Do You Trust Hitch Locks?

[DallasSteve]

I'm buying a tow bar to tow my Jeep behind my motorhome. I went to the auto parts store to buy a bolt to attach it to the receiver on the RV. The clerk showed me a product like this below which locks the tow bar to the receiver. I worry that the lock may fail or I might not close it correctly and it comes lose while I'm towing and I have to hope that my safety cables do their job. Are these the way to go or should I buy a tough nut and bolt to secure the hitch?

[Jack_Spratt]

I currently use the the locking pin you picture.
Many miles of use with no problems.
At the height of my paranoia I tack welded everything together.
Never lost anything either way.

[BruceMc]

I agree, which is one of two reasons why I bound the lynch pins with cable ties.
The Roadmaster kit has 2 padlocks, but the shank size is almost half the thickness of the lynch pins, so I didn't feel comfortable using them on the top of the crossbar. Those really need to be large enough to fill the hole, and hard enough to withstand the upward pressure of the crossbar.

I have a Kubota as well, and I've bent those lynchpins as well as lost a couple. Like you, tarnold, I don't think these are the correct fastener for a towbar.

Our towbar is level between the toad and MH, but upon returning from our 1100 mile trip, I found the washers that I used to take up the space between the lynch pins and the top of the crossbar had warn completely through the labels and well into the paint. That tells me there's lots of upward force on those two pins. Roadmaster should have put holes/pins in all four positions, not just the upper two, or they should have been threaded & bolted to the brackets.

Perhaps a couple of grade 8 bolts with nylocks in place of the lynch pins?
On this trip, we determined there was no need to remove the crossbar, so having something that is a tad more permanent during the entire trip makes sense to me.

[tarnold]

I really don’t like those “flip ring” hinge pins. I have 3 tractors and buy those things by the handful at tractor supply. Over time those rings will pull loose. On the tractor, not much of a problem when the bush hog slips a pin. Going down the road with a toad?

[BruceMc]

We towed for the first time over the first week of September, covering about 1100 miles across northern Oregon.

Here's how I tied down the lynch pins:



I left the crossbar in place for our outings with Snowball (the GMC Canyon), and other than a rattle while on rough gravel roads, it did fine:



Another thing that helps stop the rattles and keeps sticky fingers from grabbing things is this hitch clamp:
(Not properly tightened in this image; the bolts usually protrude the tops of the nylocks by a thread or two)



Granted, anyone who is intent on taking the setup can grab an adjustable wrench, but hey, we're talking about keeping honest folks honest...
I have a locking pin for the hitch as well, which stayed in place over the entire trip as the Roadmaster Falcon 2 is a MH mounted drawbar.

[Grit_dog]

tarnold wrote:
Go to tractor supply and buy D handle pin hitch pin with hole already drilled, makes it very easy to remove if you have too. Then use a pad lock to secure

FWIW, the D handle hitch pins don’t work with all receivers. But they are handy. No pun intended! Lol

[DallasSteve]

tarnold wrote:
Go to tractor supply and buy D handle pin hitch pin with hole already drilled, makes it very easy to remove if you have too. Then use a pad lock to secure

That sounds like a good idea. I've already bought the locking pin and I've used it for about 10 days on the road now with no problems. I understand now that the load is on the pin so the lock doesn't have to pull all that weight and I feel more at ease with it now.

[tarnold]

Go to tractor supply and buy D handle pin hitch pin with hole already drilled, makes it very easy to remove if you have too. Then use a pad lock to secure

[Grit_dog]

Steve, I'm going on a limb here and thinking this whole towing thing is getting to be a significant challenge for you. Please be careful, get someone to train you, or realize your limitations.

And no they're not "easy" to pry off. They work and generally the quickest way off without a key is a die grinder or torch.

Same token, if you leave it on there for a long time and don't take care of the lock, it will freeze up from corrosion and you will have to cut it off to remove.

[Grit_dog]

dodge guy wrote:
Use a regular pin with the hole in it. Buy a padlock and Drill out the pin to the size of the lock. I did this when I had my WD hitch on the Excursion.

I currently have a similar pin as you shown. Had it with our sleds and now for the towbar. Haven’t had an issue with it!

I'm surmising that the OP doesn't have drilling out a hitch pin in his bag of tricks based on recent and not so recent posts. He didn't even know hitch pins existed, not does he realize that he doesn't need to remove the drawbar frequently, or ever unless he needs to change drawbars.

DallasSteve, get a locking hitch pin, keeps the honest people from stealing your hitch. I like Master lock ones.
Also a locking pin for the towbar is advisable if you're places you think you need to lock stuff up.

[opnspaces]

DallasSteve wrote:

travisc wrote:
Watch the you tube video on how easy those are to pry off, I bought a brand called bolt from strattec. That you can key to your rv ignition key, now I don’t worry about losing the hitch key

If they are easy to pry off then I won't worry much about losing the hitch key but it is a pain that I am accumulating more and more keys. My biggest concern is I don't want it to accidentally come off while towing and see my safety chains get tested. That's the point of my question, not so much the security from theft. It sounds like maybe it's more work for thieves to unscrew the nut and bolt than to pry off the lock?

Is there a reason you think the lock might fail? There's no force or pressure on the lock mechanism so there's no reason for it to fail. If the button pushes down and stays down the pin is locked. Give it a slight pull to try to remove the lock. If it stays put then it's locked.

If you're still concerned then get a pin like pianotuna posted. With that type of pin you can visually verify that it is properly pinned.

[mowermech]

pigman1 wrote:
A number of years ago we were southbound from Springfield, MO to Branson and stopped in a diner for lunch. There were 2-3 other class A's with toads in the lot as well . When we came out there were a number of police officers present.I found one rig had it's toad stolen. Seems it didn't have any locked pins and it had the key in the ignition. See it coming? Yep, gone. Your choice how you tow.

When I am towing the Jeep, I have a spare key in the ignition and the doors & tailgate locked. Since the Jeep has a hard top, the locked doors will at least slow a thief down.
I have thought about removing the steering lock pin so I won't have to leave a key in the ignition, but I haven't got a "round tuit" yet.

[Horsedoc]

I guess my rationale is a bit different. I don't want to be 'locked' to the towed. Nothing wrong with a pin thru the bolt holding the hitch insert in place -
I check the hookup a couple or three times on a 200 mile trip.
I have this thing about fire. When we had a pusher I worried about fire and trying to unhitch the towed and being unable to unlock the pin holding it to the Jeep, or the Jeep catching fire and both burning up as I struggle to disconect them. Just a phobia I know, but my phobia and I'll take my chances on a stolen or lost pin.

[pigman1]

A number of years ago we were southbound from Springfield, MO to Branson and stopped in a diner for lunch. There were 2-3 other class A's with toads in the lot as well . When we came out there were a number of police officers present.I found one rig had it's toad stolen. Seems it didn't have any locked pins and it had the key in the ignition. See it coming? Yep, gone. Your choice how you tow.

[mowermech]

I had a locking pin in the truck receiver. After putting up with it for months, I put it in the motorhome receiver.
Why, you may ask?
Because the truck frequently has to be changed from 1 7/8 ball to 2 inch ball to 2 5/16 ball, then back to 1 7/8, then just for gits and shiggles toss in the bed extender! What a nuisance that locked pin was!
The motorhome, however, rarely gets changed from 2 inch to 1 7/8 inch ball and back again (depending on whether the Jeep or ATV trailer is to be towed).