Dropped the fiver today, and how was your day? Part 1

[Mike_LeClair]

I wasn't sure if I could post this many pics in one post. Apparently I can!:) Short story is I got stuck in the soft ground while moving our RV to it's summer camp site. I called the tow truck service and they showed up with a fairly large truck and hooked on to the front passenger side tow hook of our four day old new to us 2012 F350. The tow guy winched the truck and RV forward and to the right at a fairly sharp angle and we really chewed up the turf, much to the chagrin of the campground owner. He finally got the truck forward enough, after three sharp pulls at some pretty severe (at least to me) angles of attack and steepness
, where he advised that I should be able to pull forward now and into our spot. I gingerly stepped on the fuel feed and not even two feet later ----- BAM!! all heck broke (literally) loose.

Apparently all of the sideways forces and pressure on the hitch head damaged it severely, as the pictures show, and it couldn't hold capture on the pin. I saw this after the tow truck guy made me feel like I hadn't hitched properly. ANYWAY.

The appraisal damage to the truck is currently sitting at $12,500.00 CDN. The appraiser for the RV damage was here today and he said that we would have to have the RV thoroughly examined at a facility as it appeared that the damage to our home was potentially structurally fatal. The one tire was badly compromised from the sideways stresses and I have 0 faith in the other three, Aside from the obvious damages visible in the photo's we have found two fairly large soft spots on the floor of the living area and galley that never, ever were there before the mishap.
















This happened on Monday, May 08th. Yeah, it was a pretty crappy day.

Cheers boys and girls! Be careful out there!

Mike and Carol

[Mike_LeClair]

Hi Everyone! Just wanted to update this thread a little bit. Today I phoned Wade at the Hitch Depot in Red Deer, AB since it was his company that initially installed the hitch into the truck. I asked him if he would have a look at the hitch head for me and tell me whether or not it was damaged, if it could be repaired and would it still be able to perform to the standards and specifications for which it was designed. He asked, of course, what had happened to cause my angst and ask these questions. I explained as clearly as I could the events leading up to our RV leaving the hitch head. After my tale of woe he simply said that the hitch had been exposed to much greater force that it was ever designed to handle. He explained that just towing through soft ground can greatly increase the amount of pin weight on the hitch head. He said that when the forces were exponentially increased by dragging the truck and trailer sideways and even deeper into the ground by lifting the front end of the truck in the air that the pin weight would have been far greater than the design of the hitch. He said that he would gladly check out the hitch and asked that until then that I not use it to pull anything, regardless of weight. I am taking the hitch to him early next week.

I took a couple of pictures that show how deep the RV wheels were sunk into the ground as it was being pulled out of the soft ground. As far as being able to drive it out of there myself, please note that I have not driven a 4WD vehicle since my 1979 FORD BRONCO, which I sold in the early eighties. MY new to me F350 was new to me by three days. I didn't even know that these trucks had an "Electronic Locking Differential". It does explain the little ">" symbol under the 4WD selector switch though. I am still not convinced that even with the diffs locked I could have driven it out of the mess that I was in. Even if after the fact I have started to re-read the entire manual, with an open mind, so that I can learn all about the nuances of owning and driving such a magnificent, electronic wonder.

The first three pictures are of the ruts that were dug by the RV tires






These pictures were of the general carnage caused by the truck while being pulled. I only included these to give you a perspective of how deep we were.






Cheers!

Mike

[blofgren]

bpounds wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
The shape of the jaw that contacts the kingpin is not round it looks irregular. Does not seem correct?

It is correct and by design. The lower, or rearward, portion of the jaws form a perfect semi-circle that fits the pin diameter. The upper, or forward, portion of the jaws have more clearance. You can see it in my photos too, but not as clearly.

I also agree that it is crazy that he could not drive out of that in 4WD. Especially in a newer FX4 that likely has an electronic rear locker. I'm confident my truck would have driven right out of that, or at worst needed to rock it a little to gain momentum. But I've also seen crazy things before on wet grass.

With the trailer axles starting to sink in, it would be pretty easy to simply dig yourself deeper trying to get out of this type of situation. I know the great resistance and ruts created when backing my trailer over the grass boulevard into my back yard when the boulevard is saturated from ongoing rains. And my current trailer sinks much more than our last one did due to it being 4K lbs heavier.

[bpounds]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
The shape of the jaw that contacts the kingpin is not round it looks irregular. Does not seem correct?

It is correct and by design. The lower, or rearward, portion of the jaws form a perfect semi-circle that fits the pin diameter. The upper, or forward, portion of the jaws have more clearance. You can see it in my photos too, but not as clearly.

