Bent Trailer Hitch Ball
Made the jump from hybrid trailer to a Jayco 267BH in May and have had it out about 14 days. Towing with a 2012 Ford F-150 with the max towing package so I haven't been concerned with being too heavy...
Forum Discussion
Ralph Cramden wrote:proxim2020 wrote:
I would definitely look into a more heavy duty hitch. I would load up the trailer and run it across a scale to see exactly how heavy it is. Chances are you're already at or over capacity of your current hitch since it appears to be slightly bent. A safe bet would be to calculate your tongue weight at GVWR of the trailer and purchase a hitch that has at least that capacity. This would be the heaviest tongue weight the hitch would ever carry. Look at what's stamped on the coupler, but chances are you should be using a 2 5/16 ball.
The hitch he has is rated for up to a 10K lb trailer. The 800 lb bars he has (which is all that saved him a ton of grief by holding the entire mess together) may, or may not be heavy enough, but as in my earlier post 1000lb bars for that model Curt hitch are only $130 or less. The 2" ball let loose, and the head flange bent as well, because the trailer was banging back and forth into it. I would bet more than the farm his trailer has a 2-5/16" coupler. Probably good he had the Curt as the head is plate steel. If it would of been cast like the Reese it may have cracked right in half at the ball.
Why does he need a more heavy duty hitch? Nothing wrong at all with a conventional round bar WDH. There are literally millions of them in use.
The specs online said the hitch had a 800 lbs tongue capacity. I took that to mean well that the hitch had a 800 lbs tongue capacity. The picture of the OPs label makes more sense.
