Nothing worse than researching something for hours that should be so easy to find out and not finding the answer. Bought a Bolt locking hitch pin so ignition key matches the lock. Amazing that even the website of Bolt won't show a dang rating!!!This world is crazy when it comes to "ratings". Bought a rear mount winch for my truck and want to make sure I dont shear the pin. I once read they are really strong and shear ratings are way on up there. Still.... I want to know.Warn is the WORSE at ratings. Have a 12,000 pound winch and winch mount that has hooks on the front. Couldn't find out what the tow hooks were rated for. After pounding Warn over and over I finally got 8500 pounds. What???You sell a winch mount for a 12000 pound winch with a hook rated for 8500? Asking for a lawsuit there...

Amazing that even the website of Bolt won't show a dang rating!!!What web site is that?

none of the other hitch pins have a rating, why should Bolt?

Are you talking about the pin that slides through a receiver hitch?

IF you shear any receiver pin you are WAY Overweight.....even the cheap ones at Walmart

For reference: a 16d nail is rated at 60K lbs. of shear strength. I wouldn't stress over the pin.

Sooooo frustrated trying to get hitch pin rating

13 Replies

Skid_Row_Joe
Explorer
Jul 03, 2015
mlts22 wrote:
I've seen very infrequent mention of bent hitch pins on various forums... and with all the people towing out there, this pretty much means that hitch pins are definitely not a weak link when towing for the most part.

I do know that I've had zero issues with the Bolt Lock I bought a few years back, and I've never read about a bent or damaged hitch pin, so even though the capacity may not be present or listed, it seems to be enough for most receivers.

That's exactly right. The receiver will give-way long before any hitch pin will. I know for a fact that General Motors' factory installed hitches were plagued with numerous failures in the unsuspecting hands of their consumer base. Lots of pictorials on the Interwebs of that problem GM had.
Skid_Row_Joe
Explorer
Jul 03, 2015
Old-Biscuit wrote:
IF you shear any receiver pin you are WAY Overweight.....even the cheap ones at Walmart
Not necessarily. The Walmart hitch pins are just fine. It's usually the user's use of it that's the difference when shearing takes place.
Ozlander
Explorer
Jul 03, 2015
mpierce wrote:
1L243 wrote:
I would be more worried about the cheap cap lock failing...Which is why I went to a 5/8" grade 8 bolt with washers and nylock nut...

Not sure if that is right move. It does need to be somewhat hardened, but somethings can get too hard.

Used to have a piece of equipment that kept breaking grade 8 bolts. Went to grade 5, and the shearing stopped. The harder bolts were more subject to stress over time, and would crack and break. The little bit softer ones were still plenty strong enough, and were not quite as brittle.

Yep, too hard may not be good.
1L243
Explorer II
Jul 03, 2015
After I added the Hitchrider anti receiver rattle I get no movement at all in the receiver. I run two anti friction bars and they way they work is by pusing against the recevier left and right when fighting against trailer sway or when turning. The slop in the receiver would cause noise and wear. No noise or wear now..

http://www.hitchrider.com/nowobble.htm
mpierce
Explorer
Jul 03, 2015
1L243 wrote:
I would be more worried about the cheap cap lock failing...Which is why I went to a 5/8" grade 8 bolt with washers and nylock nut...

Not sure if that is right move. It does need to be somewhat hardened, but somethings can get too hard.

Used to have a piece of equipment that kept breaking grade 8 bolts. Went to grade 5, and the shearing stopped. The harder bolts were more subject to stress over time, and would crack and break. The little bit softer ones were still plenty strong enough, and were not quite as brittle.
JaxDad
Explorer III
Jul 03, 2015
westend wrote:
For reference: a 16d nail is rated at 60K lbs. of shear strength. I wouldn't stress over the pin.

They're strong, but not that strong.

For reverence, a 5/8" bolt has the following shear strength;

Grade 2 is 13,621.5 pounds

Grade 5 is 22,088.9 pounds

Grade 8 is 27,611.1 pounds

Bear in mind however, that is the single shear strength. A hitch pin goes through a pair of tubes so the amount of force required to shear it would be the single shear load times two.

So if for instance you were using a cheap Grade 2 pin the shear strength would then be 13,621.5 x 2 = 27,243 pounds since you would have to shear through it on each side of the receiver tube.

Just for giggles then, the shear strength of a Grade 8 bolt as a hitch pin would be 55,222.2 pounds.
1L243
Explorer II
Jul 03, 2015
I would be more worried about the cheap cap lock failing...Which is why I went to a 5/8" grade 8 bolt with washers and nylock nut...
mlts22
Explorer II
Jul 03, 2015
I've seen very infrequent mention of bent hitch pins on various forums... and with all the people towing out there, this pretty much means that hitch pins are definitely not a weak link when towing for the most part.

I do know that I've had zero issues with the Bolt Lock I bought a few years back, and I've never read about a bent or damaged hitch pin, so even though the capacity may not be present or listed, it seems to be enough for most receivers.
westend
Explorer
Jul 03, 2015
For reference: a 16d nail is rated at 60K lbs. of shear strength. I wouldn't stress over the pin.
Old-Biscuit
Explorer III
Jul 03, 2015
IF you shear any receiver pin you are WAY Overweight.....even the cheap ones at Walmart