My Hitch Head Cracked Open

[mstephens]

A walked around the back of my car and happened to glance at the hitch head. I was shocked. It was split wide open vertically at the point where the cast head is welded to the U-bracket which bolts to the riser. Both welds had failed.

We had just towed 360 miles the day before. I can't imagine what could cause this. The day before the trip I had made a small adjustment to the head to increase the WD.

To be sure we could get home on the weekend, I quickly searched out a welding shop and the guy did a great job of rewelding the whole head and installing gussets to even strengthen it more. I will keep my fingers crossed and check it frequently on the way home. I have contacted Equal-i-zer to see what they have to say about sending a new head. This hitch is only 14 months old.

[mstephens]

Fast Service! I emailed the company last night, and this morning they got back to me and promised to send a new head right away. Thanks Equal-i-zer for standing behind the product.

[HowieE]

Can you post a picture?

This is how mine failed. Lucky we were parked in a church parking lot when it dropped.

[Foiled Again]

Dear Howie,

Wow - that's a scary picture. I noticed that the hitch ball is loose. I've always been told to (a) inspect mine frequently because they do like to loosen up and (b) grease the ball so that when turning left, it won't bind and un-screw.

I'm thinking how the weight bars will naturally sort of bang around the upper and lower sockets they are set into. Would it be possible that a loose ball would make the hammering of the weight bars worse? It looks like the whole thing gave way rather than spreading a bit at a time. So glad you found the problem in a parking lot rather than ON the road.

Good point is to inspect it every trip out I suppose.

Sincerely, Paula

[HowieE]

This picture was taken some time after I got home and I had remove the ball to while on the road when I installed a new hitch. Not sure why I put a ball back on for the picture.

Yes one should check the hitch as ofter as possible I did find mine loose once when I got to Alaska.

[mstephens]

We will be doing a lot more inspection too. We are pretty good about inspecting every hookup, but frankly, I wasn't looking for cracks in the hitch. I was looking for missing pins, loose nuts and the like.

[AWCHIEF]

I do two complete walk-arounds after hooking up and prior to pulling out and at each stop give everything another good look. Preventive maintenance is usually easier than crises management after something goes wrong.

[Jammer]

I've gone through the NHTSA statistics several times. The most common cause of towing-related traffic fatalities is separation of the trailer from the tow vehicle due to structural failure of the hitch and related components. The statistics and data collection practices aren't especially detailed, but from incident reports and the like I surmise that there's not a single common cause. There are receiver weld failures, failures of couplers to stay on the ball due to wear, mistakes like using a 1 7/8 ball with a 2" coupler, and failures of shanks and wd heads.

I think it's important to inspect structural components, carefully, for cracks. Once a year is probably reasonable. I replaced the receiver on my Suburban due to cracks.

It's also important to use the safety chains and breakaway cable in an effective fashion that will control the trailer in the event of a hitch failure. The breakaway cable should be attached to something other than the hitch and receiver. I have a footman loop on the tailgate I use on one tow vehicle.

[cwf]

The sweet taste of a "deal" is quickly swept away by the bitter reality of poor quality.

[hhendrix]

Can you post some pictures of the failure? I have the same hitch.

[mstephens]

I didn't have my camera when it failed. And I wanted to find a welder asap, so we could get the trailer back home. Let me describe the failure, and I have enclosed a pic of the fixed head.

There is a U-shaped 8" high steel piece which has the two large bolts holding the head to the stem that plugs into your receiver. Now, the main casting with the ball is welded to this U-shape. Two welds on each side. When welded to gather, you have the whole hitch head. Both of the welds on one side failed completely. One weld on the other side failed. When I say failed, I mean the weld was wide open along its entire length.

The welder sealed up both side, then made the gussets and welded them in at the top.

[mstephens]

The people at Equalizer responded immediately to my email, and within minutes I had a new head being shipped to my house. He only wanted a picture and to know where I had purchased it. I was really happy with their "instant customer satisfaction." I noticed on the web site these are made in USA. Kinda nice to know that customer service still exists somewhere.

I can only assume it was a defective part. I can't think of anything that would cause that failure.