there is a lot of stress at that frame bracket-jack mount thing...
this is a 9 year old haha? that means u very likely sold it sean.
how often DID u seen issues at this area?
i assume the manufacturer will replace these parts under warranty?
have u done anything different on the new contraption in this area?
I may have even installed it if it was purchased at an International Rally... I seem to remember getting heat stroke about that time installing 12 of them, in one day, on black top in 95 degree weather in Dayton OH. Or, maybe I don't remember the date correctly after coming out of the blur...
At 9 years old it would be a good idea to inspect EVERYTHING on ANY hitch. In fact, before heading to Alaska I think I'd make a very thorough inspection of every piece of equipment.
It wasn't a major issue at all. It did happen from time to time but nothing regularly that made it anything more than a normal warranty issue.
They will replace it under warranty if he is the original owner.
Yes, the 3P does not have a bracket and pin that the jack hangs on. The jacks sit directly on top of the frame.
There has never been a bearing failure that I know of but looking at some of the pictures I have seen I would recommend repacking from time to time. The main problem I see in the pictures is water getting in there. As I said, I don't think it has ever really been a "problem" but it will shorten the lifespan.
The time to repack would be based on use and how it is stored. Out in the open, where water can infiltrate into the bearing housing, would require more often than if it is covered.
The hitch I own is probably 10+ years old. I can tell this hitch was exposed to the elements at least some of the time. The paint was old and faded, there was no pitting in the metal and the hitch actually operated smoothly. When I disassembled the hitch the lower bearings had the most moisture. I actually replaced one of the bearings due to the fact that it fell apart when I took it out and had a lot of pitting. There was moisture in the grease throughout but was most prevalent in the lowest areas.
If a hitch is stored out side then I would venture to say that it should be serviced every 5 years. Their isn't enough heat generated on the spindles to keep the moisture at bay.
I think my hitch will be pulled off and stored in the garage this winter.
I think my hitch will be pulled off and stored in the garage this winter.
Pull-it...thats what we do.
Leave it attached to the tv, disconnect from trailer, drive it into the garage put it to bed in the original packing. It took this old fart only 1/2 hr. to reverse the process this past Spring. The Hitch cover that Hensley offers seems to be a good solution for the fading and surface corrosion. It stays on 24/7 during the season. All the hardware, with the exception of the frame brackets are stored also.
I’m a new member and have read through all of the posts. Very informative to say the least. We took our yearly trip form Ohio to Myrtle Beach on SEP 5. Had the scare of my life just a few miles down I-77 in WV. Just entering the Charleston racing arena I had the last scare of my life. My HAHA was shipped to me at the campsite. Reading the information here helped me tune in my HAHA fast. Now I have to watch my speed since I’m just using the lane I’m running in. My bird dog will now SOP on trips, except in VA of course.
But I need an answer on the strut bars. With just the Main Hitch Assembly hanging on the trailer it is free to move left or right. Adding one strut bar limits the movement quite a bit because of the following, the horizontal pin centerline of the strut bar limit the movement. The only movement or adjustment is the available slop in the fit of the pins to the strut bars as well as the angle of the holes the pins fit to, the Main Hitch Assembly and the Frame Bracket. After 1,000 mile trip home the wear marks on the pins indicate contact at two points on the pin rather than full contact through the bore on the end of the strut bar. The load on the pin would be a lot lighter if better contact was spread through the bores of the strut bars as well as the points of contact on the Main Hitch Assembly where the pins pass through. Wouldn’t a heim joint on each end of the strut bar do a better job in this application?
A suggestion for the people that want their stinger to stay with the truck. How about a short piece of two inch tube to fit and pinned into your receiver. Welded to this at ninety degrees a piece of two and a quarter inch tube, two inch inside dimension, with a five eights hole for a pin or lock. Take out the stinger, put in this adapter, put the stinger in the adapter and now the stinger sticks to the left or right of the receiver ending the leg bashing.
The plating on the u bolts will resist galling the nuts under stress if some anti seize is used. Any kind of plating and pressure don’t mix well. I not a fan of lock washers being used under nuts being torqued down, if the washed splits and breaks you are loose right now.
