Being too comfortable causes problem!

[mechanic1]

hi there
something you might want to consider . i work for a repair shop that rents allot of uhaul,s trucks and trailers. and i noticed the other day . i was attempting to hook one up to a gentelmans truck he had a reese hitch . i ask him sir weres your reciver? i think its in the truck . after a few choice words on his behalf . i say don,t worry. we have theam . i go to the parts room and get one thats still in the plastic wrap . undo it and iam looking at it to make sure it has the right size ball on it . what i noticed was they changed the desigen on these .at the bottom were the nut goes onto the ball .they now use a castle nut and a lockwasher plus a cotter pin to lock the castle nut. something you might want to consider. or you could drill yours and pin it to keep it from backing off .hope this helps dave sr

[Jim Stewart]

Thank for the input, I did just that!

[CJ7ole]

According to my cheat sheet, if you have a 1" fine thread shank on your ball, and presuming it is equivalent to a grade 5 bolt, the correct torque would be around 700 foot pounds, a bit less if it is plated or oiled. It would take one heck of a cheater bar to over tighten the nut!