Anyone ever broke a chain hook-up on WD hitch?

[TNrob]

I have an eazlift and it works. I've noted that the hook-ups to the frame are under quite a lot of load along with front to rear motion in turns. Two little rivets hold them together. Has anyone had one break? Do you keep a spare in the TT just in case?

[apr67]

I would think that with 1 bar you would have half the wegith distribution. Its really not a left right thing so much as it is lifting the rear of the truck from very near the center. Might sligly bias the weight however.

[Rbertalotto]

It happened while I was putting the trailer away in my yard. Simply backing down a hill with a right hand turn. A rather steep hill. I just bought another bar for the next trip. From then on I always removed the bars before backing down.

[LIKE2BUILD]

Rbertalotto wrote:
Never broke a chain, but I snapped a 1000# bar right in two backing down an abrupt slope. Sounded like a rife shot! That was a thick piece of steel to simply snap in two!

Wow, that would make you soil something.

[TNrob]

What does that do when you lose half your distribution system? Did you pull the other bar and go on until you could fix it or were you just dead in the water?

Is half the system on just one side better or worse than none at all?

That's what I mildly worried about is if you're running along at highway speed and one side or the other lets go, what impact does it have on the overall rig? Still, at what point do you say enough spare parts. The little hook assembly is cheap and weighs little.

[Rbertalotto]

Never broke a chain, but I snapped a 1000# bar right in two backing down an abrupt slope. Sounded like a rife shot! That was a thick piece of steel to simply snap in two!

[93Cobra2771]

Have heard of them bending in the case of reese dual cam setups, but never heard of one breaking. Carry a spare and I guarantee it will never break.

[path1]

TNrob wrote:
I have an eazlift and it works. I've noted that the hook-ups to the frame are under quite a lot of load along with front to rear motion in turns. Two little rivets hold them together. Has anyone had one break? Do you keep a spare in the TT just in case?

Yes, I carry a spare "snap up bracket". I thought that was the reason why I never broke one before.:)

[tvman44]

Never broke one when we had a TT. 🙂

[LIKE2BUILD]

I've heard of them breaking on occasion but it's never happened to me. The best insurance is to make sure you have a sufficient # of chain links between the bar on the snap up bracket. Usually 6 or 7 links is about right. That length of chain provides plenty of flex in the system so it should minimize horizontal forces on the brackets.

KJ