Torquing Hitch Assembly

Heavy breaker bar from Harbor Freight and a nice long piece of pipe. Do the math and use your body weight. Not rocket surgery.

I am with the group that has a hitch with a ball torque figure of 450 lbs. I leave this to the pros.

stevemorris wrote:
does everybody torque their hitch assembly and ball?

Very important to torque it to spec. If you're in Ontario, the place to go is Princess Auto (Canada's version of Harbor Freight). If you need 400+ lbs-feet, you'd have to go to their 3/4" drive torque wrench rated for 600 lbs-ft and will set you back 200 loonies plus the cost of a socket.

Since you'd rarely, if ever use it again, I'suggest trying the following. Either take the hitch head in or drive there.

- a local hitch shop
- a repair shop that works on dump trucks & semis
- any auto repair shop
- or possible an independent RV repair shop (avoid a dealer!)

I replaced the steering box on our F250 a few years back and the pitman arm needed something like 600 lbs-ft (IIRC) and took it to a dump truck repair shop and they did it for free. I have a couple of torque wrenches and the larger one will do 300 lbs-ft. You can get a reasonably priced 1/2" drive one from Princess Auto that will do 250 lbs-ft and would be good for doing lug nuts on a TT.

SoundGuy wrote:
Depends on the system - Equal-i-zer head shank bolts require 320 ft-lbs. :E Hitch ball torque - 450 ft-lbs is more like it. ;)

trail-explorer wrote:
Good luck torquing something to that unless you have a 3' long torque wrench.

That's my point. ;) Back when I owned my own 1,000 / 10,000 lb Equal-i-zer I managed to borrow a torque wrench that was at least 5' long and rated up to 600 ft-lbs. Good thing, as I completely rebuilt that EQ several times before I got it set "just right", then had to do it all over again when I changed my tow vehicle.

I have 30 some odd torque wrenches that range from 80 oz/in up to 1100 lb/ft so I would have no issue with that. turn the hitch sideways in the receiver with the ball to the right, this will allow the person torquing to push down on the Tq Wrench.

Charles

SoundGuy wrote:
Depends on the system - Equal-i-zer head shank bolts require 320 ft-lbs. :E Hitch ball torque - 450 ft-lbs is more like it. ;)

Good luck torquing something to that unless you have a 3' long torque wrench.

I called local u haul, they said bring it in, just buy propane from them. I also made a mark on washer and nut to be able to see if it ever came loose. 6 years hasn't moved yet.

I wll get it done tomorrow then.
first trip with the new to us 2008 kz spree 260, 7000 km tour of nb, ns and pei!!

bought it 3 months ago, "handiman special" said the ad and it was!!
complete new subfloor in the 12 ft long slideout

I needed my hitch ball torqued and called my local RV dealer. Service manager had me bring it in and she had one of her service guys do it - free of charge - even though we purchased our RV elsewhere.

For the ball I took mine to a truck repair shop to get the 450 torque.