The contact points on the pins from the spring bars is very small. The load here has to be very high. You travelers racking up thousands of miles per year, you lucky dogs, should replace these items as soon as any kind of wear is noticed and spares in the trailer are worth their weight in gold.
Definition time. Slop: The movement of two or more pieces together. If you put a pin in the end of the strut bar it will fall in with no effort. You can move it around very easy. It is a loose or sloppy fit. A close fit would be something like the bearing that fits into the machined bore on the Main Hitch as pictured earlier by the fellow that rebuilt his HAHA. This bearing required that it be knocked out or driven out. The fit or size of the bore in relationship to the size of the bearing is close. If the difference in the size of the two parts, in thousants is only .002 or so, whereas .004 would fall in. A very small dimension. In some applications you can have a interference fit, meaning, using the Main Hitch as an example, the outside diameter size of the bearing is larger than the bore it fits into, again only by a few .001’s. The bearing would then have to be shrunk, packed in dry ice for a few hours, then it could be dropped into the bore. Once it warmed up it would be a tight, a very tight fit. That is not needed in this application.
So have I explained fit and slop pretty well?
Now for the strut bars and pins. If you took the tube half of the strut bar with a pin in it and pit the ends of the pin in a vise and tightened it so you could move the strut bar up and down. Follow me….
Now holding the strut bar level push the end to the left easy. You are applying force that is now trying to turn the pin in a clockwise motion. Since the fit of the pin to the strut bar is loose there are two points of contact. Looking straight down on the vise let us number the small tube ends the pin is going through. One would be the upper left, two the upper right, three the lower right, and four the lower left. The points of contact are, when pulling to the left are two and four, pulling to the right they are one and three. Now if the pin was in the Main Hitch one end could be trying to turn clockwise while at the other end it could be clockwise or counter clockwise. Now since all of these points come into play with the strut bar installed it is an unknown. Holes are punched, brackets are bolted to trailer frames, square between the pin centerlines is an unknown, with the pins in their holes are they parallel to each other? Can’t be.
At the bracket end of the strut bar and at the Main Hitch end the pins are being twisted either cw or ccw or some combination of the two. If the push was on the pins was the same, the load on the holes the pins go through would be equal and the load on the pin through the small tube it goes through would be the length of the tube and not two points as explained above.
Here is a link to some heim joints on eBay. A picture is worth a thousand words as they say. A heim joint would allow equal pressure on the pins where they fit to the Main Hitch and bracket as well as the pin through the strut bar.
I may be going way overboard with this but any unequal force here will beat the snot out of something in the long run. An example being the strut bar that was loose and beat the Main Hitch up a ways back.
I won’t be on the road again till April 11 2009 at the earliest, my TT and TV will not see the roads here in the winter and as my very old Rummy 500 game says, "opponent is thinking"
Heading to Tractor Supply looking for ideas. Anything done by man can be undone by man.
Hi All,
I wanted to show off my newest improvement to an already good product. Most everyone with a HAHA has issues with the height of the hitch bar in relation to the trailer/tow vehicle. I purchased my hitch second hand so I was stuck with a straight hitch bar (old hitch - no warranty).
I saw a good idea from a competitors product, ordered some steel, revved up the chop saw, grinder and welder and now I have a perfectly level trailer and tow vehicle. I took a 130 mile trip over the weekend for a little campout at a friends farm. I had two semi-tractor trailers fly past me on the interstate without the slightest bow wave or effect to the steering.
I went from this:
I certainly can't take all the credit. Like I said - I "purchased some pieces of steel" - it was precut. I just had to cut and modify my hitch bar and weld into place. I believe a certain commercial vendor will be selling these soon...... I really wish it was my idea.
I was going to make the hitch bar modification myself once I saw the idea from a picture here on the forums but it was quicker/easier to do it this way.
Quick Links
I seem to remember getting heat stroke about that time installing 12 of them, in one day, on black top in 95 degree weather in Dayton OH. Or, maybe I don't remember the date correctly after coming out of the blur...
You bet!
Hi, Wow crispyboy. When does the new "Crispy Hitch" hit the market?
Linear Mode
