Community Forums

jarwiebe · 05-20-2014, 07:59 PM

Its somewhat hard to see in this photo but the reinforcing collar around the end of the hitch receiver tube is missing. Has any of you ever replaced this collar? if so where can you get one? I assume it is important to have it replaced because every receiver tube I have ever seen has it so must be a critical component of the the hitch. It was missing when I bought the coach a year ago.

Cypressloser · 05-20-2014, 08:19 PM

Since you're in Manitoba, you never know what you find at Princess Auto, but it could be easier to find a piece of heavy gauge square tubing cut an inch off or so and have it welded on and spray painted. Can probably be done at any welding shop in less than an hour.
John

FIRE UP · 05-20-2014, 11:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jarwiebe

Its somewhat hard to see in this photo but the reinforcing collar around the end of the hitch receiver tube is missing. Has any of you ever replaced this collar? if so where can you get one? I assume it is important to have it replaced because every receiver tube I have ever seen has it so must be a critical component of the the hitch. It was missing when I bought the coach a year ago.

jarweibe,
For most home fabricators, this project of adding the collar would be almost childs play. But, for folks that may not have the equipment, area to work, and or, skills to do a small project like this, and, coupled with the fact that you may live in an area where metal and steel sales may be rare, even a small project like this may be quite costly.

It's too bad you're not in the our area, I'd have the collar on there in about 10 minutes just 'cause it would be fun. But, back to reality, the inside dimension of that is normally 2". And, the wall thickness is in most cases, 3/16" to 1/4" thick. That puts the outside dimension at real close to 2 3/8" - 2 1/2". That being said, you'd need a collar that's cut off of piece of tubing that has that interior dimension of around, 2 1/2". I just went out and looked at ours and, it's the 3/16" wall thickness version. And, the collar is 1/4" wall thickness.

So, most likely, without actually measuring yours, I'd say you need a piece of tubing with interior dimensions of 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" x 3/4" long. Most metal supplies places would probably give that to you or, at the least, charge $5.00 or so. Now, it's getting it welded that could be a problem. Again, if you don't have the welder, the skills, the area to do the work etc., then you're at the mercy of what ever welding shop you can hunt down.

But, I'm just wondering, what caused it to "fall off" in the first place. Most are welded on pretty substantially. And, in case you're not aware of it, there's some precautions to take, prior to any welding on your coach. ALL the negative cables on the batteries, (all the batteries) need to be removed. This helps prevent spiking of electricity into vital components. And, as long as the ground clamp for the welder is placed as close to what's being welded as possible, you will have no issues with spiking.

Good luck.
Scott

jarwiebe · 05-21-2014, 10:11 PM

Thanks for the detailed information Scott. I am at the mercy of others when it comes to metal work. But your instructions will be of great help.

By looking at the hitch it appears like the collar only had 2 short (maybe 1 inch at the most) welds holding it in place, one on top and one on bottom. Don't know how it came off (it was off when I purchased the coach).

Skip426 · 05-21-2014, 10:21 PM

Any hitch specialty shop should be able to help you with this.
The re-enforcement collar is to prevent the corners of the main tube from cracking . If cracking has started a hitch shop may rec-commend replacement.

Playtime III · 05-22-2014, 06:42 AM

Don't forget to inspect all of the rest of the welds on the receiver. You may have gotten one made on a Monday/Friday or by a new welder and it got past hitch mfr inspection.