I also agree that it is crazy that he could not drive out of that in 4WD. Especially in a newer FX4 that likely has an electronic rear locker. I'm confident my truck would have driven right out of that, or at worst needed to rock it a little to gain momentum. But I've also seen crazy things before on wet grass.

[nremtp143]

Mike, have you thought about trying to find a take-off bed at a local Ford dealership or a truck body shop? It would be cheaper on the insurance company that way as you only have to have it painted. BTW, that tailgate with the step, when they came out they were a hot stolen item around here. Some insurance companies here paid as much as $3700 just for the tailgate and step. Anyway, sorry this happened and hope you are back on the road soon.

[cummins2014]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
I am curious why didn't you give 4 low a try?

The shape of the jaw that contacts the kingpin is not round it looks irregular. Does not seem correct?

There is no good way in that situation , most likely doomed whatever you do, been there done that, and with a fifth wheel in tow impossible with the weight on the back tires just sinking into the mud. About all 4 low is going to do is spin the tires quicker, and get you deeper in the mud.

[Cummins12V98]

I am curious why didn't you give 4 low a try?

The shape of the jaw that contacts the kingpin is not round it looks irregular. Does not seem correct?

[welove2drive]

If repairs to the TV have not started as of yet I would suggest checking the area for a bed that was removed to install a service bed. In the St. Louis area you'll see adds all the time for take offs of different ages.
Worth a try rather than replacing sided.

[Mike_LeClair]

Hi blofgren! I did try to back out of the soup. I was in 4WD HI and tried ever so gently to back up. It was a no go as there was too much soft stuff to overcome.

Here are a couple of shots of the PIN and a couple more of the damaged hitch head.

Cheers!

Mike

[bpounds]

Mike, after I posted those I went back and looked at yours again. I agree, your jaws are further misaligned. If you get a chance, would be good to flip the head over and shoot some shots of the bottom side. The linkage must be damaged somehow.

I can see that happening from great side force on the jaws. They are designed to oppose great pulling force, like a Chinese finger device, but not really for side forces.

Anyway, best wishes for a full recovery from all of this.

[Mike_LeClair]

Hey bpounds! Thanks for taking the time to take the pictures above. I do see that your jaws are not in perfect symmetrical alignment. I will try to post up a couple of better shots of mine. You will see that my jaws are considerably more off centre than yours and the "hole" in the middle is really out of round. The other thing I noticed is that the lock/release bar not longer is able to stay in the open position no matter how I try to set it. I am currently out of town at my brothers place so the pictures will take a day or two.

Cheers!

Mike

[bpounds]

I mentioned the off center jaws on a Reese hitch above. I had reason to remove mine today, so I shot some pics to illustrate. I cannot evaluate the OP hitch from those pics. So this is just to illustrate my comment above.





This is normal. The jaws will center around the pin. The jaws do not center the pin on the hitch, the fifth wheel plate does that. All pin diameters are 2", and without the pin, the jaws can move side to side a little bit.

[blofgren]

Oh, what a terrible situation, Mike!

One thing that I didn't notice if you tried; your Ford is a 4x4 and I'm wondering if you tried putting it in 4 High and gently backing out of the spot. I'm thinking it probably wouldn't have worked but it may be something that you want to keep in the back of your mind for the future. Of course, this could have gotten you more stuck as well....

I agree that the extreme damage you have experienced is from the hard pull to the side which stressed so many components past their design point. I was having trouble picturing exactly what happened until I saw your photos of the tracks/ruts.

Given this it is probably a good idea to get the truck checked over very closely for any frame/axle/bearing damage because that amount of stress certainly could have damaged something on it too.

If I were in this situation I would probably call up the tow company and have a chat with the owner/manager to inform him what happened. At the very least the operator who did this should probably receive some more training on the proper way to recover in this type of situation.

In any case I wish you the very best in getting everything repaired properly and quickly and put this bad memory behind you. We were sideswiped on our way home from camping on the Easter weekend so I share your frustration in having to deal with the aftermath of poor decisions by others. :M

[Mike_LeClair]

RinconVTR wrote:
OP - Regardless of all things, thank you very much for sharing this "occurrence" and sharing images of the aftermath.

I hope things end well for you and camping life will continue on.

Thank you for this! We are not looking forward to being displaced from our home after it is taken to a repair facility for further examination and repair.

Cheers!

Mike

[RinconVTR]

OP - Regardless of all things, thank you very much for sharing this "occurrence" and sharing images of the aftermath.

I hope things end well for you and camping life will continue on.