Damaged 5er hitch by backing too hard
I've been hitching up for many years with no problem until this summer. The hitch head is supposed to be a little higher than the kingpin. But this time, it must have been several inches higher. As ...
Forum Discussion
blofgren wrote:laknox wrote:rhagfo wrote:laknox wrote:
I posted this a while ago, but after 15 years of RVing, I managed to forget to latch my hitch and dropped my FW on the bed. What happens when you get in a hurry.
Lyle
Well I also forgot to latch the Reese twin jaw hitch we have once. Drove for almost twenty miles, fast, slow, turns, over RR tracks, and highway. I was taking the 5er to scale it at a local weigh station, was a bit surprised when I went to release the hitch, to scale just the TV.
My issue was that I had my Companion pinned OPEN from the last unhitch, so the pin never even closed the jaws. (I have the older style and the hitch =has= to be pinned open or the jaws won't release.) Had I unpinned the latch handle so it was in the "armed" position, the pin would have closed the jaws, just the safety pin wouldn't have been in place. Given that the jaws, when properly latched, go to an "over center" position, not having the safety pin in place isn't a huge issue.
Lyle
I've backed into my fiver a few times with the hitch pinned open too, and wondered why it wouldn't latch. :S It really doesn't take much to make a mistake which is why visual checks and a pull test are so important.
Well a Reese twin jaw 16K will pass pull test even without the handle locked. This is why a visual check to lock the handle is needed.
