Worn hitch receiver/shank

Those hitch vises don't work 100% with extremely heavy loads and big trailers. Although they are better for lighter loads.

Being a once professional welder with building up heavy construction wear parts on earth moving equipment and machinery, I added some hardfacing "buildup" weld metal to my receiver elongated holes as well as the hitch itself.

Granted not everybody has access nor the tools to do this yourself but, one can easily find professional welders to do this relatively simple, effective and inexpensive job. It's the best way to "tighten" things up, without the gimmicks of little "clamp-on" gadgets and such that fail much quicker with HEAVY loads.

Dupe

brulaz wrote:
Just got an email back from the Hitch Vise people.
Like the Roadmaster Quiet Hitch people, they do NOT recommend using their product with a WDH.

Can't find an address for the Hitch Clamp people, but I suspect they would say the same.

Might try building hohenwald48's heavy duty clamp and either get my neighbour to lay a couple of bead lines on the hitch shank or use some hard steel shim on the upper surface (2" putty knife blade?). A good tight fit plus a hefty clamp might last a long time...

Tucquala: see you there!

While that might be true I had the same issue as the OP on my previous trailer and with my current trailer (1K TW and 7.5K GVW) I have been using the Hitch Vice for the last almost 8 years and over 20K miles and as another user said "IT SIMPLY WORKS". However, it is only rated for 500lbs TW and 5K GVW trailers, but if you replace the factory grade 5 nuts and bolts with grade 8 and use a torque wrench to properly torque them to the grade 8 specs you will get enough clampling force for it to be effective at least for the wts. I have been using it for. Just like a lot of folks having issues with the Equal-z-er "L" brackets moving on the tongue proper and correct torquing is an absolute must when clamping something between two plates with the bolts separated by more than about an inch or two. It is imperative that the bolts be torqued evenly and to the same torque for the clampling force to be optimum. Even a slight variance will result in a poor clamping force.

This is one item where I would have to disagree with the manufacturer's recommendation, but failure on the item to perform properly has no real downsides so one has to just try and and see if it works. IT WORKS FOR ME and I would recommend trying it with the caveats about upgrading the fastening system and properly torquing the bolts.

Larry

Just a note, you can install most of the clamps so they either pull the shank up in the receiver or down in the receiver. For WDH you usually want it pulling up. For non WDH pulling down works better. Depends on your setup but if you install it wrong it probably won't take long for it to loosen.

I've tried the Roadmaster style U clamp. Hit a few big bumps and the U bolt part stretches a bit and it pops right off. Tried it on a trip out west two summers ago. By noon the thing was just dangling around the shank no matter how much I tightened the nuts. The HD Hitch Clamp looks interesting, one I haven't tried...yet.

Just got an email back from the Hitch Vise people.
Like the Roadmaster Quiet Hitch people, they do NOT recommend using their product with a WDH.

Can't find an address for the Hitch Clamp people, but I suspect they would say the same.

Might try building hohenwald48's heavy duty clamp and either get my neighbour to lay a couple of bead lines on the hitch shank or use some hard steel shim on the upper surface (2" putty knife blade?). A good tight fit plus a hefty clamp might last a long time...

Tucquala: see you there!

I've also done the weld patch!! When we swapped our Suburban (box somewhat loose) for the Excursion (loose then!!), welded, and towed for about 10K miles with Jayco we had then. Last spring, I redid the welds and grinding for a tighter fit with our new Timber Ridge. After aboot 3500 miles, back to slop. Just as yours, it threw off my DualCam adjustments by at least 1 link.

It looked like the welds were putting more force over a smaller area on the box. The top of the receiver at the rear was bowed up maybe 1/8" +. Couldn't see the front bottom, since it is boxed in on the Ex receiver. Along with that and 12yrs of rust and repainting, I replaced the receiver with a Curt receiver. New one seems to have more "meat" to it, so hoping that it will stay tighter longer. Reground the shank back to normal shape, fits nice and tight now. Haven't used yet, first tow will be in early Feb down to the factory for some repairs.

I've got the feeling that Ford doesn't use the best metal in the receivers, and over time they tend to distort. Rebuilding yours with a new 2" tube maybe a good way, but also check into a new one from another mfg. I wouldn't go to a 2-1/2" unless you really plan on a larger trailer or truck. I've noticed that the larger shanks are pretty spendy!! AND, as you said, much more weight!!

See you on the ORV site!!!

hohenwald48 wrote:

...

The ones I made are similar to the Roadmaster except I used 3/4" round bar above and below the receiver and joined them with 3/8" grade 8 bolts and I really tighten them down. No set screws to loosen or wear like the HD Hitch Clamp has.
...

I contacted Roadmaster and they said their device is not designed for use with WDHs. Just to stop rattling of bike racks and such I guess.
Probably the same with most of the anti-rattle products out there.

And agree, the HD Hitch clamp has that single set bolt on the bottom eating into the receiver. Might loosen or wear the hitch receiver.

But your 3/4" round bar and 3/8" Grade 8 bolts ... that sounds pretty strong. That with a hard metal shim on top, held in place with the top round bar, might just fix my problem.

brulaz wrote:

hohenwald48 wrote:
I made a couple of these and they really work well to prevent movement and wear.


http://littleguy.vanillaforums.com/discussion/1051/roadmaster-quiet-hitch-for-2-trailer-hitches

You mean the Heavy Duty Hitch Clamp?
HD Hitch Clamp

Or the Roadmaster Quiet Hitch?
Roadmaster

Both of these can be configured to hold down the top of the hitch which is what I would prefer. Guess the Hitch Vise only grips from the side (thanks tll).

That HD Hitch Clamp looks quite solid.
Wonder how it would work with the upward forces of a 1200# WDH?

The ones I made are similar to the Roadmaster except I used 3/4" round bar above and below the receiver and joined them with 3/8" grade 8 bolts and I really tighten them down. No set screws to loosen or wear like the HD Hitch Clamp has.

I've done the weld bead trick before too. It seemed I had to redo that at regular intervals to keep it good and tight. I would usually add to much weld and then file it to fit.

Food for thought - when you have the spring bars engaged, the shank will be pushed UP in the receiver on the ball end, and DOWN on the shank on the truck end.

You will have practically zero up and down movement of the shank in the receiver when your spring bars are engaged. However, the amount of pivot involved due to the slop does indeed affect your initial spring bar adjustment. If you can't add any more washers to the head to get more tilt, then weld a bead on top of the ball end of the shank, and on the bottom of the truck end of the shank. This will give you more initial downward tilt on the shank (same net effect of adding washers to the hitch head).

I used some metal shims zip tied to my shank for a while, then finally had the weld beads added.

Shouldn't cost more than $10 to have a shop throw weld beads on there. Or less if you have a buddy with a good 220v stick welder.