Weight Distributing Hitch BENT
I started to notice when hitching my trailer that I was not able to get an even number of links on each of the spring bars on my WDH; I might get 6 links on one side, and 8 on the other. Couldn't figu...
Forum Discussion
Wow, thank you for all the quick responses. I tried to embed the photos, but that didn't work. These links should work:
As you can see, it's clearly bent. In answer to some of your suggestions:
-The shank on the ball doesn't appear to be too long. Let me know what you think after looking at the pictures though.
-I checked the tube on the receiver and it looks level to me. That's a good suggestion though, as I recently found another issue where the exhaust pipe had pushed up the passenger side rear bumper. I had my mechanic look at it, and he says the whole exhaust system up to the cat it pushed towards the front of the vehicle. No scratches on the bumper or evidence of a hit though. A friend is wondering if the mechanic put it on the hoist wrong. Anyways, whatever happened there could have caused the received to go out of whack too, but it looks fine. Let me know what you think.
-It's the left side of the hitch head that is bent. And the ball is tilted as a result.
-Jacknife? Possibly. I've had to turn it pretty sharp a couple times. When I've gotten out to look it's never made contact, but I suppose it's possible (I didn't think it was). Any advice for this n00b would be greatly appreciated.
-Removing the bars? Never done that when backing up. As a subsequent reply noted, my understanding was that was only a concern with the sway bar. I usually take the sway bar off when backing up, but I will admit that once or twice I did not (though the turns were not sharp).
-This hitch looks really old. The bars have the chains on them.
-I'm not sure if I've swapped the bars or not (I don't pay attention to which side I put them on), but probably because I've been on several trips this year and I've probably hooked and unhooked my trailer about 10 times this year.
As you can see, it's clearly bent. In answer to some of your suggestions:
-The shank on the ball doesn't appear to be too long. Let me know what you think after looking at the pictures though.
-I checked the tube on the receiver and it looks level to me. That's a good suggestion though, as I recently found another issue where the exhaust pipe had pushed up the passenger side rear bumper. I had my mechanic look at it, and he says the whole exhaust system up to the cat it pushed towards the front of the vehicle. No scratches on the bumper or evidence of a hit though. A friend is wondering if the mechanic put it on the hoist wrong. Anyways, whatever happened there could have caused the received to go out of whack too, but it looks fine. Let me know what you think.
-It's the left side of the hitch head that is bent. And the ball is tilted as a result.
-Jacknife? Possibly. I've had to turn it pretty sharp a couple times. When I've gotten out to look it's never made contact, but I suppose it's possible (I didn't think it was). Any advice for this n00b would be greatly appreciated.
-Removing the bars? Never done that when backing up. As a subsequent reply noted, my understanding was that was only a concern with the sway bar. I usually take the sway bar off when backing up, but I will admit that once or twice I did not (though the turns were not sharp).
-This hitch looks really old. The bars have the chains on them.
-I'm not sure if I've swapped the bars or not (I don't pay attention to which side I put them on), but probably because I've been on several trips this year and I've probably hooked and unhooked my trailer about 10 times this year.
Moderator edit to fix picture links.
