Destroyed a Reese 16K
So my inlaws showed up last week for a couple days. We had a project to do before a 2 week trip for them so they brought their 5er. He wanted me to install the JT strongarm kit for him and of course I agreed. When they got to my house he had a slight emergency (restroom) and asked me to back his trailer in. I jumped in his truck and started backing up. Noticed a lot of front to back motion and then heard a loud BANG!!! Didn't see any issue's so parked the trailer and went about getting him set.
After the weekend we went to hook him up and he noticed a piece of steel laying in the bed of the truck. I didn't recognize it so I pulled the hitch head off and immediately found both front and back frames bent AND a big weld broked in half right at the jaws.
My first thought was to just weld it in and get them going. Next was to call Reese. Once I sent them some pics we decided that this head was junk and time to figure out plan B. That piece of steel is what stops the jaws from shifting back and forth in the hitch head. Reese said it looked like he high hitched at some point and bent that bracket causing front and back motion that just got worse. It weakened it enough that if finally snapped.
The good news is the RV dealer about 30 miles a way had a nice shiny new Anderson Ultimate that I talked him into and he is now a VERY happy man!! He couldn't believe how much slop was in that Reese!!
Here are a couple more pics
Hope this helps someone else
Chris
After the weekend we went to hook him up and he noticed a piece of steel laying in the bed of the truck. I didn't recognize it so I pulled the hitch head off and immediately found both front and back frames bent AND a big weld broked in half right at the jaws.
My first thought was to just weld it in and get them going. Next was to call Reese. Once I sent them some pics we decided that this head was junk and time to figure out plan B. That piece of steel is what stops the jaws from shifting back and forth in the hitch head. Reese said it looked like he high hitched at some point and bent that bracket causing front and back motion that just got worse. It weakened it enough that if finally snapped.
The good news is the RV dealer about 30 miles a way had a nice shiny new Anderson Ultimate that I talked him into and he is now a VERY happy man!! He couldn't believe how much slop was in that Reese!!
Here are a couple more pics
Hope this helps someone else
Chris
