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Old 10-04-2024, 09:09 AM   #1
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What caused this...........

A fellow RVer posted this picture of his trailer hitch. It was on a 2022 Entegra Vision 36C, I think. What are some thoughts on a possible causes?
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Old 10-04-2024, 09:44 AM   #2
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What did the fellow RVer say about his hitch rating is, whether using a hitch extension, failure possible cause AND what was the hitch was used for and weight or tongue weight? Looks like the frame bolt fastener failed. Possible causes include: exceeded hitch capacity, especially with a hitch extension, which de-rates hitch capacity, faulty hitch installation, hazardous road conditions, etc. IMO.
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Old 10-04-2024, 10:25 AM   #3
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Overloaded, either total weight, or tongue weight, rough roads, poor workmanship or materials in the hitch. Or possibly nothing more than a lot of miles fully loaded. Actually, some closer pictures of the break from all both angles on each side might point to a much better explanation than our guesses. Steel failure analysis is very good science.
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Old 10-04-2024, 10:43 AM   #4
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Lack of penetration in the welds .........defective mfg'n
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Old 10-04-2024, 11:08 AM   #5
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Overloaded. Look at the flange where it started to bend near the bolt before the corner failed.
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Old 10-04-2024, 11:14 AM   #6
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What they said; unfortunately all too common as people seldom understand the effect of an extension on a receiver. When you have a static load hung several feet back from the hitch bouncing up and down due to poor road conditions/frost heaves/etc. this kind of failure is what can happen.

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Old 10-04-2024, 11:26 AM   #7
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Need to know " The rest of the story "

What was attached to the hitch ?
How heavy was it ?

Frame shows signs of bending the lower flange .

This didn't happen from flat towing a Mini Cooper .
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Old 10-04-2024, 11:32 AM   #8
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Looking at the picture it looks like it had been cracked towards the back for a little while. It is showing rust then there is shiny metal towards the front of the break. It didn't all happen at once.
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Old 10-04-2024, 11:36 AM   #9
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Big long extension and alota tongue weight?
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Old 10-04-2024, 11:52 AM   #10
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X2 to what Dave said. When you have a 500# load at 1' it becomes a 1000# load at 2'. Now add F=MA and you get a whole lot more load when bouncing.
That must have been one heck of a load bouncing down the road.
The end plates on a hitch are usually 3/16 or 1/4 inch hot rolled mild steel bent 90 degrees to bolt to the frame. If the bend is too tight the steel will have micro cracks all thru the bend radius. Put a load like that (exactly in the wrong direction) on the bend and eventually one of those cracks will propagate / tear. That's what happened here, the metal just tore down one of those micro cracks.
Being that his hitch is mounted so close to the frame, the only remedy I see a person could do is to weld a triangular gusset or cap plate at the ends of the side plate, but who would think to do that. Only a retired engineer.

Pity us poor Pace Arrow owners who have hitches hanging down a foot and attached to a skinny pair of angle iron frame extenders with 5 huck nuts on each side. I fixed mine with a pair of 2 x 2 x 1/4" angle iron struts and grd 8 bolts, and I now tow 8K# with confidence. But I DO MIND my tongue weight.

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Old 10-04-2024, 12:32 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by L-M-L View Post
Looking at the picture it looks like it had been cracked towards the back for a little while. It is showing rust then there is shiny metal towards the front of the break. It didn't all happen at once.

exactly, I can't quite see the whole story, but it looks like it would be vulnerable to rocking side to side, fatiguing the cracks in the corner and progressing over time, a careful inspection could have found the cracks well before failure. I wonder if a four down pickup fishtailing would rock that in relatively few miles? or just a fully loaded trailer and typical sway.
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Old 10-04-2024, 12:51 PM   #12
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Not enough radius on the brake die that formed the two parts. That pinches the metal when it's bent making a weak line to tear along instead of a smooth bend that that is full metal thickness.
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Old 10-04-2024, 01:03 PM   #13
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Any evidence of the trailer hitch assembly grinding out from hitting the ground…..maybe even more than once?

Check the underside of the entire underside of the mount.
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Old 10-04-2024, 04:21 PM   #14
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Ultimately (pun intended) too much bending moment on the hitch. The direction of the failure makes you think it is from an extension, too much tongue wt, or a very large impact from the rear. Welds, bends, and initial flaws would all be contributing factors.
I could see a 700lb motorcycle, on a lift, cantilevered 3 ft off back causing a failure like that over time. As long as we are guessing.
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