Anyone ever have this happen to there truck before? I was pulling my 6 by 12 enclosed trailer single axle today. I happened to look underneath my truck while i was pulling out the electrical connector and I see my hitch itself starting to split apart . I have a ford factory installed hitch. The most weight ever towed was a 7362 camper (certified cat scale weight) with a proper weigh distribution setup.

 

that could've been bad! I've never seen or heard of that.

 

Wow! With the rust, it doesn't look like it happened suddenly, or maybe just not recently. The only way I can see that happening "normally" at "normal" tow weights is if you go through a deep gulley and get a large angle between the truck and trailer. I'm not even sure that would do it as the hitch would most likely hit the ground before causing that kind of damage. Are you the original owner? Maybe it was like that when you bought it?

That piece is supposed to be cast iron, so you can't even blame a bad weld. In the photo, it looks like your hitch has rust on the bottom at the tip which might indicate that that it's an ongoing problem. Might be that something is wrong with your WD setup or you're overweight (ha ha, not you, of course). What's your rig setup? Engine/gearing/wheels, lifts?

Just some ideas. I've never seen or heard of a box failing like that.

 

I am the second owner. I have had the truck for over 4 years now. The truck originally had only 25k back in 2009 when i acquired her, old man driving it. She now has 78k on her. My rig is an 2004 supercab 4wd and she only has the 4.6 with aftermarket 4.10 gearing, stock was lame duck 3.55. Factory tow package with the class III/IV hitch. Leveling kit, LT 285/70R17, Stock rims.

I know I was overweight with the original gearing by about a thousand pounds. When towing the camper but i took her slow. I did notice then the hitch was sorta loose when we put the proper hitch set up on the camper earlier this year, so it could of been going before that. I only moved the camper once due to the girlfriend parents pickup having issues.

I am just glad I noticed it when I did and not headed up to Maine next week with the loaded enclosed trailer...

 

Curt hitches had some problems a few years ago splitting at the frame channels. Ford hitches..I dunno

 

Mine started to split a little at that exact same line on my hitch, I caught it before it did that and re-welded the little crack and it hasn't given me any trouble since.
Now with that, I don't know, your best bet may be a new hitch

 

Looked at my hitch today to compare and it occurs to me that I had the ditch thing backwards. I think it would be an UPWARD pull on the ball that would cause the front of the hitch to push DOWN on the front of the box. I'm not sure what could do that. If it happened over time, like with a trailer with too much weight in the back, I would think you'd notice handling problems first. Unless it was a single event, like a huge bump. Seems likely that the previous owner did it.

 

I would be showing somebody from ford that mess. They owe you a replacement.

 

Damn that is sick. I've never seen a hitch split like that. Possibly someone tried to pull out a stuck vehicle by using a towing rope with the hook on the back end of the hitch tube and it split it down.

 

I had a frame on a mitsubishi fuso rip apart where the trailer hitch atached. The hitch was on a 30 degree angle after that. It was kind of a bad day at work.

At least the trailer stayed on.