cerhai

any hit strong enough to bend the frame with the hitch in, will bend it without also, but small hits to the hitch protect our flimsy bumpers from bending and taking out the bed sides

Wanna Ride

It's going to take a lot of force to do some frame damage. Not impossible, but a hitch/ball will easily save a bumper and a tailgate, without the frame being damaged.

Brian Bailey

I think that's thinking of the accident in a one track mind kind of view. There's more than 1 bumper in play. You have to think that their bumper and hood are going to be absorbing that shock. Also if it's a car they are most likely going to drive under the vehicle and get wedged in there. I don't think all of the energy is going to the frame.

blueoval28

This has happen twice to me. I tow a lot and I guess I leave my hitch in way to often. One thing I wanted to add is rumor a couple years back is states were trying to make it illegal to leave your hitch in when not towing a trailer. If I had to guess why...insurance companies probably upset from the additional damage they cause.

Ragu

I've always kept a ball hitch on my 99' F150 Flare Side Lariat as it was given to me as a gift when I bought the new truck.

My friend knew I didn't tow anything yet he said it will "take out" the offenders front of his vehicles a/c condenser and other $$$ items for hitting your truck.
Never had anyone rear end my truck in 15 yrs.

Now on my 2014 F150 Platinum I have the black powder coated "double ball" hitch just in case.

It's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it

hetman

after being hit & reading the replies from various posters I did a search for


various truck protection hitches and think this looks like a good solution,


has anyone used hitches from superbumper ? The one I like is the "safe T defender triball"


http://sparebumper.com/index.php

king nothing

It's illegal to have the hitch in the receiver in Illinois if you aren't hooked up to a trailer. Might ant to check your local laws

MPETE

iTrader: (1)

yes, there is merit to it. I have seen it first hand. back around 2007-08 ish, when I was doing the parts ordering for my dealer's bodyshop, we had a very nice, low mile reg cab long bed 2wd 02 F150 XLT come into the shop. the entire rear 2 feet of the bed was bent downward like someone had dropped something EXTREMELY heavy into the very back section of the bed, but otherwise, there was very little damage to the bumper and the back of the bed. I couldnt for the life of me figure out how it happened. turns out this is exactly what happened. he was rearended (I do not know how hard or fast)and it was a solid impact directly to the hitch and it basically just acted as a lever to the frame and bent the whole rear section of the frame down
and it took the bed with it. never seen anything like that before or since.

the customer was an older gentleman on a fixed income and even though it was a nice low mile truck, it was a reg cab cab 2wd and it just had no value. due to the age of the truck and the frame damage, the ins. co. totaled the truck. even with the payout on the truck, the customer just couldnt afford another new truck and didnt want to take a chance buying a used truck in his price range and running into problems down the road.
now normally when we have a truck that needs the rear section frame pulled, we would remove the bed, pull the frame, then replace the damaged body parts. in this particular instance, the customer just wanted his truck drivable again, but even after straightening or completely replacing the frame (which was reccomended in this instance) the whole bed would need replaced and the customer couldnt afford all of that. and it was an all or nothing deal. we couldnt replace the bed without fixing the frame because it would never bolt back on. same with the oposite, if we fixed/replaced the frame, the damaged bed would never fit back on the frame. so to help him out, we left the bed on the frame and pulled it all as one assembly. as the frame bent back into place, the bed came back close to normal shape as well. of course at this point, the bed would always show damage, but no paint work was needed and the truck was still usable and driveable. he did however have to sign a release waiver, because after that, the frame would no longer be as strong as it once was and should he ever be in another rear end accident the frame would bend a lot easier.

in the end the customer was happy.


also side note,
it IS illegal here in MD to have a hitch ball in your receiver if you are not towing something, but I have never met anyone who got a ticket for it. it's all just hear-say

winchested

On most of these trucks with a towing package the Hitch receiver is actually the main support of your whole bumper (if you have never gotten under the truck to look) Those little bumperettes on either side have little strength when it comes to impact. As all that holds those to the main bumper frame (Hitch receiver) is 3 8mm bolts on either side. So in essence even without have a hitch ball/ bar in place and big enough hit from the rear could still bend the rear frame. These trucks have no shock absorbing feature at all to the rear bumpers.

fx4mikeo

My local bait shop owner got a ticket for having his hitch in, in Mokena, IL. First time of ever hearing that law be enforced here in Il.