Bent Trailer Hitch Ball

[jjlhampton]

Made the jump from hybrid trailer to a Jayco 267BH in May and have had it out about 14 days. Towing with a 2012 Ford F-150 with the max towing package so I haven't been concerned with being too heavy. This last weekend as I was getting ready to hook up to head home I noticed that hitch ball was bent. Not only did the ball shaft appear bent but the area around where it attached to the hitch also appeared to be bent. I didn't notice it when heading out and didn't back into anything. The hitch and ball setup is between 5-7 years old. Any insight on what you think may have occured would be greatly appreciated. I'm looking at getting the truck and trailer into Camping World to see if I did something incorrectly or if they notice an issue.

[RinconVTR]

Spring bars at or below tongue weight? That is an opinion and mine is the polar opposite based on actual experience.

Speaking for nothing larger than 1/2 tons, I have found on repeated occasions having WD bars at or below the ton weight results in poor weight distribution and a soft rear end. This gets people looking at bags and helper springs and does not help handling.

I run 1400 bars with a Hensley and 900+ (max weighed was 960lbs) tongue on my SUV and could not be happier.

My camping buddy was running 1000lbs bars with his F-150 with exact same tongue weight (high 900's) and complained he was tensioning the bars too much (was upto 7 washers and was hard to connect) to get weight back on the front wheels. A new WDH with 1400lbs fixed it and the rig drives as he expects now.

Many years ago I towed with a Honda Pilot and it too was near max. I ran 600lbs bars with a 400+ tongue weight and it did ok. Then I bumped to 1000lb bars for cheap and WHAT A DIFFERENCE!

It's poor advice to assume the WD bars should be at or below tongue weight for every tow vehicle.

IMO, 1/2 tons and less, always round up to the next size bar. There's actually no reason not to. Rounding up just one size will not result in a harsh ride, doubling what you need would! Handling will be what it should be and you wont need to think about air bags and helper springs because the WDH is doing what its designed to do.

[JBarca]

Lynnmor wrote:

jjlhampton wrote:
Just went out to the trailer and you'd think they'd stamp the info other then up underneath the coupler area.
It does need a "2 5/16 ball, Not to Exceed 14K gross, tongue weight not to exceed 2100lbs."
The hitch is an EZ lift from C.W.
The GVWR of the Trailer is 7000lbs. Unloaded it is 5425 and last weekend when heading out, w/ our normal gear packed, the scale read 5950.
Picked up a new 2 5/16 ball, with a 1/14 shank diamter, 2 3/4 shank length, with a 12K capacity.
Now looking at CURT Replacement MV Round Bar Weight Distribution Head #17075 and CURT Replacement MV Round Bar Weight Distribution Spring Bar #17074. W/ both rated to 14K trailer wgt. and 1400lb tongue weight.
And again thank you all so much!

The spring bars should be in the range of your tongue weight. I believe that you currently have 800 pound bars and they should be fine. You should weigh the tongue to be sure. You do not want higher rated bars than necessary because they need to flex. You certainly do not want 1400 pound bars.

I agree, weigh the trailer tongue fully loaded first. Then figure out what size WD bars you need.

The 1,400# WD bars, odds are high they are too heavy. Odds are also your truck does not have a receiver rating that high to allow using them. This is not a good setup to have 1,400# WD bars on a potential 900 to 1,000# hitch weight and a truck receiver that cannot handle the full WD bar loads.

While the hitch may be rated to 1,400# WD bars, that does not mean you need to use the strongest bars there is. It allows you to get the right bar for the job but not too big. The best riding setup is if the loaded tongue weight and the WD bars are the same. It does not always work that way so you need to get the size closest but not under the loaded tongue weight. There is also a concern to the A frame damage of the camper using 1,400# WD bars that big over a smaller rated trailer. I'm sure a call to Jayco will clear that one up in a hurry.

Since you are getting a new hitch head and potentially new WD bars, I agree with the other poster, a trunnion bar hitch head setup on a bottom slung coupler trailer can be better fit then the round bar. When you get the correct WD bars you may start to see ground clearance issues. The WD bars will not be bending up like they are now. The Trunnion bar hitch will give you some more ground clearance if that is a problem for you. Just an option to look at.

Hope this helps and good luck with your setup.

John

[beemerphile1]

Rough estimate = 7,000 GVWR @ 13 percent is a tongue weight of 912#

[Hannibal]

Just a thought. With your underslung coupler, a trunnion style spring bar hitch would line things up better. The round bar hitches line up well with top mounted couplers.

[Lynnmor]

jjlhampton wrote:
Just went out to the trailer and you'd think they'd stamp the info other then up underneath the coupler area.
It does need a "2 5/16 ball, Not to Exceed 14K gross, tongue weight not to exceed 2100lbs."
The hitch is an EZ lift from C.W.
The GVWR of the Trailer is 7000lbs. Unloaded it is 5425 and last weekend when heading out, w/ our normal gear packed, the scale read 5950.
Picked up a new 2 5/16 ball, with a 1/14 shank diamter, 2 3/4 shank length, with a 12K capacity.
Now looking at CURT Replacement MV Round Bar Weight Distribution Head #17075 and CURT Replacement MV Round Bar Weight Distribution Spring Bar #17074. W/ both rated to 14K trailer wgt. and 1400lb tongue weight.
And again thank you all so much!

