Hi, cheapskate here - I got what I paid for. Bought a $200 adjustable class V drop hitch, rather than one of those fancy $600-1000 machined ones.Of course, being cheap, the fitment is total carp. It slops up and down a good 1/2" or so, and side to side almost as much.All this slop makes towing a bit unnerving, there's a lot of banging during stops and starts, as well as on the stronger bumps. The first few times it was banging so hard I thought I hit something. After pulling over a few times, I realized it's just banging and not collisions.Brians Mobile1 on youtubes advocates grinding the paint off the shank and welding some X's on all four sides, and then grinding those X's until it's a very snug fit in the receiver. I guess that would work, but I hate to destroy the baked on coating just yet, oh and I don't have a welder.e-trailer is happy to sell me anti-rattle devices to go with my rattle prone hitch, but honestly, they all look like junk to me.So what's the fix, other than spending $600-1000 on a machined ball mount?

It is going to difficult, if not impossible, to make a silk purse out of a sows ear. I bought my Curt WDH for around $350. Step up to the pump and make us all safer with a quality hitch. It will be a lot less than you paid for the truck.RichH

So, I have a "fancy" chinese made pricey hitch shank, and have had the same problem!!! I first welded the top of the shank at the front of the receiver, and at the rear bottom and ground down to a fairly solid fit that could still be installed and removed. With the high hitch weight our newer trailer has, it soon "egg" shaped the top of the receiver and slop returned. All that tongue weight and force of the hitch bars is increased in that small welded area!!I replaced the OEM receiver with an aftermarket, ground the shank back to normal measurements, and now use a flat 2" wide thin metal spacer on the top surface. It is as long as the shank length inside the receiver. So far, in a year of towing, it has helped a bunch. Still a small bit of vertical slop, but not very much, and no apparent distortion to the receiver box. I do have to replace the "shim" every so often, due the the forces applied to it tends to "squash" it out on the edges that touch the inner edges of the receiver box.Should be easy enough to get a rough measurement of necc thickness for a shim in your case, then find the right metal to do it. Your trailer probably does not have as much tongue weight as ours, and also a lighter set of hitch bars, and you may not need to replace that shim very often.

I had the shop drill a hole and weld a grade 8 nut along with a bolt and stop washer into the side of the hitch and that quiets down any noise and slop I had once tight.Look at it this way: You can grind paint to weld in the X heading or you can wear the paint off with hitch slop you have. So.....

I found a gizmo at Uhaul that allows you to tighten up the hitch. I had the same problem with my cargo carrier. It has an inner nut and outer bolt and lock.I think this is it:https://www.uhaul.com/MovingSupplies/Hitch-Towing-Security/Anti-Rattle-Receiver-Pin?id=16372you can tighten it up with a wrench and the hitch stays in place, and won't wobble around.

Roadmaster "Quiet Hitch": http://roadmasterinc.com/products/accessories/hitch/quiet.html

solutions for sloppy hitch? | Good Sam Community

14 Replies

kmb1966
Explorer
Nov 14, 2016
I found a gizmo at Uhaul that allows you to tighten up the hitch. I had the same problem with my cargo carrier. It has an inner nut and outer bolt and lock.
I think this is it:
https://www.uhaul.com/MovingSupplies/Hitch-Towing-Security/Anti-Rattle-Receiver-Pin?id=16372

you can tighten it up with a wrench and the hitch stays in place, and won't wobble around.
SCVJeff
Explorer
Nov 14, 2016
I had the shop drill a hole and weld a grade 8 nut along with a bolt and stop washer into the side of the hitch and that quiets down any noise and slop I had once tight.

Look at it this way: You can grind paint to weld in the X heading or you can wear the paint off with hitch slop you have. So.....
TUCQUALA
Explorer
Nov 14, 2016
So, I have a "fancy" chinese made pricey hitch shank, and have had the same problem!!! I first welded the top of the shank at the front of the receiver, and at the rear bottom and ground down to a fairly solid fit that could still be installed and removed. With the high hitch weight our newer trailer has, it soon "egg" shaped the top of the receiver and slop returned. All that tongue weight and force of the hitch bars is increased in that small welded area!!

I replaced the OEM receiver with an aftermarket, ground the shank back to normal measurements, and now use a flat 2" wide thin metal spacer on the top surface. It is as long as the shank length inside the receiver. So far, in a year of towing, it has helped a bunch. Still a small bit of vertical slop, but not very much, and no apparent distortion to the receiver box. I do have to replace the "shim" every so often, due the the forces applied to it tends to "squash" it out on the edges that touch the inner edges of the receiver box.

Should be easy enough to get a rough measurement of necc thickness for a shim in your case, then find the right metal to do it. Your trailer probably does not have as much tongue weight as ours, and also a lighter set of hitch bars, and you may not need to replace that shim very often.
aguablanco
Explorer
Nov 14, 2016
It is going to difficult, if not impossible, to make a silk purse out of a sows ear. I bought my Curt WDH for around $350. Step up to the pump and make us all safer with a quality hitch. It will be a lot less than you paid for the truck.
RichH

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solutions for sloppy hitch?

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