PerryB

How did they remove it, with a file ? That labor is ABSURD!! Any decent shop with power tools and a torch should have had it off in under an hour.

Ricktwuhk

Hitch is likely rated for 500 pounds without a WDH. Pretty clearly exceeded capacity. Backing up an incline dramatically shifted weight onto the hitch, putting way over 13% tongue weight. Think of a fulcrum, i.e. trailer's wheels.

acdii

WDH doesn't put downward force on the hitch, or it would easily exceed capacity, instead it applies upward force, reducing weight on the hitch and distributing it forward and rearward.

Think about how the springs are used, they are pulled up, not pushed down. This is why the RX states 500 without and 1050 with, this means that the TW can be double, but is not the actual weight on the hitch itself, but is distributed. It is pretty easy to confirm. Put the trailer on a tongue scale, after hooking it up, and put the full weight on the scale, then attach the springs and watch the weight come off the scale. If set up properly you will see the weight cut in half.

In any case a WDH here would not have helped. It would have still bent like it did, or worse, could have come apart while hooking up the bars, and caused injury.

bubbabud

Sorry but you are totally wrong. AS you tighten the spring bars it forces the nose of the ball mount down twisting the receiver and frame of the truck to put more weight on the steer axle at the same time it twists the ball end upward to put more weight on the trailer axle. This is accomplished through leverage against he receiver. The weight may be less on thee rear axle but this weight is being supported by the hitch and transferred to other axles However you are correct WDH would not help when the brown tin worm [ rust ] attacks.

acdii

So you say it doesn't remove weight off the receiver? This says otherwise.

https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/f...d/14265335.cfm

You still have the full weight of the tongue on the ball, plus the additional load of the spring bars, but the upward force of the hitch head reduces the down force on the receiver itself. You no longer have the full weight on the receiver itself since a portion has been transferred to the front and rear. This is what I was trying to point out, if the TW is 1000# on the Receiver without WDH, it is less with WDH on the Receiver. A WDH doesn't magically make the receiver double its strength, it reduces the total weight by distributing the load fore and aft with leverage on the ball.

If you were to stand on the ball, and weigh 200#, and someone takes a 4' bar attached to the ball you are standing on and lifts it, you are no longer putting 200# on the receiver, the person at the end of that 4' bar is now carrying some of that load. You still have 200# on the ball itself.

bubbabud

You said the magic word leverage on the ball. The ball is the fulcrum not the trailer axle.
Now picture the frame of the truck as the bar and the front axle as lifting it [supports some of the weight] with the ball as the fulcrum you pushing down on the trailer frame through the spring bars remember the front of the spring bars are locked to the ball mount. so some of the weight is transferd to the trailer axle. Years ago equlizer did a commercial with an Oldsmobile Toranado where they used the hitch to lift rear of the car completely off the ground, removed the rear wheels and drove the car and trailer.
the load on the rear axle was "0" but the hitch was still loaded.
So once again the two weight ratings on the receiver have little to do with the strength of the receiver but how the weight is distributed to the other suspension components.

acdii

What we can all take away from this thread is the importance of making sure not to overload the receiver, and to inspect it periodically. Exceeding the non WDH load rating can damage it without you knowing it until it fails.

Easy rule of thumb, if you hook a trailer up and the nose of the truck goes up in the air, get a WDH installed. I remember earlier this year seeing an oder F150 pulling a TT and there was a quite obvious V in the middle, he had no WDH and was way overloaded on the hitch.

bubbabud

I agree.

dontnonottin

Glad you found this in the driveway instead of something happening out on the road. I replaced the hitch on ours earlier this year with an aftermarket hitch. The factory hitch rusted out. Unfortunately the factory hitch is also the bumper bracket. I hacked up the factory hitch enough to get the aftermarket hitch on because we were going away pulling the bike on the trailer. I have not taken time to go back to do something with making / getting the bumper bracket without the factory hitch.

Teddy Elmer

Here is a picture of the factory Ford receiver included in the factory towing package. I removed It from my 6 year old truck this weekend. The metal separation happened while towing 7000 pound trailer with approximately 700 pound tongue weight using weight distribution hitch. Please note vehicle has 78k miles with 4800 used for towing. Luckily I was able to catch this during the safety chain install before embarking on a 500 mile trip. Please inspect your receivers!!!