The spring bars should be in the range of your tongue weight. I believe that you currently have 800 pound bars and they should be fine. You should weigh the tongue to be sure. You do not want higher rated bars than necessary because they need to flex. You certainly do not want 1400 pound bars.

[mike-s]

jjlhampton wrote:
Picked up a new 2 5/16 ball, with a 1/14 shank diamter, 2 3/4 shank length, with a 12K capacity.

If you're planning on DIY, you'll need the tools to torque that to 450 ft-lb. I used a 24" "Crescent" wrench to hold the ball (it had flats on the base) and a 40" 3/4" breaker bar to tighten the nut. Then 2 adults, it still takes one weighing at least 150 lbs standing on the end of the breaker bar to get it tight enough.

[jjlhampton]

Just went out to the trailer and you'd think they'd stamp the info other then up underneath the coupler area.
It does need a "2 5/16 ball, Not to Exceed 14K gross, tongue weight not to exceed 2100lbs."
The hitch is an EZ lift from C.W.
The GVWR of the Trailer is 7000lbs. Unloaded it is 5425 and last weekend when heading out, w/ our normal gear packed, the scale read 5950.
Picked up a new 2 5/16 ball, with a 1/14 shank diamter, 2 3/4 shank length, with a 12K capacity.
Now looking at CURT Replacement MV Round Bar Weight Distribution Head #17075 and CURT Replacement MV Round Bar Weight Distribution Spring Bar #17074. W/ both rated to 14K trailer wgt. and 1400lb tongue weight.
And again thank you all so much!

[jarata1]

SidecarFlip wrote:
Bent balls by 'One hung Loe":)

Assisted by his brother long wang

[DiskDoctr]

WDH Options

[Hannibal]

Ralph Cramden wrote:

proxim2020 wrote:
I would definitely look into a more heavy duty hitch.

The hitch he has is rated for up to a 10K lb trailer. The 800 lb bars he has (which is all that saved him a ton of grief by holding the entire mess together) may, or may not be heavy enough, but as in my earlier post 1000lb bars for that model Curt hitch are only $130 or less. The 2" ball let loose, and the head flange bent as well, because the trailer was banging back and forth into it. I would bet more than the farm his trailer has a 2-5/16" coupler. Probably good he had the Curt as the head is plate steel. If it would of been cast like the Reese it may have cracked right in half at the ball.

Why does he need a more heavy duty hitch? Nothing wrong at all with a conventional round bar WDH. There are literally millions of them in use.

The friction bar may be Curt, but the hitch appears to be Eaz-Lift. The head and ball could be replaced pretty cheap. The cast Reese HP trunnion style ball mount is rated for up to 17k lbs. I doubt it's going to be broken in anything less than a crash. I would upgrade to a better hitch with the proper size ball but that's just me.

[beemerphile1]

What is the GVWR of the trailer? Figure 12 to 13 percent of the trailer GVWR is on the hitch when loaded.

Not a great way of doing it, but a good place to start for estimating.

[Ralph_Cramden]

proxim2020 wrote:
I would definitely look into a more heavy duty hitch. I would load up the trailer and run it across a scale to see exactly how heavy it is. Chances are you're already at or over capacity of your current hitch since it appears to be slightly bent. A safe bet would be to calculate your tongue weight at GVWR of the trailer and purchase a hitch that has at least that capacity. This would be the heaviest tongue weight the hitch would ever carry. Look at what's stamped on the coupler, but chances are you should be using a 2 5/16 ball.

The hitch he has is rated for up to a 10K lb trailer. The 800 lb bars he has (which is all that saved him a ton of grief by holding the entire mess together) may, or may not be heavy enough, but as in my earlier post 1000lb bars for that model Curt hitch are only $130 or less. The 2" ball let loose, and the head flange bent as well, because the trailer was banging back and forth into it. I would bet more than the farm his trailer has a 2-5/16" coupler. Probably good he had the Curt as the head is plate steel. If it would of been cast like the Reese it may have cracked right in half at the ball.

Why does he need a more heavy duty hitch? Nothing wrong at all with a conventional round bar WDH. There are literally millions of them in use.

[Community Alumni]

I would definitely look into a more heavy duty hitch. I would load up the trailer and run it across a scale to see exactly how heavy it is. Chances are you're already at or over capacity of your current hitch since it appears to be slightly bent. A safe bet would be to calculate your tongue weight at GVWR of the trailer and purchase a hitch that has at least that capacity. This would be the heaviest tongue weight the hitch would ever carry. Look at what's stamped on the coupler, but chances are you should be using a 2 5/16 ball.

[RinconVTR]

jjlhampton wrote:
Tongue weight is 635 lbs and that is w/o the bells and whistles packed. .

OK, you know you're well over the claimed dry weight (Jayco says 670lbs) but you have no idea how much more.

Knowing your actual weights (LOADED) is really step 1.

[Hannibal]

Equalizer 4 point, Husky Centerline, Reese Steadyflex, Curt TruTrack. ETrailer.com has about the best prices out there. I have an Equalizer 4 point 10k on our similar size Jayco 28RLS with underslung coupler. Very happy with it's performance even with a little marine grease on the L brackets to make it smooth and quiet. Some hitches don't fit with the underslung coupler. Can't get proper angle on the head.