distort some. We did this to get it to slide easily into the receiver square. My shank now fits into the hitch receiver pretty tight and I can twist the shank with my Rock Tamer and still move the hitch pin freely. There is no twisting forces on the hitch pin, they are all taken by the square members as intended.

Like Robert, welding the reducer sleeve to my ProPride shank did not change any of the hitch settings or affect the way my Airstream tows. I greatly appreciate the no sway advantage of the ProPride hitch, especially going downhills on a windy day.

I read here that some Airstreamers are trading out their OEM hitch receivers for a better built one by Curt Mfg. I have no idea why manufacturers would make such a sloppy fit in the hitch receiver other than cost. But bending a hitch pin scared me.

Getting the slop reduced by welding the reducer sleeve to your hitch shank seems like a good idea to me from my experience.

David

[MrUKToad]

My hitch shank developed quite a bit of up and down slop and it was having a detrimental effect on the WD's ability to distribute weight forward. The slop was caused by the hitch receiver box becoming deformed over time as a result of the massive upward torque generated by the WD under load, exacerbated no doubt by the poor roads we travel. The good people at Can Am RV welded a small wedge onto the shank which has certainly solved the problem, for now at least. I'm aware that the hitch receiver isn't of the greatest quality and the problem will re-occur over time; that allied to some horrible rust appearing around the joints will, I think, have me in the market for a new receiver next year, at least after the winter road salt has had time to dissipate.

[featherbedder]

If I had receiver that had slop that some have posted I would pur. new one and not mess with them. AS are expensive and to take chance of receiver failing or some other malfuction even splitting, maybe cause accident or other safety issues, plus liability if accident involved. Any of these issues could be expensive or even loss of life. Prior post of 3/4 inch slop very bad, or any slop. IMO not worth a plugged nickel.

[AtomicNo13]

I use a Hitch Rider.
Stops the slop on my oversized Ford.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by featherbedder

If I had receiver that had slop that some have posted I would pur. new one and not mess with them. AS are expensive and to take chance of receiver failing or some other malfuction even splitting, maybe cause accident or other safety issues, plus liability if accident involved. Any of these issues could be expensive or even loss of life. Prior post of 3/4 inch slop very bad, or any slop. IMO not worth a plugged nickel.

FB

Most have "slop".....if you find one that doesn't have any, let us know.

A few years back slop was added just so they wouldn't rust themselves in permanently.

Our Reese Class V Tow Beast was purchased for design/build quality over OEM, not as a slop removing remedy.

OEM....'round bar'


Reese....


Bob

[featherbedder]

When I stated slop that needed weld or other means to stop slop. Normal receivers have very slight clearance not slop. Any will rust in receiver if left in long length of time, besides most states must be removed when not towing.

[ROBERT CROSS]

OK....'normal' receivers don't have slop, just a 'slight clearance problem'......you win.

The above Reese has a welded sleeve.....not done as a slop remedy.


Bob

[firstwave]

I had enough slop in my shank to bend the 5/8 in. pin. My F-250 had a 2 1/2 in. receiver so I ordered the 2 1/2 in. Blue Ox shank to replace the 2 in. The new shank was so tight that I had to do some minor filing and coat with greese. There is very little play now and no more creeking and popping sounds.
Dave

[Holy Grail]

How much more does the 2.5 inch shank weigh compared to the 2 inch? I currently have a 2 inch shank with an Equalizer hitch. I pull the whole think out, including the bars, in one peice when I get to a campground. It's very heavy.