Trunnion head failure

[NHdigger]

Received and installed new trunnion head. It is much improved from the previous one. A lot of material has been added.

The old head p/n #112750 showed quite a bit of wear in the area that failed (lack of lubrication?) . I took some rough measurements on both heads.

OLD: corner of failed section- .269", area of failure- .125"
NEW: area that failed on old head- .430"

The p/n for the new part is 58167 and I would suggest that it would be wise to check which you have and keep an eye on wear.

The next step is to replace the 1200# bars.

[murreywalker]

Originally Posted by nhrocks

I just purchased a 2008 25' AS with a Reese dual cam WD hitch with 1200# spring bars. When backing up my driveway for the first time I heard a loud pop and when I checked the drivers side spring bar was on the ground. After I checked the hitch I found that the trunnion head had ripped the cast iron ear that holds it in. My driveway is is sloped up from the road.

Has anyone had a similar experience? I spoke with a tech. rep. from Reese and he has seen this before. He stated that Reese has beefed up the new hitches in this area. I saw an online message from someone that had this occur after going over a dip in the road.

My thoughts as to possible causes are: ball too high- resulting in extreme angle between vehicles when backing up a grade, too stiff springs.

Any help that does not include buying a Hensley or PP would be appreciated.

Attachment 178065

While the 1200 bars may be too stiff, I will give you my experience with Reese, for what it's worth.

I'm moving up to a 25 FC FB with a hitch weight of approx. 830lbs. I've got 1000 bars that were delivered with my new 23 FC FB from an AS dealer. The salesman on the new AS (who in my opinion is very reputable) asked if I had popped any rivests, to which I said, "a few". He suggest the 1000 bars were too stiff.

Sooooooo, I had a nice visit with Reese's tech support. While he didn't completely toss the salesman's comments about the 1000 being too stiff, out of hand, he didn't believe the 1000 bars to be detrimental.

He did go on to say, that OPTIMUM configurations would be, to have bars rated slightly above the hitch weight. For my new 25, the 1000 bars will be a perfect fit, in his opinion.

AND, that's probably the gist of my post…everyone has an opinion; some are perhaps more believable than others. In the end after you've done your due diligence, go with your convictions.

Good luck!