Loose hitch
At 35MPH I hit an unexpected dip in the road over the weekend and noticed the washers were loose while in hooking. I adjusted and re tightened bolts. Does this happen often?
Forum Discussion
If they continue to come loose, then either they are not tightened enough or
they have been over tightened and the fastener(s) have gone plastic
(into yield)
If the fastener hasn't gone plastic, then there is something else wrong. The
sandwich is moving to allow the fastener to back off, or some such issue
One fix is to increase the grade (if there is head room for higher
grade), bigger fastener (if there is room to drill out the hole and
leave enough meat to do the job), or both
Need to find the root cause(s) to be sure to fix. Note that there
are many (thousands and more) who have same/similar with no issues.
So 'you' the OP need to find 'your' root cause(s)
Check the head against this image showing how they are marked and what it means
Here is a generic torque vs grade chart, but only generic...your hitch OEM
manual should have 'their' calculated torque that they will stand behind
they have been over tightened and the fastener(s) have gone plastic
(into yield)
If the fastener hasn't gone plastic, then there is something else wrong. The
sandwich is moving to allow the fastener to back off, or some such issue
One fix is to increase the grade (if there is head room for higher
grade), bigger fastener (if there is room to drill out the hole and
leave enough meat to do the job), or both
Need to find the root cause(s) to be sure to fix. Note that there
are many (thousands and more) who have same/similar with no issues.
So 'you' the OP need to find 'your' root cause(s)
Check the head against this image showing how they are marked and what it means
Here is a generic torque vs grade chart, but only generic...your hitch OEM
manual should have 'their' calculated torque that they will stand behind
